Skip to main content

Featured

See the Stars by Eleanor Ray #Review

  See the Stars by Eleanor Ray will be  published on February 5th 2026 by Piatkus .  Do you ever feel that life isn't going to plan?   When Alice Thorington collapses in the street after a particularly hellish day at work, she must finally admit to herself that her outwardly happy life - steady relationship, well-paid job, beautiful flat in the city - isn't everything she'd hoped it would be. Burnt out by long hours and living a life that doesn't fulfil her dreams, Alice returns home to Yorkshire.  Her childhood home brings complicated family dynamics, a rediscovery of her passion for stargazing and two new friends: Berti, a boy who finds it easier to count the stars than interact with people, and Matt, her brother's best friend and Alice's teenage crush. With each of them facing their own struggles, can the stars that meant so much to Alice in her past help them to find their way in the present?  Filled with heart and warmth, this uplifting novel...

The Things We Need to Say by Rachel Burton **Publication Day Review**

I am delighted to be featuring The Things We Need to Say today on its Publication Day launch. I thoroughly enjoyed Rachel Burton's novel, The Many Colours of Us and you can read my review here.
 

Sometimes the things we never say are the most important.

Fran loves Will with all her heart. They had a whirlwind romance, a perfect marriage and a wonderful life. Until everything changed. Now Fran needs to find her way again and teaching a yoga retreat in Spain offers her just that. Leaving behind a broken marriage she has some very important decisions to make.

Will needs his wife, he needs her to open up to him if they’re to ever return to the ways things once were. But he may have damaged any possibility he had of mending their relationship and now Fran is in Spain and Will is alone.

As both Fran and Will begin to let go of a life that could have been, fate may just find a way of bringing them back together.

 Perfect for fans of Katie Marsh, Amanda Prowse and Sheila O’Flanagan

My Thoughts

In The Things We Need to Say, Rachel Burton returns to the subject of family and explores ideas of parenthood and marriage. It is quite an intensive read, told through two of the characters, mainly Fran but also her husband, Will. Rachel picks apart their relationship until we have got to its bare bones in this affecting and emotional story. I stayed with them all the way through, willing them to just sort a few things out and speak to each other. Of course, it is not that easy.

    Through Fran's yoga class and hotel workers, we are given an interesting bunch of people who are all on the retreat for their own personal reasons. They add a touch of humanity to what is an otherwise emotional read and you see another facet of Fran's character as their yoga teacher and friend. You realise that she is intensely loyal and caring, offering a protective shoulder or a sympathetic ear at times. 

Just as in The Many Colours of Us, Rachel has created a well-paced story with likeable, rounded characters and some deeply felt issues. Recommended.

In short: A marriage in crisis makes for an emotional and affecting read you can't help get involved in.
About the Author



Rachel Burton has been making up stories since she first learned to talk. After many false starts she finally made one up that was worth writing down.

After graduating with a degree in Classics and another in English, she didn't really know what to do when she grew up. She has worked as a waitress, a paralegal and a yoga teacher.

She has spent most of her life between Cambridge and London but now lives in Leeds with her boyfriend and three cats. The main loves of her life are The Beatles and very tall romantic heroes.

Her debut, The Many Colours of Us, was an Amazon Kindle bestseller. Her second novel, The Things We Need to to Say, is released on 11 May 2018. She is currently working on her third novel in which the heroine follows the love of her life to live in a city in northern England. It has no autobiographical elements at all.....maybe.

Find her on Twitter & Instagram as @bookish_yogi or search Facebook for Rachel Burton Author. She is always happy to talk books, writing, music, cats and how the weather in Yorkshire is rubbish. She is mostly dreaming of her next holiday....

Twitter |  Instagram  |  Website   |  Goodreads  

Book links: Amazon UK

Thanks to Rachel Burton, HQ Digital and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the Publication Day event.

Comments

Popular Posts