Today is Monday. I am not a huge fan of Mondays because my weekends are normally spent in wonderful activities with my family. Weekends are awesome. Then comes Monday – the day we all have to go back to our “business”. As a writer that means taking the short commute to my office and getting words on the page. For the rest of my family it means forging out into the exciting world of business or school. I miss that.

I don’t miss dealing with employee conflicts and stressful deadlines with depleting budgets but I do miss getting a few words of encouragement or acknowledgement periodically from coworkers. I also miss knowing that what I’ve done made a difference in a small way. And sometimes I just miss the noise and camaraderie of being a part of something big alongside other people.

The solitude of being an author is difficult at times. Every author is a loner to some point (and I’m no exception) but the chance encounters and conversations of an office are something I took for granted during my corporate life. The quiet of my new life thunders in my ears now.  It can be a perk most of the time but on Mondays, after a busy and exciting weekend, it just feels….lonely.

So today, I did my weekly status check on books. I logged into the computer, went to the internet, and searched for standings and sales on my current titles.

Lo and behold, there were two wonderful reviews from two readers who read my latest release. And they LIKED it!

Maybe Mondays aren’t so bad, just quiet.

Here’s what one reader named Heather wrote:

I really enjoyed this story! It was done extremely well. This was my first book by Shelley K. Wall, and I loved everything about it. Roger and Caroline are wonderful characters, and I felt like I really got to know them in this book. It was done in the most marvelous way. Instead of a few long and drawn out events, there were many small, very powerful and touching moments. A lot of emotion without a lot of words. It was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything else written like that, and it was very refreshing. Even when the book jumps six years, all the gaps are filled in, as well as all the feelings the characters experienced. This was a great story, and I don’t think it could have been written any better. It was fantastic!

THANK YOU HEATHER! You made my day!

And here’s what Eat Sleeps Reads Reviews wrote (I paraphrased a little):

I really enjoyed the college parts of the book where the two main characters are carefree and happy. Though they do have normal life problems, this part of the book had a weightless and fun feel about it. Caroline is a happy and driven girl and Roger is….adorable. The chemistry between the two zaps off the page and I fell in love with both of the characters. Honestly, when Caroline left without Roger, my heart broke for him and I wanted to strangle Caroline—just a little bit.

The tone of the book shifts when we meet the two six years down the line. Roger has had to financially and emotionally support his family after his father walked out on them. Not particularly happy with where his life had taken him, Roger has found a kind of solace in photography—the very thing that reminds him of Caroline.

Caroline has walked away from her dream career after being in the center of a horrifying experience, one that she blames herself for. This tonal shift, though dark in places, brings a realism to the book that I appreciated. How easy it would’ve been for the author to glaze over the events that traumatized Caroline, but they were handled well and tackled with sensitivity.

As well as suffering through the emotional vestiges of her failed career, Caroline can’t help but feel that everyone in her life leaves her.

‘That was what people did. They left. They moved on with their lives, leaving her with the painful burden of their absence.’

Roger, though abandoned by his father, is not so blighted by the people that leave him behind and instead will risk his heart to keep the woman that got away.

‘She’s annoyed me, angered me, humored me, and made my heart split in two. But the one thing I know with certainty, now that the years have passed, is that being with her and experiencing all those crazy emotions fills a void in my life. I NEED her more than I need to breathe.’

Need Me is a beautiful tale of the emotional journey of two souls who, though on course to collide, missed each other by a fraction. A lover of the second chance romance trope, this book was a satisfying read that tugged at my heartstrings and fuelled the hope that every person should have simmering within them

THANK YOU SO MUCH! You made my Monday awesome!

Have a great Monday everyone! Here’s a link to the book if you’d like to read for yourself:

http://www.amazon.com/Need-Me-Shelley-K-Wall-ebook/dp/B00TIXT5VU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427117888&sr=8-1&keywords=need+me+by+Shelley+K+Wall#customerReviews