Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding is a powerful and emotional story about Sonya, a former actress battling alcoholism while trying to care for her young son, Tommy. With vivid, raw writing, it explores addiction, motherhood, and the fight for redemption. A heartbreaking but gripping read.

The book explores the emotional turmoil of addiction and recovery through the eyes of a mother struggling to reconnect with her son. While the premise has promise, The pacing didn't keep me engaged and I found the story a bit heavy at times, Sonya's emotional journey is raw and real, but I felt disconnected from her struggles, making it hard to stay fully invested. For me, it just didn’t hit the mark.

A sparkling firecracker of a novel. Lisa Harding makes us live every moment with our heroine as she struggles with motherhood, grief and addiction in this fast paced and, at times, painful novel. Visceral, sometimes dark but ultimately bright and redemptive.

This book was incredibly intense and authentic, but the ending left me quite frustrated—almost as disappointing as the conclusion of Verity. The portrayal of Tommy and Sonya’s struggles was deeply affecting, highlighting the pain and challenges faced by those dealing with mental health issues and addiction, as well as the shortcomings of the prison system.

While Sonya wasn’t a character I could fully connect with, I empathized with her lack of support and her struggles. It was disheartening to see her not get the help she needed or expose any wrongdoing.

The ending felt realistic but also uncertain, reflecting the unpredictability of life. Lisa Harding excels in capturing psychological depth, and I’m eager to see her explore a psychological thriller next.

I really wanted to like this one but it fell a little short for me. It's pretty triggering - even for someone who isn't triggered by the topics covered. I found the protagonists anxiety to be really raw and I could feel everything she was going through. I think what went wrong for me with this one was the lack of any kind of conclusion. Sometimes an aimless, meandering plot is quite nice, but it wasn't right for me right now. I wouldn't recommend this one, but I wouldn't not recommend it. I think it would be to very specific people that I know would gel with it.

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. The writing was difficult to get comfortable with to begin with (this is for me personally) however continuing through with the writing style was worth it as the story was very powerful portraying an innocent child and their journey alongside their mother who is battling with alchol addiction.

Throughout the book you're conflicted with a multitude of emotions - you sympathise with Sonya because of the battle she is having with her addiction and yet you want to reprimand her for what she is putting her son through. It was a very thought provoking tale which I would recommend to others who enjoy this genre.

This was a challenging read which made me reflect on my own experiences as a mother and what I would do in this situation, along with how much empathy versus judgement of the protagonist I was experiencing. Well written although it may be triggering for some.

I feel privileged in receiving this copy from NetGalley. I read this book in two sittings and enjoyed it all 🤩
 
This book is the story of a woman, Sonya, experiencing addition and motherhood. You can clearly see the love she has for her son, Tommy, but the struggle she is facing with her addiction and not being able to be the mother or role model she wants to be is heart-breaking.
Sonya must address this addiction in order to be able to see her son again.
 
The characters are all well developed and I empathised with them all and the relationship between Tommy and his pet dog is adorable. Lisa Harding has written a thought provoking, rollercoaster of a story
 
The only thing I would say about this book is that I felt like the ending was left on a cliff-hanger and some things could have been written about in more depth but that’s just my personal preference 🤗

I love being given the opportunity to update our school library which is a unique space for both senior students and staff to access high quality literature. This is definitely a must-buy. It kept me absolutely gripped from cover to cover and is exactly the kind of read that just flies off the shelves. It has exactly the right combination of credible characters and a compelling plot thatI just could not put down. This is a great read that I couldn't stop thinking about and it made for a hugely satisfying read. I'm definitely going to order a copy and think it will immediately become a popular addition to our fiction shelves. 10/10 would absolutely recommend.

Really enjoyed this - will definitely be recommending and looking forward to the next one by this author!

This book wasn’t for me. I didn’t like any of the characters
The story was boring and lacked depth
A poor book

this book offered an insight into the power of addiction. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

Bright Burning Things was my final read of 2022 .

Well written and heavy in places BBT is the story of Sonya, her addiction and recovery . There are some particular scenes of gas lighting which are so well written your skin will crawl .

If you are interested in addiction, recovery or books set in Ireland this is definitely worth a read !

I received the ebook through @netgalley and picked up the hardback in my local library.

