By My Side

by Alice Peterson

[Leah]

Since I read Monday To Friday Man by Alice Peterson last year, she’s become one of those authors whose books I REALLY look forward to. Her writing style is so easy to read, she has a dog and writes about dogs which automatically makes her amazing, and I love her characters. I read her newest novel Ten Years On just a couple of months ago and I loved it. I devoured it in hours whilst waiting to go to work one day. So I was completely and utterly chuffed when I saw Alice had a new book up for pre-order on Amazon called By My Side. It’s currently only available in Kindle format (a paperback release will follow, though, fear not!), and I purchased it as soon as it become available, and it was a really, really good read.

By My Side is a novel that will put chills up any twenty-something. Or, anyone, period. But as a 22-year-old myself, just like Cass, the idea of ending up paralysed is terrifying. Utterly terrifying. Much like Cass, at the beginning, I wouldn’t be able to cope. I don’t think I’d have had the strength of character like Cass to be able to get on with life. It would break me, I think. I take my legs for granted, I admit, it’s not as if I particularly like exercising or walking or anything, but I need my legs, y’know? I have massive respect for people who, like Cass, find themselves in a situation they shouldn’t necessarily be in and just get on with it. I know that just because you’re in a wheelchair your life doesn’t have to end, absolutely, I just don’t think it would be something I could cope with and I found it both sad and uplifting how Cass dealt with her injury. I admired her massively. She’s a much better person than I think I would be in that situation.

Yet again, Alice Peterson has written a warm and engaging read. You don’t come across many disabled heroines (in fact, I’d say of the 700+ books I’ve read, I have NEVER come across a disabled heroine) and Cass was just awesome. You could really feel for her as she struggles with her new life. At 22, it seems like the worst thing imaginable to end up in a wheelchair, but what I learned from the novel is that it isn’t, at all, and I loved how Cass eventually clawed her way to independence. I loved her fight, her spark, her drive, even when she finds herself unable to get off a train due to very unhelpful staff (which made me SO angry because I am 100% positive that that has happened to someone, somewhere, every single day) she still manages to push forward. Most of all, I loved Ticket. I love any dog in any fiction novel, but oh Ticket! Ticket is just immense. Ticket is AWESOME. Ticket does things you wouldn’t expect dogs to do and he’s just mint. I loved the whole Canine Partners aspect of the novel, it was so, so well written and I just love that there’s a charity out there that does that for people in wheelchairs, it is just something else. No one can write dogs like Peterson, no one!

The novel isn’t all happiness, though. Cass’s friends, Guy and Dominic who are also in wheelchairs, particularly Guy, struggle with being in a wheelchair (sort of how I would, I think) and I just knew something bad was going to happen. I had a very, very bad feeling and it had me in tears. Despite knowing what was going to occur, it still came as a massive surprise. I thoroughly enjoyed By My Side. The romance part of it wasn’t to my cup of tea mostly because I never knew where it was going and I wasn’t entirely convinced by how it ended, I much preferred reading about Cass and Ticket. I’d really recommend the book, it’s a fabulous read and it also makes you think about how you would react in Cass’s situation, it makes you appreciate the life you have a little bit more. I can’t wait to see what Alice writes next. She’s a brilliant writer, and I just love her books.