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?
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Once i got going with it, I absolutely raced through to the finish, staying up late to complete it. It was a bit of a slow start for me but i think that this is possibly because this book jumps around in time and once you get to used to the shift every chapter, you really settle into it. Initially, I wasn't sure who was who or where in time I was. The chapters are each headed up with what year you are in though and I think that overall, it was an excellent way to structure the book, because eventually you are brought up to date and the two storylines become one.
I liked Polly as a character, she made some bad choices in her life but then we all do so that shows she is only human. Thank you to the lovely Alice Peterson for writing something who isn't perfect and has the same human qualities as us all. I think that she is a really strong character as well as soon as she is able to see the light and take her life into her own hands. The supporting characters in the book are also great. Her brother Hugo is lovely and funny, her son Louis also provides for some very funny moments and the older members of her family all add to the juiciness of the storyline! Matthew, as a character, made me really uncomfortable, but then that is all part of the plot of the book and so that is a good thing, I didn't necessarily like reading about him though-but again his character was so human that he could've been real!
Ben and Emily are just lovely, you'll really find yourself rooting for them as you read the book. He is just so clueless and she is just tooooo cute. Some of the things she says just broke my heart and Ben broke my heart as well in one particular bit, but she is awesome for dancing in the mud with!
The storyline deals with addiction and abuse but in a very sensitive way and it really is not what the book is all about, there is friendship and love and strength and cooking in the book as well. I think initially i preferred the flashbacks to the present day storyline but when they both come together I think I liked them equally, both contributing to Polly's life story, her decisions and her future. I really really enjoyed this book. Alice Peterson has a real way with storytelling and every one of her books has had me racing to the end, desperate to know what as going to happen and I am sure you will find the same thing when you pick up this lovely lovely novel!
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