Book Review: But Then I Came Back by Estelle Laure

But Then I Came Back is written as a companion book (not a sequel as such, but the same characters, different protagonist and different story) to This Raging Light. I think it stands pretty well on its own without having read the first book, but the intro is a little washy and confusing and without the backgrounds of the characters it is hard to understand why the accident happens in the first place.

Eden slips off a rock by a river and ends up in a coma for a month. But then she comes back. Before, she was a ballet dancer with dreams of the big time in New York. Her life was organized, planned. While she was in the coma she experienced some crazy-weird stuff in the InBetween or the afterlife if you will. Now that she is back she tries to get her head around what she experienced, as well as having a totally different view on life. She also feels a connection with another girl, Jasmine, who is in a coma and resides down the hall from her in hospital. Eden feels like she can somehow reach her but realizes how weird that seems to everyone else. There is also Joe, Jasmine's best friend who becomes part of Eden's recovery too. Eden's family also play a big part in the story.

Now this is Young Adult Contemporary Fiction. I knew that going in, I felt like I would enjoy something lighter after a couple of darker, intense reads. I was conflicted with this book. I was not a huge fan of the narrative written as Eden's thoughts. She is obviously a teenager and thinks like one, but she didn't seem very likeable, or maybe I am just getting old. It didn't stop me from finishing the book though, the content pulled me through. Another thing I wasn't a fan of was the magical, otherworldly elements. A cool concept, but I thought some of it was a bit over-the-top.

On the plus side, I really appreciate the fact that Laure tackles the tricky issue of 'what happens after we die/are in a coma'. She did a lot of research into the medical side of things and the realities of recovery. In the Q & A in the back of the book, Laure talks about her very close friend who committed suicide just before she wrote this book. She didn't get to come back, but Laure found similarities between her and Eden and used the book as a sort of goodbye for her. I find this so heartbreaking but I praise her for dealing with death and tricky topics in a way that makes you end with feeling that life is meant to be lived well. I also enjoyed the fact that there was a love interest but it didn't overwhelm the story.

Overall, I'd read both This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back together. It is not a light, fluffy YA book but it deals with real issues. Thought provoking, funny and an interesting journey of self-discovery.

Available from 11 April 2017 in both paperback and eBook formats. 

Thanks to Hachette for my review copy of this book.