If you’ve finished I Was Just So Lonely and you enjoyed it, I have a favor to ask.
Leave a review.
It doesn’t have to be long. A sentence or two on Amazon or Goodreads is genuinely enough. Reviews are one of the main ways other readers find books — especially a book by a novelist without a major publishing house behind her. If this story meant something to you, sharing that is one of the most concrete things you can do to help someone else find it.
Thank you, truly. It matters more than I can explain. (And thank you early reader D.H. for going first!)
Haven’t Gotten Your Copy Yet? Let’s Do This the Lea Way.
If you haven’t been able to make it to a signing or order online, I’m doing something that felt very on-brand for this book.
Lea spends I Was Just So Lonely trying to build a life and find her people in the places around her — coffee shops, libraries, the particular kind of afternoon that only happens in a small Eastern North Carolina town. So here’s the deal:
Visit 3 of the spots below, take a selfie at each one, and send them to me. I’ll send you a free signed copy.
These are places from the book, places where I wrote the book, or places that just feel like I Was Just So Lonely in building form. You’ll know why when you walk in.
The Spots
Pick any 3 of the 6:
1. Sweet Annie’s — the coffee and donut shop in Bayboro. This is the first place I went for coffee when we moved to NC, and going there made me feel like we made the right choice.
2. Pamlico County Public Library — Bayboro. Where a lot of this book quietly happened.
3. New Bern Public Library — another place that showed up in the writing.
4. Crema Brew — New Bern. Such a sweet family and business with a history to Bern.
5. New Bern Coffee Roasters — downtown New Bern. The kind of place you go to sit and think and end up staying longer than you planned.
6. Bella’s Café & Catering — downtown New Bern. Cozy, welcoming, and exactly the kind of hometown spot Lea would have used for a mom date.
How It Works
- Visit any 3 of the 6 spots
- Take a selfie at each one (you don’t have to be doing anything special — just be there)
- Send all 3 photos to me to ashleycrookham@gmail.com with your mailing address
- I’ll send you a signed copy
That’s it. No purchase necessary, no trick. Just a little scavenger hunt through some of my favorite places in Pamlico and Craven counties, because that’s what this book is really about.
Whether you leave a review, join the hunt, or just tell one person about the book — thank you. Every single one of those things is how a small story finds the people it’s meant for.
— Ashley
Ashley Crookham's Writing 
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