📖 Reader Connection & Gratitude

One of the most fantastic things is hearing how readers react to the stories that you produce. You spend hours writing, and you’re never quite sure how other people are going to feel when they read it. So this week, I was incredibly touched to receive the most beautiful review for Beneath the Towans’ Sky:

Absolutely hooked now!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2026

Format: Kindle Edition

"The first book in this series was captivating, but the second is even better, the characters just immerse you & pull you in to the story of their lives like the sea around which they are written - loved how Cheryl’s story is unfolding too & can’t wait for book 3." ★★★★★ — UK reader

This review truly lit up my day. Knowing that readers believe in the characters, that the setting, the sea, and the healing have done the quiet work that I hoped they would, and that readers are eager to stay with these lives a little bit longer — and are already looking forward to Book Three — was incredibly moving. To hear that they were captivated by the first book, but feel that the second is even better, was truly wonderful.

It reminded me why I wanted to write Book Two: to slow the story down, to deepen it, and to really sit with the people, the place, and the community we were trying to build. Reviews like this are a real gift to me, and to authors in general, because it’s not just about the stars — it’s about knowing the story is doing what it’s meant to do. It’s drawing readers in and letting them stay.

Beneath the Towans’ Sky was always meant to be the kind of story that asks you to linger a little longer as a reader. When I finished Between the Towans, I knew the characters weren’t done with me yet. There was more beneath the surface — more history, more unspoken things, and that shifting pull the sea has on people who live close to it.

I wanted to go deeper — not just into the setting, but into the lives and inner worlds of the people who call the Towans home. The tagline, “The sea can’t erase the past — but it can teach you how to begin again,” stayed with me throughout the entire writing process.

The Cornish dunes are never still. The winds reshape them daily, the tides pull and retreat, and the people who live there learn quickly that nothing stays the same for long. I wanted to mirror that in the book — showing a story shaped by movement and change, and by the quiet courage it sometimes takes to stop running and start staying, to feel that sense of belonging.

The story explores Cheryl and Ralph’s journeys in more depth and introduces Eli and Lois, alongside other new characters whose lives begin to intertwine beneath the Cornish sky. There is love, friendship, friction at times, and forgiveness — and the resurfacing of old ghosts from the past. It’s very much about what happens when we stop outrunning our history and learn to live alongside it.

This is a longer, deeper, more layered story, and it gave me the space to explore the community more fully — something I love about the town of Hayle. The idea of the Towans Trust grew naturally from that: caring for this stretch of coastline, linking not just with the surf school but with the wider community, the children who live there, and the shared responsibility of protecting a place that matters to so many people.

If you’ve read Between the Towans, you’ll recognise familiar faces. And yes — Rafi, Iris, and faithful Moss 🐾 are very much still part of the story. Their journeys don’t reset in Book Two; they grow, deepen, and sometimes complicate in ways that feel much closer to real life.

This book is for readers who love stories rooted in community and setting. A fellow author once said to me, “The sea feels like a character in itself — and so does the setting,” which meant so much, because that’s exactly what I hoped for. I wanted readers to be drawn to the wild Cornish coast, to community-led stories, to second chances, and to the idea that home isn’t always where you start — it’s where you finally feel able to stay.

Writing Beneath the Towans’ Sky meant trusting the story enough to let it unfold slowly. It took time, many re-edits, and space for silence, history, and connection to matter. Like the dunes themselves, reshaping doesn’t mean loss — it means renewal.

The Towans still have more to say. This chapter was an important step in listening.

Receiving a review as generous and thoughtful as this five-star one is what inspires me to keep going. It tells me the story is connecting, that it matters, and that readers are excited to continue the journey into Book Three. I’ve already begun shaping the story arc, and I can’t wait to return to these characters again.

So thank you — thank you for the reviews, for the comments, and for the time you’ve taken to read these stories. And if you haven’t read Beneath the Towans’ Sky yet, I hope you do — and that you enjoy it as much as those readers who’ve already shared their thoughts.

Thank you - Bren xoxo