I've been looking forward to having this author on the blog, this week in the form of a review and next week we'll see her interview!
For now, here's the blurb for Ten Years On.
Rebecca is happily married to Olly and content with her job at a glamorous London art gallery. But when tragedy strikes, she decides to move back to her childhood home in the country, hoping time will help her to heal. Joe, born in the same country town as Rebecca, had a falling out with her a decade earlier. Now he's the successful owner of a wine bar, Maison Joe, and is breaking local hearts by dating a striking actress, Peta. Rebecca finds living with her parents again a challenge. Nor is it easy to discover that Joe lives and works too close for comfort. When she sees him once more, memories rush back to haunt her, along with unanswered questions about the past. Why did they lose touch? What was Olly hiding? Can Rebecca answer those questions and move on?
Sad, heart-wrenching and optimistic
I had previously read Alice's Monday to Friday Man and really enjoyed it and I had been wanting to read this one for a while. I raced through this book. Although the subject matter is different, it tugged at the heartstrings in the same way that Jojo Moyes' Me Before You did. I felt the relationships between Olly and Rebecca, Rebecca and Joe and Joe and Olly were very well dealt with indeed. But always there was an undertone of why did they fall out? Why didn't they see each other for more than 10 years? The author did well to keep this from us until more than half way through the book, and it keeps us reading. Rebecca confides in her friend her difficulty in seeing Joe after all this time, but is persuaded to apply for a job in his wine bar. As they get closer, the past is finally addressed. Lots of misunderstandings are righted and they both realise that over the years their perceptions have been wrong. Rebecca hears Olly talk to her, giving her advice and chatting to her from far away.
I also liked the little old lady who went on the wine course and the valuable advice she could give to Rebeccca, even about love. Can the three main characters learn to forgive and move on?
This novel is an easy read, which pulls you in and doesn't let go until the last page. I will be downloading Alice's other books soon - I already downloaded By My Side for World Book Day. Very impressed with Ten Years On - it didn't feel like just regular chicklit but had some life lessons to teach us and dealt very well with the topic of grief.
To get your copy of Ten Years On - http://amzn.to/WAZzLV (UK) & http://amzn.to/15XPFGW (US)
Monday to Friday Man - http://amzn.to/WAZCHq (UK) & http://amzn.to/15lEs0y (US)
You can also get Alice's books in paperback from Amazon and from the following sources:-
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/alice-peterson
Have a great weekend everyone!
Sooz
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