Leah Mercer has some words to share...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Leah Mercer back at CLC today to celebrate the publication of her latest novel, Ten Little Words. Melissa is a fan of her writing and is excited to read this novel soon! Leah has TWO print copies for some lucky readers!

Leah Mercer was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada. Her first ambition was to be a journalist, but after completing a master’s in journalism, she soon realized she preferred anything other than reporting the news. After trying her hand at public relations, teaching and recruitment in various countries around the world, she finally settled in London and returned to writing… fiction, this time. Her first two novels, Who We Were Before and The Man I Thought You Were, were shortlisted at the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards. Leah loves books, running and visiting historic houses with her husband and their son.

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Synopsis:
I am always with you. I will always be here.

This was the promise Ella’s mother betrayed thirty years ago when she walked into the sea, leaving her five-year-old daughter alone in the world. Ella’s been angry ever since, building up a wall to protect herself. But that all changes the day she opens a newspaper and finds those ten little words printed in a classified ad.

Ella refuses to believe her mother could still be alive—that would mean she did want to live, just not with her daughter. So she throws herself into finding out exactly what happened all those years ago, determined to extinguish even the tiniest flame of hope—for Ella, hope is torture.

But rather than settling things once and for all, what Ella discovers shatters her world. As she pieces together the truth behind her mother’s disappearance, she learns that the words are not what she thought.

Now she knows the truth. Is it possible that Ella can allow herself to love—and be loved—once again? (Courtesy of Amazon.)


Dear Future Me,
I hope 2030 is treating you well! Here in 2020, life has been a little . . . strange. Could you ever have imagined living through a global pandemic? Being locked down in London, trying to home-school your seven-year-old son whilst also writing a novel? Allowed out just once a day for an hour of exercise, for months at a time? I almost can’t believe it now, and I’m still in the thick of it.

I’m sure you remember how the bells from the centuries-old church on the corner – the bells that were the soundtrack to your London life, ever since arriving – stopped ringing. How the shops shut down, one after one, and how the ever-busy buses emptied. How the bustling high street right outside your window drained of life, looking like a sad shell of its former self. How you’d even start longing for the accordion-playing busker you once cursed to reappear and fill the silent air.

But despite the unexpected and all the horrors that came with it, I hope you recall the moments of happiness and togetherness that accompanied this trying time. How every Thursday night, your very cosmopolitan neighbours in central London flung open their windows, banged pot and pans, and clapped for all those in our healthcare system who were there when we needed them most. The determination and goodwill of your son’s school, keeping everything ticking over during patience-trying Zoom calls with a class of lively boys. How the nearby parks became giant playgrounds when the actual play areas closed, covered with chalk drawings and rammed with bicycles and scooters. The rainbows of hope and encouragement that appeared in windows around city, and the unexpected hidden passages and unfamiliar corners uncovered during your neighbourhood explorations.

It wasn’t easy, but you managed to finish a novel by getting up at five a.m. every day to work for a few hours before morphing into teacher. Explaining fractions and deciphering what on earth a tetrahedron is might not have been on your agenda, but you learned a lot, too! It’s impossible to picture my young son as a future seventeen-year-old. Does he still need me, I wonder? Despite craving every little bit of space at the moment, I hope I manage to steal a hug and a cuddle.

I know I’m still writing; there’s no need to even ask. It’s my outlet, and even though it can sometimes be torturous, I need it to keep me sane. How many novels have I written now, and how has the publishing world changed? I can’t wait to see how new innovations and technology play a part in making books accessible to everyone.

So much can happen in ten years, yet so much can also stay the same. The world around you can shift in the blink of an eye – I’ve learned that this year – but I’ve also realised that no matter the changes, the important things remain: love, friendship, togetherness. Wherever I am in ten years’ time, that much I know is true.

Thanks to Leah for visiting with us and for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends July 13th at midnight EST.