Portobello Book Blog

I’m delighted to welcome Anne Stormont to the blog again. Anne has been a frequent visitor as I’ve reviewed several of her excellent books and she’s taken part in my author features. Her latest novel, Baby Steps, came out this week and I’ll be reviewing that in a few weeks. In the meantime, she’s written a guest piece about the book and how it took her by surprise. It took me by surprise too as I knew she was planning to work on something else as she tells us below!

Baby Steps – The Romantic Novel That Took Me By Surprise

The Covid pandemic has affected us all. I’m certainly no exception. Travel plans, family reunions and weddings were cancelled. Face masks and sanitiser took up residence in my handbag and socialising took place on Zoom.

But it wasn’t just my personal life that was affected. My writing life was too. In June 2020 Fulfilment, the final book in my trilogy of novels set on the Isle of Skye, was published and I intended to press on with the first book in a completely new series of novels set in the Scottish Borders.

Alas it was not to be. Lockdown – and its lifting – both produced a flare up of my depression and anxiety issues.  Then with Covid causing the closure of her day care nursery, I willingly stepped up to become live-in nanny to my little granddaughter so that her parents could work. Writing was inevitably forced onto the back burner.

However, even when I returned home after my nanny job ended, and although the medication had taken care of my mental health blip, I just couldn’t get back into my work-in-progress. So I decided to cut myself some slack and take a bit of break.

Then as 2022 dawned I resolved to get back to the desk. I decided to ease myself in by writing some short stories. I reworked some old ones and wrote a couple of new ones.

I then thought it might be fun to take a couple of characters from the supporting cast in my Skye based novels – namely Sophie (daughter of main character Rachel in the novels) and her partner, ex-soldier Steven – and write a short tale which would tell how they met and fell in love.

I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed spending time with these two thirty-somethings as they went about their lives in the city of Glasgow. Then I was even more surprised when the story just kept on growing. I’d say to myself, ‘Ok, I’ll just write another 500 words then bring it to a close.’ Only that kept happening, and before I knew it I had written a full length novel.

Like my characters, as they negotiated their respective issues and overcame their doubts, I too took baby steps to get back into my writing. By the Spring of this year the first draft of Baby Steps was completed.

Even better than that, it is now published and is available as an ebook and as a paperback.

And, yes, I’m now back writing my Borders-set romance and loving it.

Keep reading to find out more about contemporary romance Baby Steps and where to get it.

What is Baby Steps about?

Estranged from her mother, cheated on by her ex and grieving the loss of her brother, emotionally distraught Sophie Campbell decides she needs to focus on her career as a researcher for a TV and radio broadcaster. What she doesn’t need is a man in her life. And as for marriage and children – definitely not.

Honourably discharged from the British army following life-changing injuries sustained while serving in Afghanistan, Steven Jackson is rehabilitated and embracing life to the full. Working as the manager of a support centre for military veterans brings him a great sense of pride and achievement. But he wants more. He wants to meet the love of his life, and to one day be a husband and father.

When Sophie and Steven meet through work, there’s an undeniable chemistry between the two thirty-somethings. But will Steven’s open, caring and patient ways be enough to break down Sophie’s barriers and allow a relationship to develop between them?

Set in the Scottish city of Glasgow, Baby Steps is a contemporary romance which tells a story of love against the odds.

Baby Steps is a spin-off novel from Anne Stormont’s Skye Series of novels. Sophie is the daughter of Rachel one of the main characters in that series and features as a character in the
supporting cast, as does Steven. However, Baby Steps can be read as a standalone.
It is available as a paperback and as ebook HERE

About Anne

Anne Stormont was born in Scotland and although she has travelled all over the world – including a teaching exchange to South Africa, four trips to Australia and several visits to the Middle East – Scotland is where she still lives.

She began making up stories as a child in order to entertain her four wee sisters. But as an adult, being busy with motherhood and working as a teacher, it took a long time and a mortality wake-up call for her to get that first book written.

She’s a compulsive crossworder, yoga practitioner, avid reader, keen walker and enthusiastic gardener. She can be a bit of a subversive old bat, but she tries to maintain a kind heart. She also loves tea, penguins and being with her grandchildren.

Anne’s books are contemporary romances and they are all set mainly in Scotland. She has also written a children’s novel called The Silver Locket using the penname Anne McAlpine

You can find out more about Anne and her other books at her website anne-stormont.com

You can also find her on:

Twitter: HERE

Facebook: HERE