Review: THIS RAGING LIGHT by Estelle Laure

This Raging Light by Estelle Laure
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Can you fall in love when everything is falling apart?

Estelle Laure is a major new talent to rival John Green and Rainbow Rowell. Her debut novel, This Raging Light, is a heartbreakingly beautiful book that you'll devour in one sitting, but remember forever.

How is it that you suddenly notice a person? How is it that one day Digby was my best friend's admittedly cute twin brother, and then the next he stole air, gave jitters, twisted my insides up?

Lucille has bigger problems than falling for her best friend's unavailable brother. Her mom has gone, leaving her to look after her sister, Wren. With bills mounting up and appearances to keep, Lucille is raging against her life but holding it together - just.

—

THIS RAGING LIGHT is the first book by Estelle Laure that I’ve read, and I have mixed feelings.

On the one hand, I loved the writing. It was metaphorical and beautiful. I loved the set-up; Lucille’s father is “crazy” and is living at a half-way house leaving 17-year-old Lucille to raise her younger sister.

But for me, the romance totally let it down. I just didn’t understand WHY Lucille was attracted to Digby, and to be honest, he seemed like a bit of a jerk. (Warning: spoilers ahead!) He’s been in a long-term relationship with Elaine (they’re discussing marriage) yet he has no problem kissing Lucille in very passionate ways. And it totally didn’t seem to trouble him in any way that he was cheating on his girlfriend. And Lucille, although she says she felt bad, didn’t exactly do much to stop it. It was only when Digby’s twin Eden (Lucille’s best friend) says that it’s cutting Digby up, trying to choose between Lucille and Elaine, that I thought maybe he does care and have a sense of right and wrong. But his earlier actions hadn’t really shown it.

Eden was an interesting character. The “best friend forever...who has no problem ignoring you when you fall out.” I just wasn’t sure what to think of her at all—but I almost think that’s the point; we feel as lost about Eden as Lucille does when Eden stops talking to her. Neither Lucille or the reader totally understands Eden. All the same, Eden’s characterisation was solid—a ballet dancer, possibly with anorexia (though it’s not outright said) who seems lost and hurting inside. Her hurt runs in an almost opposite arc to Lucille’s hurt in the book, which was interesting. In short, I found Eden to be a much more developed character than Digby, the love interest. She had depth, whereas it felt Digby’s only purpose was to be the love interest.

The plot twist involving Eden was also one I didn’t see coming, so good points for that!

But the overall ending just seemed a little rushed. It felt like all the obstacles Lucille had been facing just suddenly disappeared; the whole book she was scared of repercussions if people found out she was looking after her sister, but then there weren’t any. It just seemed too neat an ending.

My rating: 2.5 stars.

View all my reviews

Edited to add: I’ve since found out that there’s a sequel to this book, and it’s told from Eden’s POV rather than Lucille’s. I’m now more inclined to try another book by this author than I was previously as Eden was my favourite character in this by far.