helenblake13's review against another edition
3.0
i mean, this book was pretty good.
i think the thing for me was that it was just kinda over dramatic. i love my good cheesy romantic story with a really cute guy that would obviously never happen to me in real life, but i mean, for a story that does focus relatively heavily on romance, this was just sometimes overdoing it a little? and of course, the circumstances in this story are clearly a lot different than your run of the mill high school love story and i wouldn’t actually classify this as a cheesy romance novel (i was just using “cheesy romance story” as reference), but again, for a novel with a decent amount of romance, it was just sometimes a little eye roll. and as a high schooler, approximately no high schoolers interact with each other the way the joe and eden interact with each other, and by the rare chance that they might, then everyone else would probably hate them. so there’s that.
anyways, that was really the only thing that bugged me. aside from that, this story was pretty interesting and i really loved the flowers and how those were integrated throughout the book. also, estelle laure is a fantastic author and i love her writing.
also i had no idea this was a sequel and that there’s a first book, so. that’s cool. i guess.
i think the thing for me was that it was just kinda over dramatic. i love my good cheesy romantic story with a really cute guy that would obviously never happen to me in real life, but i mean, for a story that does focus relatively heavily on romance, this was just sometimes overdoing it a little? and of course, the circumstances in this story are clearly a lot different than your run of the mill high school love story and i wouldn’t actually classify this as a cheesy romance novel (i was just using “cheesy romance story” as reference), but again, for a novel with a decent amount of romance, it was just sometimes a little eye roll. and as a high schooler, approximately no high schoolers interact with each other the way the joe and eden interact with each other, and by the rare chance that they might, then everyone else would probably hate them. so there’s that.
anyways, that was really the only thing that bugged me. aside from that, this story was pretty interesting and i really loved the flowers and how those were integrated throughout the book. also, estelle laure is a fantastic author and i love her writing.
also i had no idea this was a sequel and that there’s a first book, so. that’s cool. i guess.
kba76's review against another edition
3.0
A companion novel to This Raging Light, we follow Eden after she wakes from a coma.
The story focuses on some mystical exploration of what happens after death. Eden remembers feeling like she was in another place. She sees black flowers, and has to learn to live her life again.
A romance of sorts develops with Joe, the best friend of the girl in the nearby room (who's also in a coma, and whom Eden is convinced she met before waking up).
This was reasonably interesting, but Eden still comes across as too keen to judge others/slightly lacking in self-awareness.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my review.
The story focuses on some mystical exploration of what happens after death. Eden remembers feeling like she was in another place. She sees black flowers, and has to learn to live her life again.
A romance of sorts develops with Joe, the best friend of the girl in the nearby room (who's also in a coma, and whom Eden is convinced she met before waking up).
This was reasonably interesting, but Eden still comes across as too keen to judge others/slightly lacking in self-awareness.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my review.
rebeccas287's review against another edition
3.0
I really didn't enjoy this book
I got to about 60 pages in, and realised that I wasn't enjoying it, but I carried on anyway and read about a hundred more pages.
The book was just so boring, there was nothing that kept me wanting to read the book, in fact, if anything, I just wanted to put the book down and pick another one up.
The book says that it is a sequel, but it doesn't mention this anywhere in the book- that I noticed anyway- and I thought that this was a bit bizarre.
I quite enjoyed the first book by Estelle Laure, and I was very disappointed with this one.
I definitely wouldn't recommend this
I got to about 60 pages in, and realised that I wasn't enjoying it, but I carried on anyway and read about a hundred more pages.
The book was just so boring, there was nothing that kept me wanting to read the book, in fact, if anything, I just wanted to put the book down and pick another one up.
The book says that it is a sequel, but it doesn't mention this anywhere in the book- that I noticed anyway- and I thought that this was a bit bizarre.
I quite enjoyed the first book by Estelle Laure, and I was very disappointed with this one.
I definitely wouldn't recommend this
annalovelace's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't knew it was a sequel lol, but you can read it anyway
anjalikay's review against another edition
3.0
But Then I Came Back was a pretty enjoyable read. I thought Eden was realistic for her age (often I find in YA novels, the main characters aren't), and the people around her were definitely believable characters.
The plot, while a tad intense at time, was really well laid out and while there were parts that I felt could have been a bit deeper, or not as rushed, it was, on the whole, a nice story.
Read full review on This Splendid Shambles.
The plot, while a tad intense at time, was really well laid out and while there were parts that I felt could have been a bit deeper, or not as rushed, it was, on the whole, a nice story.
Read full review on This Splendid Shambles.
thebumblegirl's review against another edition
5.0
So honest and raw!
Full review to be posted soon.
