Review: "Song of the Fireflies" by J.A. Redmerski

New York Times bestselling author J.A. Redmerski brings us a stunning and heart-wrenching new novel about a couple who find each other in their darkest moment. Since they were kids, Elias Kline and Brayelle Bates have been inseparable. When Bray moves to South Carolina, separating the two for the first time, they both at last realize that their innocent childhood friendship has developed into something much more. So when Bray finally returns to Georgia—and to Elias—things between them couldn’t be more perfect…until one fateful night changes everything. Desperate not to go to prison for a terrible accident, Elias and Bray decide to run. As they try to make the most of their freedom, the two find themselves relying on a rebellious group of people who tempt the duo into a wild and daring new life. But they can’t run from their troubles forever. As the consequences of their past catch up to them, the couple must finally face reality. Even if they can make it through the unimaginable, Elias knows the truth about Bray’s painful history, and in the end he may not be able to save Bray from herself…

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for my reading and reviewing pleasure.

This book ended up being just okay for me.  I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.  My feelings lie somewhere in the "meh" zone.  It seemed to drag in a lot of areas, and there was one item/piece to the plot that just seemed to be thrown in there and wasn't elaborated on and thus didn't make any sense.  I don't think I can say more on that without spoilers, so if you want to know more of my thoughts on this, feel free to check out my Goodreads review here, complete with hidden spoilers.  

I didn't exactly warm up to Bray, even though I could most often understand her motivations.  There were many times I wished she would just listen to Elias, but then there would have been even less of a plot.  For the most part, I enjoyed Elias.  There were a couple things he did that kind of rubbed me the wrong way, but not enough to make me dislike him.  

There is a tie in with J.A. Redmerski's series, The Edge of Never.  The two main characters, Andrew and Cameron, make an appearance here, and a scene from "The Edge of Always" is told from Elias and Bray's point of view.  I remember reading this scene in "The Edge of Always" and thinking it didn't add a whole lot to the plot of that book.  I was hoping that by reading the scene from another point of view, things would make a bit more sense, but the whole situation was just bizarre!

So, yeah, wish I could say more, but there's not much more I can think up for "Song of the Fireflies".  That's just how ambivalent I am.

My rating:  2.5 stars