One Step Closer to You by Alice Peterson

What They Say:

After Polly ends her relationship with the father of her young son, Louis, she is determined to move on. All she wants is to focus on her job, her friends and to be a good mum. No more looking over her shoulder. No more complications…

Then Polly meets Ben.

Ben is guardian of his niece, Emily. They become close, with Polly teaching Ben how to plait Emily’s hair, and Ben playing football with Louis. Their friendship is unexpected. Polly’s never been happier.

But when Louis’s dad reappears in their life, all Polly’s mistakes come back to haunt her and her resolve weakens when he swears he has changed.

Will she give herself a second chance to love?

What I Say:

I would like to thank Quercus (especially Margot Weale) for sending me a copy if this, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I would like to say I love this cover as it really undertates how wonderful this book is.

This is the first Alice Peterson book I have  read and it won't be the last.

When we first meet Polly she is seeing her counsellor, through the book we see everything from Pollys POV.  

Polly isn't the usual MC and really I shouldn't of liked her but I loved her, because despite her flaws and her mistakes she was trying to be a better person.  Polly is a recovering alcoholic and doing everything she can to make the best for her young son.

Alice deals with the subject of addiction with warm but also a great deal of honesty.  We follow Polly from childhood, with Alice taking us back through Pollys past via various chapters and also present time.

Polly meets Ben, also an addicted and they become close friends each understanding what addiction can do and coping with young Children. Ben is the guardian of his young niece.

I loved the ease of their friendship and the strength they draw from each other.  Can men and women really be friends without benefits?

Alice shows what the value of a support network means to someone trying to cope with addiction.  Polly has Hugo her brother, her Aunty Viv and the friends she made at AA.

I really can't put into words how wonderful this book is.  This is an emotional rollercoater of a book that had me gripped, it's not often I cry at a book but this had me in floods.

I loved that Polly and Ben have flaws, it makes the story all that much more real.  This really is one of my favourite books of 2014.

About The Author

At the age of eighteen Alice had been awarded a tennis scholarship to America when she experienced pain in her right hand. It was rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and she hasn’t picked up a tennis racket since, a sadness that shall always be with her. The theme of disability features in her fiction, but there is nothing gloomy about Alice or her work. Rather this gives her fiction the added dimension of true poignancy.

Praise for ALICE PETERSON

'Really this review only needed two words PURE PERFECTION' ReaBookReview

'A fabulous heart-warming tale . . . I would defy anyone not to fall in love with this novel' FabulousBookFind

'Heart-warming and genuinely lovely . . . A truly remarkable read that had me laughing, sobbing and cheering our heroine on!' VictoriaLovesBooks

'I LOVED it. It was brilliant from the start to finish . . . warm, beautifully written and you will no doubt be moved to tears. I can't recommend it highly enough'IHeartChickLit

Guest Post by Alice Peterson

How I Write…

I find the whole ‘thinking up a new idea’ part of writing the hardest. I’ve just reached a stage where I’ve finished my nextnovel and there’s that little voice in my head saying, ‘what are you going to write about now?’ The longer I take to think up an idea, the louder and louder the voice gets until it haunts me at night.

The way writing normally works, for me, is that rather than planning a story with a beginning, middle and end, instead I tryto find a subject that really fascinates me. For example, withOne Step Closer To You, it’s a love story, but it’s a love story centred on two recovering addicts. I knew little about addictionbut was passionate to find out more. Without knowing my story I talked to recovering addicts and counsellors. Fate always helps me too. When I think up an idea it is amazing how I suddenly meet people who can help me. I was sitting next to a lovely guy at a party who’d asked me what I was working on, so when I told him that I was researching a book on addiction, he then mentioned he’d been in rehab. He was willing to share with me so many of his experiences, both light and dark, and it was then that my main character began to form in my mind.

So, I really get stuck into my research, talking to as many people as possible, and that process then helps me form a storyline in my head. I think, ‘this could happen’ or ‘I need this character in my book’. I have files worth of research, stuff I often never use but it all gives me the confidence to take on a difficult subject and write about it with authority. The story then unfolds. I don’t plot or do any kind of graph; it just comes out of me. My mother always laughs at me when I visit my parents with my laptop. The speed at which I type is manic: tap tap tap… Mum asking me, ‘where does it come from?’ I have no idea! I think it must be because I’m passionate about mycharacters and they are guiding me. I am living in their shoes, so it’s almost as if it’s not me typing, it’s them! When my characters are arguing I am acting it out as I write (looking completely mad!)

The first draft, for me, is the major battle. Part of the problem is that I know, from experience, that the first draft is far from perfect and that most of it will either be deleted or revised. Some days I am stuck, I find the writing process lonely, I am exhausted of inspiration, nothing I write seems to work, but I have to keep on telling myself to move on, don’t stop, keep typing. Getting that first draft completed is a major achievement. I am so relieved when I have the skeleton of my story down on paper. I much prefer the next part, improving it. I love the final phase, which is adding as much humour as possible and having fun because the slog is over. Because it is a slog. But I love it and I wouldn’t have it any other way…  

One Step Closer To You by Alice Peterson

September 25th Quercus

alicepeterson.co.uk