nikkiethereader's review against another edition
5.0
2018 Review:
The Whelan's were living a beautiful life. They had seven beautiful children. They couldn't ask fore more. Their world id turned upside down when they discover that their youngest, the special one who almost died at birth, has been given a rare gift. They must decide what to do and how to keep him safe from anybody who may use his gift negatively.
This is not the first time I've read this book. It's my second time. It is my first time listening to it. I still adored the book just as much as i adored it the first time. The story was beautiful. The characters were very engaging. It was an all together inspiring story.
For the most part, this story and the events that unfolded were very easy to follow. They flowed very smoothly. I can't say that it went this way all the time. There is a part of the story that I feel needed to be put into depth more or left out all together. It didn't really piece into the story very well and it was very rushed through. I will not get into what that was due to not wanting to spoil the book for people. There are other parts I also wish had been put into more detail.
The character development was amazing and very strong. I felt like I was actually a member of the family living my life with them fully. There were a couple of instances where the character kind of fell into a robotic time and a few characters weren't really put into the story as much as they could have been. That didn't happen that often though.
Overall, I still give this story a full five star rating. It's an amazingly remarkable story. I can read this book over and over and not get tired of it. I encourage anybody who loves historical fantasy books to give this book a chance. I'm glad I did. I can't wait to read the rest of this amazing authors books. The narrator is pretty amazing herself. I've listened to her read another author's books.
2014 Review:
I just finished reading Fireflies. It is a book written by P.S. Bartlett. It is about a gifted boy and his family. They are struggling to figure out what's happening and how to fix it. They are also struggling to figure out the answers in life and what to accept and what to fight. Most of the members in the family are burdened with secrets. This is especially so with the older ones.
I really loved this book. I can't give this book enough praise. It was a real page turner. I could hardy put this book down. It was intense. It was raw. It was emotional. It was an all around beautifully touching story. I couldn't get enough of it!
I had a few problems now and then with transitioning. It kind of jumped really quick back and forth without warning. After you get used to it, it stops getting so confusing. I also feel that it has a very slow start. I didn't mind though because for this particular story, I felt like it needed a longer introduction than normal.
This book has a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of historical value, and a little bit of, well, everything. I fully encourage everybody to at least check this out. Even if they don't buy it. Trust me you will not regret giving this book a chance. I absolutely adored this book, and I was sad to put it down.
The Whelan's were living a beautiful life. They had seven beautiful children. They couldn't ask fore more. Their world id turned upside down when they discover that their youngest, the special one who almost died at birth, has been given a rare gift. They must decide what to do and how to keep him safe from anybody who may use his gift negatively.
This is not the first time I've read this book. It's my second time. It is my first time listening to it. I still adored the book just as much as i adored it the first time. The story was beautiful. The characters were very engaging. It was an all together inspiring story.
For the most part, this story and the events that unfolded were very easy to follow. They flowed very smoothly. I can't say that it went this way all the time. There is a part of the story that I feel needed to be put into depth more or left out all together. It didn't really piece into the story very well and it was very rushed through. I will not get into what that was due to not wanting to spoil the book for people. There are other parts I also wish had been put into more detail.
The character development was amazing and very strong. I felt like I was actually a member of the family living my life with them fully. There were a couple of instances where the character kind of fell into a robotic time and a few characters weren't really put into the story as much as they could have been. That didn't happen that often though.
Overall, I still give this story a full five star rating. It's an amazingly remarkable story. I can read this book over and over and not get tired of it. I encourage anybody who loves historical fantasy books to give this book a chance. I'm glad I did. I can't wait to read the rest of this amazing authors books. The narrator is pretty amazing herself. I've listened to her read another author's books.
2014 Review:
I just finished reading Fireflies. It is a book written by P.S. Bartlett. It is about a gifted boy and his family. They are struggling to figure out what's happening and how to fix it. They are also struggling to figure out the answers in life and what to accept and what to fight. Most of the members in the family are burdened with secrets. This is especially so with the older ones.
I really loved this book. I can't give this book enough praise. It was a real page turner. I could hardy put this book down. It was intense. It was raw. It was emotional. It was an all around beautifully touching story. I couldn't get enough of it!
I had a few problems now and then with transitioning. It kind of jumped really quick back and forth without warning. After you get used to it, it stops getting so confusing. I also feel that it has a very slow start. I didn't mind though because for this particular story, I felt like it needed a longer introduction than normal.
This book has a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of historical value, and a little bit of, well, everything. I fully encourage everybody to at least check this out. Even if they don't buy it. Trust me you will not regret giving this book a chance. I absolutely adored this book, and I was sad to put it down.
taisie22's review against another edition
3.0
Fireflies is one of those books that I just couldn't get a handle on. It is the story of the Whelan family, Irish parents Owen and Sarah and their many children, who live on a farm somewhere in Pennsylvania (I think). Owen is a doctor and Sarah runs the house and the children. The story centers on the youngest child, Ennis. Ennis starts to manifest a gift, paranormal power and the story goes from there (I don't want to give any spoilers).
The writing is fine, but rather simplistic and I thought I was reading a book for young teens until the second half of the book when it morphed into sex and violence (none of it is graphically described). The author also attempts an Irish accent which baffled me. Sarah and Owen were both raised in wealthy families and I couldn't see why they would talk like poor Irish or allow their second-generation children to speak that way. The Olsen family (Swedish neighbors) did not. It threw me out of the story.
I liked the first half of the book much better than the second and the ending left me confused. There were a few typographical errors and a few anachronistic phrases uses, but those were fine and shouldn't put a reader off. I was given this book in a LibraryThing giveaway for an honest review.
The writing is fine, but rather simplistic and I thought I was reading a book for young teens until the second half of the book when it morphed into sex and violence (none of it is graphically described). The author also attempts an Irish accent which baffled me. Sarah and Owen were both raised in wealthy families and I couldn't see why they would talk like poor Irish or allow their second-generation children to speak that way. The Olsen family (Swedish neighbors) did not. It threw me out of the story.
I liked the first half of the book much better than the second and the ending left me confused. There were a few typographical errors and a few anachronistic phrases uses, but those were fine and shouldn't put a reader off. I was given this book in a LibraryThing giveaway for an honest review.
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