Song of the Fireflies by J.A. Redmerski

Song of the Fireflies

Author: J.A. Redmerski

Published: February 4^th, 2014

Summary:

THE TRUTH WILL SET THEM FREE

Brayelle Bates has always been a force of nature. Even as a child, Bray's wild and carefree spirit intimidated everyone around her. The only person who's ever truly understood her is her best friend, Elias Kline. Though every fiber of her being wants to stay with Elias forever, Bray can't bear the thought of him discovering her agonizing history. She's done everything she can to keep him at arm's length, including moving away. But their undying bond was too strong a pull to deny, and Bray couldn't survive without him. Now she's back home with Elias, and things have never felt more right--until one night changes everything.

Elias vowed never to be separated from Bray again. So when she decides to flee in a desperate attempt to escape her fate, Elias knows he must go with her. As the two try to make the most of their circumstance, taking up with a reckless group of new friends, Elias soon realizes there's a darkness driving Bray he can't ignore. Now in order to save her, he'll have to convince Bray to accept the consequences of their reality--even if it means losing her.

Review:

After reading “The Edge of Never” and “The Edge of Always”, I was really looking forward to reading this new one by J.A. Redmerski. I have mixed feelings toward this book. It definitely was more of a letdown than I had anticipated. I felt the writing jumped all over the place and you were left guessing and confused a lot. After reading and finishing this book, I feel more overwhelmed than satisfied. I think this book had the potential to be awesome, but fell flat.

In this story, we see more of Bray and Elias, both whom we had met in “The Edge of Always”. When we first meet them in the story, were already brought knee deep into what is too come. However were quickly knocked backwards from that point. The anticipation of what was going to happen or why they were where there were made me groan in frustration. Were brought to the first time Elias and Bray first met. It made me laugh because how their friendship started is like how a lot of friendships start. Of course some don’t escalate to the type of relationship that the two have, but it’s cute to see these two as younger versions of their selves. We continue to jump all over the place in regards to actual timeline. It was definitely hard trying to keep up with the pacing. We meet many other characters in this book and they were definitely great supporting characters. These characters gave more to the story. Tate was my favorite new addition. He knew his boundaries and he tried his best to keep them. He was the friend that the two needed in this story. Tate and his group helped Elias and Bray when they were in a bind. They were that ally that they needed.

Bray is a tortured soul. She was treated unfairly in her childhood and throughout her whole life from her family, the people that were supposed to love her. Elias is the only one she could depend on. She’s makes herself out to be confident and strong, but she’s not. She doesn’t have a high self-esteem. She has her problems and we briefly learn about them, but we don’t get the full story. We find out what’s ‘wrong’ with her and then it BAM! Back to the story, you don’t need to know anymore. I liked seeing the outcome at the end and knowing that not all darkness ends badly, I just wish we saw more. She’s also very quirky and I found myself laughing out loud at her dialogue a lot. She didn’t through punches and I liked that a lot about her. You needed to see more of that side of her personality.

Elias is complicated. He takes care of Bray when she needs it. He was there for her in everything that she needed. He was her rock and everyone needs someone like that. There was an intensity about him that made him more enticing. His character came across as very strong. He wanted to hold everything together and make everything better even when he though he couldn’t. He never let Bray down and he never made her feel like less of a person. He was also very protective; emotionally and physically. If something went wrong, he wanted to make it better. That is someone that everyone wants at their side.

Overall, I would recommend this book, but I would caution. It’s not a book I will go back and re-read over and over again. I may revisit it, but not in the near future. I would like to see and read more about Tate and his group. They were an interesting group and they brought a lot to the story.