Review: The Brilliance of Firelies

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Title: The Brilliance of Fireflies

Author: Leslie Hauser

Release Date: May 21, 2019

Publisher: Gatekeeper Press

Formats: Paperback and ebook

Pages 310

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Find it here: Goodreads – Kindle- Amazon – B&N

Synopsis: Emma Loukas had a typical teenage life. Until she didn’t. After choosing to stay home instead of accompanying her family to a minor league baseball game, Emma is not present when a suicide bomber detonates an explosive device at the entrance to the stadium just as her family arrives. In the months that follow, grief therapy and the gloomy looks from friends and her extended family do nothing but drag Emma further down into the rubble left behind by that deadly April afternoon.

To escape the sad reality of her new life, Emma heads out to California to spend her senior year with her grandmother. Getting away from her former life is the only way to survive. It doesn’t take long, though, for Emma to experience Grandma Connie’s dementia, and it’s more than a seventeen-year-old is capable of handling on her own. Now Emma fears she has just made her bad situation worse, and she begins to wonder if it’s even worth trying to survive.

But when the family mementos on the dresser catch her eye, Emma feels a bit of light turn on inside her. Maybe the way to make sense of her new life is to live the lives her mom, dad, and brother no longer can. So she sets out to achieve each of their dreams. It won’t be easy, but it’s all Emma has left, and in the process, she just may find out who she’s supposed to be.

My Review: This was a beautifully written story that will leave you in tears but in a way that leaves room for hope. I loved the writing style and the way that story flowed and found the book hard to put down. The characters all felt very real and tangible to me so they were easy to connect to. I really felt the emotions come through the writing in this book. I loved the direction of the story and the plot. The only complaint I have is that it was a tiny bit predictable but that’s not always a flaw, in books like this. Sometimes if can be a very comforting thing to know where you’re going and arrive there in one piece! Overall I would definitely recommend this read!

About Leslie:

I am a YA writer and middle school teacher. I have a B.A. in English from UCLA and a Master’s degree in Educational Administration. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and currently reside in Los Angeles, California, with my dog Mr. Darcy.

When I’m not living in fictional worlds inside my head, I run all sorts of distances, torture my body at CrossFit, and DVR entirely too many television shows. I dream of one day returning to the Midwest to live on a farm. Or perhaps owning a cookie delivery service.

I am the author of CHASING EVELINE and THE BRILLIANCE OF FIREFLIES.

Giveaway Details:

3 Winners will receive a finished copy of THE BRILLIANCE OF FIREFLIES, US Only.

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*I received this book from Rockstar Book Tours in exchange for an honest review*