One Step Closer To You By Alice Peterson

[amazon_link id=”1782061835″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’One Step Closer To You’ is the latest book by Alice Peterson.

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?

Once again Alice has written another charming story that pulls the reader in creating a genuine connection with the characters.

In this story, we follow the life of Polly, a reformed alcoholic who is trying to turn her life around with the aid of her family, friends and weekly meetings with her AA group. She is an enchanting lead character, that is impossible not to like and warm to. Determined to get back on the right road, her life revolves around her little boy Louis and her visually impaired brother Hugo, with these important people helping and urging her forward, they help her block out the bad times and enjoy the now.

Cleverly written, the story flows back and forth from the present to past tense, right from the moment where Polly had her first drink that spiralled her life out of control and she then meets Matthew, who like her also enjoys a drink and together they begin a very volatile and turbulent relationship. Matthew is controlling and manipulative and after every incident, promises Polly this is the last time, drunk in love and alcohol, she believes him every time costing her, her relationship with Hugo to suffer and it’s not only until Louis is born that she realises that she has a choice and doesn’t have to a victim and that’s when she finally takes control of her life.

The supporting characters in the story are also great. Living in her brothers shadow, Polly feels that she is lesser loved of the two, due to his illness but that doesn’t mean that she loves him less and together they have a fun and protective relationship where they look out for one another. Even though he has a disability, Hugo doesn’t let it get to him and leads an adventurous life a passion for sports and a successful radio career. The main love interest in the story is Ben, who Polly initially met at an AA meeting. He was a lovely character from the start. Being thrown into the role of parent after his sister suddenly died, he finds it difficult to adapt looking after Emily and Polly helps him with this new responsibility and together the four of them become their own little unit, going on trips and having fun. Matthew is also particularly good as the villain of the book, charming and good looking, he leads everyone to believe that he is the perfect gentleman, it’s only when they are alone that we see the true side of him.

The first book that I read by Alice Peterson was ‘By Your Side’, I loved it and ‘One Step Closer To You’ was just as good. Powerful and tender from the very beginning, it highlights the issues of alcoholism and domestic abuse and handles these subjects with sensitivity. Compelling from the very start, this book was almost impossible to put down, beautifully written with an unexpected twist, this book is most definitely worthy of its recent award of Best Romantic Read at the Romance Festival. I loved it.

You can pre-order [amazon_link id=”1782061835″ target=”_blank” ]One Step Closer to You from Amazon[/amazon_link] and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 25th September 2014.