This Raging Light
by Estelle Laure
Pages: 149
Published on December 22nd 2015
by HMH Books for Young Readers
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Goodreads
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.
I received this book for free from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This seems one of those book where people either seem to love it or (strongly) dislike/hate it. Unfortunately I belong to the latter. While the writing isn’t bad and the story itself had a lot of potential, ultimately I was very disappointed.
This Raging Light is about Lucille. Her life is a mess after her dad went crazy and her mom left town. She has to pay the bills and look after her little sister. But as usual in these stories, a boy messes everything up. Lucille falls for her best friend’s brother Digby.
Look, this is not the most original story out there. I’ve seen it before and, unfortunately, I’ve seen it done better too. But it had potential. If executed great, even an unoriginal story can be amazing. And while the writing is great, the rest isn’t. There are too many plot lines for a novel of this size. My ARC copy is only 149 pages, which is very short. By the end of the book, a lot of those plot lines were left unresolved. That’s something I really don’t like.
Next to that I also have a lot of problems with the characters. Our main character, Lucille, is really very dramatic and quite ungrateful at times. She was annoying. Most of the other characters had very little personality to be honest. Eden was a horrible friend, but then again, Lucille wasn’t a good friend either. Digby… Well… considering he has a long-term girlfriend all throughout the book, he’s an ass. He’s cheating on both girls the whole time. And I didn’t like him, even without the cheating. The romance was so weird! Some call it cheesy, but honestly, it was just weird to me.
This Raging Light is too short and has way too much going on. There was potential, but it just fell flat for me. Then again, I’ve seen quite a few people giving it more than 4 stars, so you might love it. Who knows?
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Dang, that sucks Bieke! I actually won an ARC from HMH books that’s coming soon, so we’ll see how it is. Plus since it’s ~149 pages I can probably breeze by it. I read another review and it really sounds like I wouldn’t like the characters! First off, I HATE cheaters, like with a burning passion. So minus points already for the romance. And the main character just sounds like a whiner. SO. I will definitely be going into this book with lower standards. Superb review Bieke!
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Thank you Aila! <3
Twitter: Liza
Too bad Bee. It really sounds like too many issues with the unresolved plot lines and the lackluster characters 🙁
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah. 🙁 Such a bummer.
Twitter: CG Paper Fury
Agh, I really don’t do well with stories that are about cheating. >_> And gee, that seems really really short!! Even for a contemporary! I kind of have this one added but I haven’t rushed out to find it, hehe, so I’ll definitely be cautious if I end up reading it. *lowers expectations*
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
That’s a good idea! 🙂
Awww. I’m sorry this was such a disappointment for you. 🙁 What a bummer.
Twitter: Bieke Paesen
Yeah 🙁