ARC REVIEW: THIS RAGING LIGHT by Estelle Laure

THIS RAGING LIGHT

Author: Estelle Laure

Source: ARC via the Publisher

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: December 22, 2015

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Summary:

Can the best thing happen at the worst time?  

Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-year-old Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she’s about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend’s brother. With blazing longing that builds to a fever pitch, Estelle Laure’s soulful debut will keep readers hooked and hoping until the very last page. 

Purchase:

Amazon | Chapters | TBD

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in a giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

THIS RAGING LIGHT was one of my most highly anticipated December 2015 releases. I was so intrigued by the premise, even though it seemed like it would be romance heavy when there was obviously a lot of other stuff going on. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this one focused more on Lucille learning how to cope with raising her sister and being on her own than her relationship with Digby. And while the romance was there, it was nice that it wasn't the complete focus of the novel.

I was a little skeptical at first about the first person narrative because it seemed  a little out of place, but once I got a little deeper into the story I realized that without being as deep inside Lucille's head as we were, we wouldn't have gotten the same emotional depth. Because it is so deeply inside Lucille's head and her point of view, I feel like that made the story that much better and worse: we knew exactly what her thoughts were on the situation but there wasn't the added benefit of knowing what Digby or Eden or even really Wren thought of what was happening. But I think Lucille was such a strong character that none of that really took away from my reading experience.

I liked that everyone in this book was selfish. Lucille wanted everyone to feel sympathetic for her but she didn't want to acknowledge that other people had problems as well; Eden wanted Lucille to just be her old self again without realizing that there was really no going back; Digby wanted the best of both worlds. But this is so true for real life. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own heads that we forget about other people and their problems. I would have liked to see more of a friendship develop between Lucille and Shane, that would have made the book just that much better.

The pacing was really good and I liked the chapter titles being Days After. That made it really easy to keep track of where the story was and what had previously happened. I also liked that depending on what was happening, Lucille had a memory of the past but it was always interrupted or finished by the characters saying "where are you in your head right now?" or something to that affect because it made it so realistic. You could really tell we were inside Lucille's head trying to process and figure stuff out.

I just really liked this one. And I highly recommend it because it isn't your typical coming of age story. Because it's not like Lucille is choosing between schools and what guy she wants to be with, she is trying to figure out how she will live the rest of her life and take care of her sister and I just have so many feelings and want to scoop both her and Wren up into a hug and just squish them with love.