Hello my friends! Happy Wednesday! Today I’m going to be reviewing Estelle Laure’s novel This Raging Light and the companion novel But Then I Came Back. 

This Raging Light by: Estelle Laure: Lucille’s life is spinning out of control; her father is crazy and her mother left them, now left to look after the bills and her little sister, Lucille is in over her head trying to keep it all together. On top of this she’s fallen in love with her best friend’s brother, someone who has been off limits to her. This was an interesting novel. It had its cute moments, but it also had a lot of moments of trials and tribulations. It took some time to get into this novel. The writing was easy to read and fast-paced; the plot was alright, it just kind of fell flat. The reader didn’t know where the plot was going or what the point was at times but once the reader got their bearings it got a bit better. What was done well were Laure’s characters because they were great to read, the passion she created for them was really good to see. The way it ended felt very open ended and a little abrupt. Apparently there is supposed to be a companion novel, maybe that will answer some of the unanswered questions.

But Then I Came Back by: Estelle Laure: Eden has been stuck in a coma since she fell and hit her head. Now she’s slowly waking up and learning how to live again, but that can be hard when what you used to know is now different and the things you experienced while in a coma no one understands. This was the companion, and concluding novel to This Raging Light and it was a really good conclusion to this story and these characters. The author chose to change the point of view, but the reader still gets the ending that is satisfying to the characters of the previous book. It was really well executed; the plot was well done and thought provoking, asking the tough questions about the afterlife and the in-between. This was definitely a fast-paced, paging-turning novel about a girl just trying to get her life back and Laure did a great job portraying just that. Her characters had their flaws, but it was those flaws that made them human and relatable. Even though the first book in this duology wasn’t the best, this book definitely makes up for it.