Blog Tour: Because I Was Lonely by Hayley Mitchell

Published on 2nd March 2017 by Red Door Publishing. My thanks to the author and the publisher for the review copy and having me on the blog tour.

The grass is always greener on the other side…

Meet Rachel. She’s trapped in a sleep-deprived world of misery and grief. She used to love being a wife and mum, but now life is a grown-up mess.

Meet Adam. He’s trapped in a world of grief and confusion. It wasn’t always like this, but since the accident, things have never been the same. 

Rachel and Adam used to be friends, back in the days before marriage and babies… before loneliness set in. Then along came Facebook. So when Rachel and Adam rekindle their online friendship, what starts as a little harmless flirtation soon becomes an obsession, and slowly the threads of their lives unravel before them.

Because I was Lonely expertly traces the roller coaster of actions and reactions experienced by a cast of credible, fallible, and ultimately human, characters. The author carefully captures their emotions and handles the multiple viewpoints deftly, in this cleverly crafted, unputdownable debut novel.

My Thoughts:



This is a story of four individuals and two couples, set in two parts, it is not a particularly happy story but one that I was engrossed in throughout. The further I got into the book, the faster I read. I just had to find out how things ended.

Full of flawed characters that are emotionally damaged in their different ways. The characters actions are impaired by their mental states. The book starts at a slow pace but the further I got in the more strands of the characters lives seemed to unravel much like the mental health conditions they are struggling with. It was difficult not to feel some sympathy where all the characters are concerned.

The strength of this story lies in the characterisations, which were very well dealt with, in a realistic manner which made the plot plausible.

This is one of the books that is hard to give much away about but Rachel is suffering from Post Natal Depression. She rekindles a friendship with Adam, who also has his own issues. Both are dissatisfied with their current lives and initially seek the companionship that they both crave. When does this cross the line and when is it too much and a step over the boundaries that should exist online and in real life?

Hayley Mitchell has written an accomplished and intriguing story about loneliness, mental health issues and the pressures of being human and also communication or the lack of. A story told from several different viewpoints, I found it gripping and insightful.

I look forward to seeing what this author comes up with next.

About the Author:

Hayley Mitchell spends most of the time writing books in her head and was finally able to put finger to keyboard and capture some of the words in the form of her debut novel Because I Was Lonely. A Law graduate she has spent most of her life working with people and much of her career as an advice worker for charities.  Always fascinated by people and their relationships she began to write fiction. She is very lucky to live in Wiltshire with her husband, whose support has been invaluable and their two children who amuse, inspire and exhaust her everyday. She now divides her time between her family, running a small business encouraging creativity in children and writing her second novel.
Follow Hayley on Twitter@HayleyMitchellc

Please do have a look at the other stops on the blog tour.