Bright Burning Things is a bit of a weird one. It's the tale of a mother deep in alcoholism, struggling to care for her young son and dog even as the genie in the bottle keeps drawing her back. It starts with a stream of consciousness that I found jarring and difficult to read; it was clearly a deliberate narrative device to show the unsteadiness of Sonya's thoughts but it was rather off-putting. Thankfully, the writing became more fluid as the narrative progressed and Sonya is forced to face up to her demons.

There's a lot to like here; the character of the alcoholic and the struggle to beat her demons were very true to life. I appreciated that Sonya is a deeply flawed character and her flaws actively hurt those around her, including her young son who is dependant on her and yet is often forced to counter her moods. Sonya's battles with her cravings and her fight to get her son back were well done as well.

Where I struggled more was with the character development of the 'lesser' characters. Many of them seemed two dimensional to an extreme; David for example, goes from being a knight in shining armour to being a creepy and manipulative presence in Sonya's life. It was a sudden and stark shift. one that brought tension to the novel but didn't seem completely real. Likewise, the conflict resolution was handled too deftly, too easily, with none of the drawn out and messy chaos that would have occurred in real life.

So this is an interesting novel and one that may be worth reading if you are a fan of reading novels focused on mental health and addition. But it's not as powerful as Shuggie Bain and it's both chaotic and simple at the wrong times. The writing style took a long time to 'click' for me and I found myself reading out of obligation rather than enjoyment.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my review copy of this title.

Bright Burning Things
Started this book, and tried to work out where it was going, but its just rambling on.
I got it as an arc, and there are a lot of numbers randomly added mid sentence or even in the middle of words, and its breaking my concentration.

Wow what a fantastic book. Had me locked in from the start. Wonderfully written and excellent at drawing you in

I found the beginning of the story captivating and was eager to find out how Sonya would overcome or fall into the depths of her alcoholism. However, the second half of the story I found a bit more lacking in depth and found some of it unbelievable. I found the more the story unfolded I disliked the characters of David and Sonya’s Father, I feel that the second half of the book could have been expanded on as I felt there were pieces missing which would have tied the story together nicely. A quick read overall.

This book was a really emotional and raw account of alcoholism and how difficult recovery from it can be. It follows Sonya and her son Tommy, along with their adorable dog Herbie. It focuses largely on Sonya’s addiction to alcohol and her journey through this complex and overwhelming addiction. It explores the tragic side effects that this addiction can have and how it impact parts of yourself and your capabilities, particularly surrounding caring for a young child on your own and battling such intense demons constantly within your own head. We also get to see the journey through Sonya’s rehabilitation and the ups and downs that come alongside fighting the constant urges and recovery.

It’s so detailed and delves deeply into how difficult it is to be in recovery for alcoholism whilst trying to nurture a relationship with your child, who has had to be put into temporary care during this time. How painful and hard it can be to build that trust back up between you, and also how disheartening and triggering it can be when faced with even the smallest of rejections to try and push those demons to turn back to alcohol can be when all feels lost and defeatist. It sheds so much light on just how difficult, painful, isolating and long this process really is, particularly when you feel so alone in this battle.

The writing style is a little different and I can understand that it’s maybe not easy for everyone to keep up with but I was personally gripped from the first chapter. It’s not necessarily fast paced but it’s really gripping and confusing in parts which only piqued my interest to read more. I found it personally really easy to follow and it felt really eloquently written. The development of the characters was also really easy to follow and really helped flesh out the plot. Furthermore, The chapters are also really short which I know can be a drawing point for many who struggle to stay focused for long chapters.

There’s various different details that unravel throughout the novel which really makes you think and question people’s motives towards Sonya. I found myself making a lot of predictions throughout which kept me really engaged and invested in Sonya’s story and figuring out what’s going on.

Unfortunately as the ending was quite abrupt I found myself wanting more from the book. I really thought it was leading up to something big and twisty and it just didn’t. I did enjoy the book overall and found it really eye-opening and engaging but I think maybe it could’ve been expanded more, obviously I know the author must’ve chosen the ending for a reason but I feel like there was just a lot of plot holes that weren’t tied up by the end, and I would’ve just liked a bit more of a conclusion.


Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this ARC last year in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

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A well written look in to the effects of poor mental Heath. Difficult to read at times but worth it.

I thought this book was for me and my liking but unfortunately it wasn’t. A bit too triggering for me but we’ll written and I’m sure many will enjoy it