A Season for Fireflies by Rebecca Maizel Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance
Publication date: Jun 28, 2016
Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: Audiobook 6 hours, 57 minutes
How I got it: An audiobook from my library
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 2/5
A story of second chances from the author of Between Us and the Moon, which Kirkus Reviews called “what first love is meant to be.”
A year ago, Penny Berne was the star of her high school’s theater department, surrounded by a group of misfit friends and falling in love for the first time. Now her old friends won’t talk to her, her new best friend is the most popular girl in school, and her first love, Wes, ignores her. Penny is revered and hated. Then, in a flash, a near-fatal lightning strike leaves Penny with no memory of the past year—or how she went from drama nerd to queen bee.
As a record number of fireflies light up her town and her life, Penny realizes she may be able to make things right again—and that even if she can’t change the past, she can learn to see the magic where she never could before.
This captivating new novel about first love, second chances, and the power of memory is perfect for fans of Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall and Katie Cotugno’s How to Love.
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My thoughts:
This is the second audiobook that I was able to complete that I got on loan from my library. This book was narrated by one person and told through the eyes of Penny who was struck by lighting and can't remember who she was or what happened prior to the lighting strike.
Penny was an interesting character to be the lead. At the beginning of the book we get a small glimpse into her life just as it was starting to fall apart and then skip ahead to a whole new life and then she losses her memory. I felt a little jumbled while listening to the book since the transitions weren't that defined in the audio. There were parts of the book that I liked Penny and saw how challenging her life had to be and then there were other parts where I just couldn't stand her. I personally find it more challenging to get into a book when I am not routing for the main character the entire time. I do feel like I was routing for Penny to get her memory back and also to make everything right in the book.
The author uses a lot of play quotes and it really shows how much the author must enjoy the theater. I did enjoy how the author created the different circle of friends and kept them the same over the course of the book. I loved seeing all of the strong friendships that had developed in between the characters.
I guess my first major qualm with the book was the story itself. As a reader we know exactly what Penny forgot right up front and so it was painstakingly hard to listen to her repeat herself so many times after she forgot her memory. I felt like the major pattern was that she didn't open up to her friends so no one really knew what happened to set off her life change. It felt like after awhile the same idea kept popping up and there wasn't to much else to discover.
So with the story as it is now I felt like it was dragging at certain points since the same idea was popping up a lot. I would have liked to see more details on the friendship between Penny and her original group of friends and new group of friends. I felt like if I got more details of the groups up front that after the lighting strike the story could have moved along faster.
I would suggest this as a nightime read as it was a good book to take your mind off of the everyday world.
Penny was an interesting character to be the lead. At the beginning of the book we get a small glimpse into her life just as it was starting to fall apart and then skip ahead to a whole new life and then she losses her memory. I felt a little jumbled while listening to the book since the transitions weren't that defined in the audio. There were parts of the book that I liked Penny and saw how challenging her life had to be and then there were other parts where I just couldn't stand her. I personally find it more challenging to get into a book when I am not routing for the main character the entire time. I do feel like I was routing for Penny to get her memory back and also to make everything right in the book.
The author uses a lot of play quotes and it really shows how much the author must enjoy the theater. I did enjoy how the author created the different circle of friends and kept them the same over the course of the book. I loved seeing all of the strong friendships that had developed in between the characters.
I guess my first major qualm with the book was the story itself. As a reader we know exactly what Penny forgot right up front and so it was painstakingly hard to listen to her repeat herself so many times after she forgot her memory. I felt like the major pattern was that she didn't open up to her friends so no one really knew what happened to set off her life change. It felt like after awhile the same idea kept popping up and there wasn't to much else to discover.
So with the story as it is now I felt like it was dragging at certain points since the same idea was popping up a lot. I would have liked to see more details on the friendship between Penny and her original group of friends and new group of friends. I felt like if I got more details of the groups up front that after the lighting strike the story could have moved along faster.
I would suggest this as a nightime read as it was a good book to take your mind off of the everyday world.
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About the Author
Rebecca Maizel hails from Rhode Island, where she teaches high school
literature at her alma mater the Wheeler School. She tries not to force
her students to read her books, though. Rebecca is the author of several
published novels for young adults, and recently achieved an MFA in
Writing for Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also
enjoys Indian food, her dog Georgie, and running moderately long
distances
Author Links:
It's an interesting premise, but sounds like it was executed very well.
ReplyDeleteI agree I think it could have been executed better. Thank you for stopping by!
DeleteSorry this one didn't work for you. Hope your next read (or listen)is better for you!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteAhhh, I'm sorry this one wasn't all that great for you. I remember seeing it on Edelweiss but I passed it without giving a second thought because I wasn't interested in the premise. It had potential though.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
I picked it thinking it had potential, but I just felt like it was to repetitive. Thank you for stopping by!
Delete