But Then I Came Back

Written by Estelle Laure

Narrated by Jessica Almasy

From the author of This Raging Light comes the story of Eden Jones, a seventeen-year-old girl who feels lost after surviving a near fatal accident. Unable to connect with her family and friends, Eden forms an unlikely relationship with Joe, a boy who comes to the hospital to visit Jasmine, a friend who may soon be gone forever. Eden is the only person who can get through to Jasmine, but is she brave enough to face a world that's bigger and more magical than she ever would have allowed? Lyrical, unexpected, and romantic, Estelle Laure's new novel is about interwoven lives, long goodbyes, and the imperfect beauty of young love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781501939594

Estelle Laure

Estelle Laure believes in love and magic and the power of facing hard truths. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and thinks everyone should have to wait tables or work in a kitchen at least once in their lives. She lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family.

Reviews for But Then I Came Back

[carolesrandomlife · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well, this was disappointing. I had a moment at around 50 pages in where I considered giving up on this book and I probably should have followed that instinct because I really didn't enjoy reading this book. I did think that some sections of the book were better than others but I spent most of my reading time wanting to reach the end just so I could move on to something else. This book opens with Eden having an accident that leaves her in a coma. As she comes out of the coma, she has to slowly get back to her life which turns out to be a lot harder than you would imagine. She feels a strong connection to another coma patient on her floor Jaz and eventually forms a bound with Jaz's frequent visitor, Joe. One of the key parts of the book revolved around what Eden experiences while in the coma. I really found that entire section of the book to be more confusing than interesting. I had to go back and read parts of that section several times and was still quite confused. It made sense by the end of the book but I had lost interest by that point.I thought that the parts of the book involving Joe were much better. Joe was my favorite character in the book by a large margin. He was really a good guy. Eden and Joe's relationship was interesting and a bit unusual. Unfortunately, it seemed to take a really long time for the relationship between these two to even get started.I will not be recommending this book to others. I am sure that some people will enjoy it a lot more than I did. I was able to get through the book and would be open to trying other works by Estelle Laure.I received an advance reader copy of this book from HMH Books for Young Readers via NetGalley.

[lauriebrown54 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Feeling out of sorts with her twin brother and her best friend, Eden starts to walk away, but slips on the ice, hits her head on a rock, and plunges into a frigid river. She is rescued, but doesn’t regain consciousness for over three weeks. When she comes to, she has a hard road back to recover, physically and emotionally. Brother Digby and friend Lucille are a couple. She can barely walk, much less dance the ballet that was her life. She even has to relearn how to eat and drink. Will she be able to fulfill her plans of college and a dance career? Can she even manage to catch up and graduate with her class? In the time that she spends recovering in the hospital, she starts spending time looking in at another coma patient, Jaz. Despite knowing nothing about her, she feels a definite connection with Jaz. Then she meets the only other person who visits Jaz: Joe, who has been best friends with Jaz since elementary school. Together, they hope she will wake up. Eden has a really big coming of age in this story. Not only does she have the usual teenage situations to deal with, but in some ways she’s been sent back to childhood. Add a romance in- her first one- and some supernatural things, and it’s an intense story. I found myself really involved with her struggle and cared about it. The other characters, while I liked them all, were not very deep, but it’s told in first person so that’s understandable. I found out this is a sequel, and that some of the other characters were the focus of the first book. This book stands well on its own, though.