BOOK REVIEW- ⭐️⭐️⭐️

My thoughts: I want to start off by saying that this book was extremely well written but it just wasn't for me. I love reading about addiction, as I have a personal connection to it, but I struggled with this one. At first, I related to the main characters son when his mom went to rehab (as my father did many times when I was growing up) but their relationship was to odd for me. In actuality, Sonya's (the main character) relationships with everyone were just downright strange to me. I felt that the author did a good job showing us what an addiction could feel like for someone and how it exemplifies other issues that individual has. While this book wasn't my favorite, I would encourage others to give it a try.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lisa Harding, and the publisher for a copy of this one in exchange for an honest review.

This story is amazing. It is heartbreaking, with a look into the mind of a mother in the middle of an alcohol addiction. But it’s also about messy family relationships, grief, and finding your voice. I can’t recommend it enough.

This story was enjoyable but very stressful. Kept me on the edge of my seat with anxiety the entire read. An accurate depiction of the childhood suffering that can occur when you have an alcoholic parent. Very sad but tender at times. Recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Bright Burning Things is an interesting, well written story. The characters are all quite odd and the set up of the plot kept my off kilter for much of the book. I wanted to love it but despite feeling deeply for Sonya I still found there was too much that wasn’t shared. Details were touched on but then never really explained or tied back into the story. Too often I was left with more questions than answers. I applaud the writing and will certainly look for more books by Lisa Harding.

quite a read, and very well written.
Main character-and narrator-is Sonya, a formerly successful stage actress in London, abandoned by her partner when she becomes pregnant( you’re not mother material)-she is back in Ireland with her 4 year old son Tommy , their rescue dog Herbie, and alcohol( pinot grigio). Forced into a 12 week rehab session under threat of losing her son, the reader is taken on a heartbreaking journey through her alcoholism, her recovery and her desperate need to recover her son.References are made throughout the book to a troubled childhood and upbringing,a troubled mother(? Alcohol) and a distant father.Both she and her son are fascinated by fire and burning things, hence the title.The book ends abruptly and to my mind inconclusively-does she “ make it” or return to her harmful ways-to my mind this is for each and every reader to decide for him/ her self, and what makes for a compelling read and discussion. This reader is sincerely pulling for her.
Lisa Harding does a wonderful job in portraying the emotions and mental/ physical toll of alcoholism without the usual demeaning scenes that many of us have witnessed or read in other books about the “ illness”.

Bright Burning Things was very sharply written and I found myself really enjoying the author’s method of writing.

Sonya is an alcoholic with a young, 4 year old son. She cannot function without a drink, but she also can’t truly function and be the mother her son deserves when she’s drunk. Sonia plays fast and loose with her parenting, however there is absolutely no doubt in the reader’s mind that she loves her son more than anything. Her dad becomes worried and he forces Sonia to go to rehab and takes her son away from her. The novel follows along Sonia’s journey of addiction, depression and redemption. I truly cannot recommend this novel enough.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sonya is a single mom trying to care for 4-year old Tommy, but Sonya struggles with alcoholism. When Sonya’s estranged dad intervenes and sends her into rehab, Sonya struggles but does it so that she can get Tommy back.

I kept hearing about #brightburningthings by #lisaharding so I wanted to give it a read even though it wasn’t something I would normally read.

Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This is an impactful read. Sonya is a former stage actress whose successful days are long behind her. Following a string of unsuccessful relationships and a failed career, she now lives with her young son, Tommy, and their dog. Sonya feels she needs to drink to get through life, and her days are largely spent in a haze. Her erratic behavior eventually prompts her father to intervene. He forces her to go to rehab or risk losing her son. As she pursues the bumpy path to recovery, Sonya grapples with her relationship with her son, her father, what she wants for her future -- and whether she can see a path to achieving it.

This book, told from Sonya's point of view, was an interesting and perceptive exploration of addiction and recovery, and the impacts on one's family. Sonya's journey is gripping, and readers will not soon forget her story. Highly recommended!

For the first part of this book I wasn't sure what I was reading. It sounded like the internal thoughts of a woman with a serious mental illness. Finally things started opening up and making more sense and I thought the story was moving. But, really until the very end of the book if felt like Sonya was stuck in the same place. I think what I was missing was what got her to this place. Sure the summary mentions her life as an actress but since the reader never gets to know her as she was then, the flashback references are incredibly disjointed and are more confusing that enlightening. Finally it feels like Sonya and the story start making progress and that's when the book ends. I wish this book had offered more. More before and more after.

This is a lovely, heartfelt, heart wrenching, heartwarming novel about a single mom with overwhelming obstacles to overcome. It’s, at times, painful to read as a child is involved and it’s an unflinching portrayal of addiction. Brutal. The writing is spot on and I spent the entire time truly rooting for this family. I wholeheartedly recommend this beautiful book and am grateful to Harper for the advanced copy. Read this one!

This was a very heavy book, yet so enjoyable. Going through Sonya's life and her struggles tore at your heart, but you couldn't wait to see where she was going next. The author does a great job of developing the characters and making you feel what they are feeling throughout.

this story was... overwhelming, but at the same time, kind of enjoyable, as wrong as that could sound. the amount of emotions that i went through in the 3 days i read this were countless. it was really powerful, the way the author described each feeling was just mesmerizing. loved the way she constructed each character, all of them being intriguing and complex. so glad i got to read this, dont think i'll ever forget it. also, jimmy has a soft spot in my heart from now on.

alcoholism is hard to portray since i do think it could be easily generalized and stereotyped, but the author did an amazing job, as someone who had close ones suffer from this (first or second hand) it hit the spot.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sonya falls into alcoholism and loses her child. Her struggle to regain her son and herself is difficult but inspiring.

Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding is a highly recommended and emotional literary fiction about addiction and rehabilitation.

Sonya lives for her son Tommy, rescue dog Herbie, and drinking. Her previous career as a London stage actress is over, as is her relationship with Tommy's father, but she knows her love is all Tommy needs. What she doesn't recognize is her love of alcohol is resulting in blackouts, and she is grossly neglecting her son. After a neighbor informs him about her neglect and a terrifying incident, her father, whom she hasn't seen in years, comes to her home with the choice of going to rehab or risk losing Tommy forever. Sonya enters a 12 week program and Tommy is put into care. Now she faces finishing rehab and staying sober, so she get her son back.

This is a difficult novel to read, especially at the beginning because Sonya is a mess and completely unlikable, unpredictable, and obviously neglecting Tommy. Even though you know she loves him and is trying to make life fun and magical for Tommy, it is also clear that with her drinking and blackouts, he would be better off with someone who could take care of him. Her thoughts are manic, scattered, and disorganized; she doesn't remember when or if she fed Tommy and Herbie. She relies on Herbie to watch Tommy. It is horrifying. Once Sonya enters rehab and starts detox you hope she sticks with the program for Tommy's sake.

The characters are all complex and flawed, many of them deeply flawed. The narrative is heartbreaking throughout. This is one of those novels that it might be best to prepare yourself for reading because it is so emotionally disturbing and tragic. Even when it seems that there may be hope, it is clear that Sonya will always be struggling and, perhaps, is not a good judge of character. You will hope there is redemption in the end but it is clear that nothing is guaranteed and her current choices might be due to deeper issues from her past. The ending is sudden and resolves nothing. 3.5 rounded up

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.

A near perfect story about an imperfect family. Sonya, a former actress with lingering trauma, hits rock bottom due to juggling her alcoholism and raising her toddler son and their adorable dog Herbie. She needs help, she knows this, but it takes catching herself in a dire situation and a visit from her estranged father to push her to realization. We follow Sonya through the trials of her rehabilitation, fighting for custody of her son back, and unhealthy dominant relationships with the men in her life. I grew to love and resent Sonya, gripped by her battle with addiction and proud in a way that family would be as I obsessively read her growth into a better–sober–person. It’s colorful, it’s fiery, and it’s bright–even in the darkest moments during Sonya’s road to redemption. Great read for fans of Shuggie Bain.

Wow this book was NOT what I thought it was going to be. I had a really hard time following the author's prose, it sort of felt like one long stream of consciousness. It was a difficult book to read and not an enjoyable one.

I found the protagonist's journey emotional and powerful, but it was brutal to witness. Overall the book's slow pace and frenetic energy made me unable to appreciate it. I think I may need to be more discerning in my NetGalley requests in the future.

I'll give it a 4 stars for the depth and craft, but it was more like a 2 for how much I liked it.

Actually 3.5 stars.

Reading so many pages written as if in the head of an addict was difficult, stressful, and (I imagine) accurate. The writing was truly amazing. But it also felt like the novel had some gaps that made it read like Swiss cheese. I am left with a lot of whys that were never addressed so the story wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been. Nevertheless, I’m glad to have read it.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC to read and review.

Upon reading the description of this book, I was intrigued. A glamorous woman whose life spiraled out of control because of addiction didn't sound exactly like light holiday reading, but it sounded more deep and intense. While it took me two attempts to really dive into the book before I grasped the feel and the tone of the story, it finally hit me and I was caught up in it's web of truthful yet painful reality of alcoholism.

At the beginning of the story, I was really confused. The writing seemed choppy and I just couldn't understand Sonya. But that was completely intentional as we were seeing life through her eyes. The eyes of a mother who was an alcoholic and put her child in danger because of the answers she was seeking at the bottom of a bottle. And it wasn't just herself and her son she was putting in danger. It was her home, her health and her dog Herbie who almost seemed like another child that was a protector of her son. When things totally spin out of control, her father shows up in her life and forces her to make some heavy decisions that she never really wanted to make.

After losing her son, her dog and her life as she knew it, Sonya is forced to get clean so she can return to her life that she lost total control of. This story was not pretty and I found a lot of it heartbreaking. A woman that dealt with the loss of a parent and then brought that mental health into her adulthood and into being a mother. It was a tough read. But there were parts of it that just didn't sit right with me. The solicitor, David seemed off. He seemed really unhealthy for her and always in the "right place at the right time." Her father and his wife and even one of the people in the treatment center also just didn't fit in the story.

Overall, the story is a difficult one to swallow but gets in the mind of someone that has mental health issues along with alcoholism. It was real and all over the place. I wasn't a fan of a few characters, but I liked seeing Sonya battle her everyday life. She didn't really have a support system that an addict needs, so I feel for her. The way some things were handled seemed a bit out there, but it was to an extreme that I couldn't always get behind. In the end, the book was alright, but left so many things open ended and I needed more resolution.

Bright Burning Things is lyrical, like a long prose poem. Harding writes with a POV so deep, so close to the main character, that it's like living inside her, feeling her pain and confusion and addiction and torment, and eventually, her hope.

A propulsive, chaotic, engaging read. The writing was well-done, giving the reader the experience of the recovering person's psyche and all the chaos that surrounds the addiction and the struggles of recovery. Being inside the mind of our unreliable narrator as she tries to navigate her life both before and after using alcohol, gives us the sense of it all as it unfolds and we see her struggles. As some have said, the ending felt abrupt and I was hoping to see more of how things turn out but we are left to decide for ourselves how the rest of her life unfolds.