Back Where We Belong
Fifteen years ago, one desperate act tore sisters Bex and Briony apart. 👭💕✨
Growing up side by side against the backdrop of a feckless father and a hardworking mum, they were inseparable—until Briony’s attempt to save Bex from a disastrous engagement shattered their bond.
Now Bex has the life she dreamed of: a loving family, a new glamping site on the family farm, and roots she’s proud of. Briony, living under the online alias “Holly Day,” drifts from place to place in her van, watching her sister’s happiness from afar.
When their beloved mum falls seriously ill, Bex must track down the sister she hasn’t seen in over a decade. But finding Briony brings more than old wounds—it brings unexpected closeness, new beginnings, and the realisation that some bonds never truly break.
As secrets unravel and hearts tentatively open, Bex and Briony must decide whether they can finally forgive, heal, and find their way back to each other—and to the family they both desperately need.
Shop The Book: Back Where We Belong
Shop My Stack: 2026 Books Read
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publication Date: 27th April 2026
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Standalone Second Book in the Cornish Bay Collection series
I have read quite a few of Jo Bartlett’s domestic suspense novels and I am a genuine fan of her writing, but I had never picked up one of her women’s fiction titles before. This felt like the right time to change that. When Rachel’s Random Resources brought this one to me I said yes without hesitation. Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources and to Jo Bartlett for having me on this tour.
The Story
Back Where We Belong follows two sisters, Bex and Briony, who have spent fifteen years apart after one desperate decision drove a wedge between them that neither knew how to close. Bex has built a life she is proud of, rooted in family and the farm she loves. Briony has spent those same years drifting, watching her sister’s happiness from a careful distance under an assumed name. When their mother falls seriously ill, Bex goes looking for the sister she has not seen in over a decade, and what follows is a story about old wounds, unexpected closeness, and whether some bonds are too strong to stay broken.
Reading Experience
This felt like a Jo Bartlett novel from the very first page, and I mean that as the highest compliment. She has a way of writing that puts you directly inside the head and heart of her hurting characters in a way that feels immediate and real. I loved Bex immediately and felt her heartbreak deeply. And then I fell in love with Briony too, even while understanding exactly why everything went so wrong between them. That is what great character writing does. When I can disagree with every choice a character makes and still love them and root for them completely, that is a writer doing their job beautifully. Jo Bartlett does it consistently and this book is no exception.
Jo Bartlett knows how to build a story. She takes her time constructing the relationships and the emotional investment, pulling the reader in close, and then she finds the one thread that unravels everything. She does not let her characters off easy. She forces them to actually face their fears and their flaws in order to come out the other side, and that willingness to sit in the hard stuff before earning the healing is what makes her books feel so satisfying.
Characters
Bex and Briony were best friends long before they were just sisters, and that history is what makes the distance between them so painful to read. One decision, made with what felt like good intentions, fractured something that should have been unbreakable. What I found myself thinking throughout this book is that they both could have done things differently at so many points along the way. But that is not how real life works and Jo Bartlett knows that. They both let their feelings lead them and it cost them years. That feels true and honest and it made for a deeply affecting read.
Theme
This book is about family, about forgiveness, about the remorse that quietly accumulates when you let too much time pass without fixing something that matters. It is about honesty and what happens when people are not honest, with each other or with themselves, for long enough that it becomes a way of life. And it is ultimately about trust, about whether it can be rebuilt after it has been broken and what it actually takes to get there. Jo Bartlett handles all of it with warmth and without shortcuts.
Final Thoughts
Back Where We Belong is a warm, emotionally honest, and beautifully written women’s fiction novel that I really liked. If you are already a Jo Bartlett reader this will feel like coming home. And if this is your first time with her work, it is a wonderful place to start. She writes hurting characters with so much compassion and so much truth that you cannot help but feel every bit of it alongside them. This one left me with a full heart.
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this virtual book tour, Rachel’s Random Resources
Author Bio –
Jo Bartlett is the bestselling author of over nineteen women’s fiction titles. She fits her writing in between her two day jobs as an educational consultant and university lecturer and lives with her family and three dogs on the Kent coast.
Social Media Links –
Facebook: @JoBartlettAuthor
Twitter: @J_B_Writer
Instagram: @jo_bartlett_author
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/JoBartlettNews
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