Full review to be posted soon.
mrsclb's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
amandaventure's review against another edition
2.0
***ARC provided for a honest review*** 1.5 stars
I guess my summation of But Then I Came Back is incoherent context + the usual teenage angst like this gem:
Equals 30 year old me like this:
But Then I Came Back was a tough one to get through. I don’t mean because I found it emotionally demanding and poignant. It was difficult because I could never get a grasp on what exactly it was trying to be. Was this supposed to be a coming of age story? Was this supposed to be a supernatural story? Or is it some combination of the two? It all just seemed like a normal contemporary story about a girl trying to reconnect to life after nearly dying. Next thing I know, Eden and her love interest, Joe, are visiting a witch named Gigi and taking about another realm of being or the afterlife. I haven’t read This Raging Light of which But Then I Came Back is the somewhat sequel to. I’m not sure if having read the first book would have enriched my experience with this one. I think more likely than not that if I had read the first book I wouldn’t have moved on to the next one.
I found myself trying to reason out the author’s creative intent because I was finding it really difficult to tune in and understand exactly what was going on with But Then I Came Back. The narrative was so… chaotic. It had this whole stream of consciousness thing going on except the steam wasn’t moving in a logical pattern. It was just basically facts being spouted off instead of the feelings behind them and it wasn’t helping to endear me to Eden. Then something occurred to me… This girl just came out of a coma. Her brain just rebooted and this stream of consciousness is just how her brain works now. While I’m unable to figure out her emotions or opinions on her environment, she probably can’t either. Her brain is a different thing now and she hasn’t inhabited it long enough to really from any real relationships with her reality yet. Well… at least that’s how I rationalized what I was reading. After looking at the story with this mindset for a while one thing started to become abundantly clear: I was grasping at straws to find something salvageable about this hot mess of a novel. I mean if this wasn’t actually an artistic decision and just the author’s writing style then this ship is sunk.
I tried to like this one. I really did. But at the end of the novel I just could get myself to care. Maybe it’s because I’m an adult and the teenage angst is somehow not computing with my grown up brain. I don’t know… this really just didn’t click with me. I finished reading and I still have no idea who any of the characters are nor do I really care about what happens next for them. However, I still finished the book so I guess there’s that at least…
I guess my summation of But Then I Came Back is incoherent context + the usual teenage angst like this gem:
“They’re like knives, making julienned vegetables of my life.”
Equals 30 year old me like this:
But Then I Came Back was a tough one to get through. I don’t mean because I found it emotionally demanding and poignant. It was difficult because I could never get a grasp on what exactly it was trying to be. Was this supposed to be a coming of age story? Was this supposed to be a supernatural story? Or is it some combination of the two? It all just seemed like a normal contemporary story about a girl trying to reconnect to life after nearly dying. Next thing I know, Eden and her love interest, Joe, are visiting a witch named Gigi and taking about another realm of being or the afterlife. I haven’t read This Raging Light of which But Then I Came Back is the somewhat sequel to. I’m not sure if having read the first book would have enriched my experience with this one. I think more likely than not that if I had read the first book I wouldn’t have moved on to the next one.
I found myself trying to reason out the author’s creative intent because I was finding it really difficult to tune in and understand exactly what was going on with But Then I Came Back. The narrative was so… chaotic. It had this whole stream of consciousness thing going on except the steam wasn’t moving in a logical pattern. It was just basically facts being spouted off instead of the feelings behind them and it wasn’t helping to endear me to Eden. Then something occurred to me… This girl just came out of a coma. Her brain just rebooted and this stream of consciousness is just how her brain works now. While I’m unable to figure out her emotions or opinions on her environment, she probably can’t either. Her brain is a different thing now and she hasn’t inhabited it long enough to really from any real relationships with her reality yet. Well… at least that’s how I rationalized what I was reading. After looking at the story with this mindset for a while one thing started to become abundantly clear: I was grasping at straws to find something salvageable about this hot mess of a novel. I mean if this wasn’t actually an artistic decision and just the author’s writing style then this ship is sunk.
I tried to like this one. I really did. But at the end of the novel I just could get myself to care. Maybe it’s because I’m an adult and the teenage angst is somehow not computing with my grown up brain. I don’t know… this really just didn’t click with me. I finished reading and I still have no idea who any of the characters are nor do I really care about what happens next for them. However, I still finished the book so I guess there’s that at least…
thebookandmusicalobsessed's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
libbydunc4's review against another edition
1.0
Skimmed it, wasn't bad, I just had forgotten what had happened in the last book and didn't like how the main characters from the previous novel were portrayed.
Might pick it up again, but wasn't in the mood.
Might pick it up again, but wasn't in the mood.