ARC Review: A Season for Fireflies


Title: A Season for Fireflies
Author: Rebecca Maizel
Series: N/A, Standalone
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: June 28th, 2016
Pages: 256
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
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. 

 I received this book from Netgalley and St. Martins Griffin in exchange for an honest review.


To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure about whether I wanted to read this book or not. I saw a lot of people wanted to read it, so I just requested it as well. But then I saw that the Goodreads ratings weren't so high, and I had a teeny tiny panic attack about not liking this book. However, this is the only instance when I'm glad my opinion varies from everyone else because I actually really liked this one! 

I haven't been able to connect to a main character for the books that I recently read so the fact that I was able to connect to Penny was a major, major plus point. I also connected to the story as well, and the romance made me feel all the feels! I'm a sucker for romance filled with tension so this was a major win! 

A Season for Fireflies explored a heavy topic - alcoholic parent - but it wasn't a heavy book. Yes, it made me feel a lot of emotions but it wasn't exactly the kind of heavy book that I used to read. And I'm actually glad because I've been avoiding heavy-emotion books so far because they sometimes ruin my mood. A Season for Fireflies, in my opinion, is the perfect in-between between heavy-issue and light and fluffy. 

Aside from the fact that I really loved the romance and how the author showed the side of how a school's queen b can also be hurt and feel jealous, I don't know what else to say about this book. I mean, the friendship and development is good, but it's not exceptional. The family aspect is explored, but it's nothing special as well. However, I really, really loved this book for some reason, and I don't know why people rated it so low.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and all the feels it gave me. I would say that I recommend it but based on the not-so-high reviews from other readers, I would also advice you to listen at your own risk.

4.5 perfect-in-between stars. 


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