Review: This Raging Light by Estelle Laure

Title: This Raging Light
Author: Estelle Laure
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Release Date: December 22, 2015


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.




 All the feels!  Thank you, Laure, for making me feel EVERYTHING!  I could not put this book down.

I've never read anything quite like This Raging Light before.  A poor girl just trying to make end's meat and take care of her little sister after her father goes crazy and her mother skips town.  Lucille's voice is amazing, sharp, and witty.  She would constantly say things in her head that made me laugh.  And even though she had so many troubles, I was constantly reminded that she was only seventeen.  She had all these feelings she was dealing with.  She didn't want to deal with them.  But she was seventeen and couldn't get rid of them.

I wanted to hate Digby for the way that he treated Elaine.  I really did.  But I couldn't find it in my heart to not love him.  He was just so kind and loving.

Yes, terrible things happen.  But there was someone there to catch Lucille when she fell.  Some people are just good people.  And we tend to forget that.  Some people want to help, because they see someone in need.  Lucille would have made it without all the help she got, I'm sure.  She was a strong character.  Very driven and motivated to keep her sister safe and fed and happy.  But a little help sometimes doesn't hurt.

It's more than a coming-of-age.  Lucille has to act much more than seventeen years old.  She has to act the parent and pay bills and have a job.  Do things teenagers should never be required to do.  But she does it.  And she doesn't often snap.  But she does snap.  And it reminds us that she is human and as real as a character can get.

I need this book so much.  You need this book.  Seriously.  Go buy it now.

If you like contemporary literature at all, I would highly suggest reading this book.

Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review, and that in no way changes my opinion of this book.