img 24.May.2021

I have some very exciting news to share with you….I can finally confirm that Ring of Hope, the sequel to The Older Woman has been submitted to the publisher, so now the waiting game really does begin, also, to add to the excitement, the designer is working on the book cover, so all being well I’ll have a copy of that in the next two weeks, when all will be revealed.

Reviews … I know I’m always going on about how important reviews are to me as an author and any author for that matter, but this week I received a five-star review on Goodreads, not only is this review amazing it also resonates with me how much everyone is loving Jamie & Jess.

I’m going to explain why this review is so important to me, you see the reviewer is exactly that, she reads and reviews books, so when I sent her a copy of The Older Woman back in April, I’m not going to lie I was really nervous, my main worry was ‘what if she doesn’t like it?'

As an author it’s really hard to explain but when you write either a blog or a book or even just a statement, you do it with conviction, it’s simply your heart and soul, it’s everything you are. Writing is about you, the author, with the imagination to sit and write, so when someone leaves a review it’s so important that it’s honest and above all a positive one - after all this is your work they are talking about and telling the world about it, if they don’t like it, the impact it has on you personally is catastrophic mentally, no one likes a negative review.

So getting back to the review, anyway, the reviewer kind of went quiet, I didn’t hear from her, speak to her or see any posts about The Older Woman, I just thought, ugghhh, she’s not going to bother reading it, but then out of the blue I get tagged in a post with the caption ‘Back cover Blurb of the day goes to ‘The Older Woman’ well you can imagine my excitement, I mean it doesn’t take a lot to get me excited but this, well this was off the chart, I mean WOW, but it also means this is now out there for all her followers to see.

So, I now know she’s reading it, and this I have to say has just ramped my nerves up another notch, because sooner or later she’s going to tell everyone what she thought about it, and I’m more nervous than ever again, the seeds of doubt are starting to grow with 'what if she hates it? or what if she says nothing at all? as when someone blanks you after all that, what does it mean? (For me that’s worse than a negative review or comment)

Anyway after a couple of days, I finally got a message from her telling me ‘she absolutely loved it’ and will leave a review on Goodreads, I have to say even still at this point I was apprehensive at what she might write, but WOW, I was not expecting the review to be so amazing, and I can honestly say it just reignited my confidence that The Older Woman is an amazingly beautiful love story and I am a talented author, and furthermore, I love what I do, writing erotic romances, so as long as you keep reading and loving what I write I will continue to write for you.

So, to finish I’d just like to say thank you to everyone who has bought and read The Older Woman, along with the reviews and the messages telling me how much you loved it, it really does mean the world to me.

Much Love

Anna-Leigh x