Night of the Fireflies

Summerhill Secrets #4

by Beverly Lewis, Tavia Gilbert (Narrator)

Join Merry Hanson, a very modern fifteen-year-old living in Pennsylvania's Amish country, as she faces the true-to-life struggles and heartfelt triumphs of growing up to be the best she can be in God's eyes.

Susie Zook reminds Merry of her long-deceased twin, but the parallel becomes hauntingly similar in the wake of a terrible accident.

Genres: Amish, Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Middle Grade, Teen, Young Adult

Audiobook

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Beverly Lewis, raised in Pennsylvania Amish country and both a schoolteacher and an accomplished musician, has been an award-winning author for over a dozen years. Her acclaimed novel, The Preacher's Daughter, was a 2006 Quill Book Award finalist in the romance category. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists, including USA Today and The New York Times. She and her husband, David, live in Colorado."

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. It involves an accident and a poem. One character is hospitalized, and another character dies. It was depressing. Friendship and faith are big parts of the story.

[Gaby Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the relationship between Merry and Susie. It was cute. Merry being mad at Lissa was kind of annoying since she is technically dating Levi, but okay. The ending of the book was pretty moving.

[Virginia Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tender, heart-stirring story of friendship, faith, and healing in the wake of tragedy.

Through Merry’s journey, Beverly Lewis beautifully explored love that accepts rather than changes. She delivered such a beautifully written and scripture-filled read! ❤️

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really a good book and lowkey annoys my how it has the 'life turns out perfect if you're a christian' mentality, but for nostalgia sake I'll give it a three star rating (That is being generous)

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet series, would have really liked it in Jr High.

[Margaret Shanahan]

A cute story for young readers.

[Jeanie Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is an amazing writer.every book I read I love

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book years ago. I couldn't set it down and I still remember most of the story over 7 years later!

3 stars

[Giselle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I read as a kid, which I still vividly remember. A lovely book for children or early teens, would recommend!

[Arjaye-Rose Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great book, I was wondering what would happen to her. I loved the grandfathers poem it was really beautiful, sad about the passing in this book.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one.

[Leash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was so intriguing and made me wanting more.

[Karina (Karina's Christian Reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Number of pages: 104

Genre: Amish fiction

Series: Summerhill Secrets #4 (Should be read in order)

Age recommendation: 13/14+

Summary: Merry starts spending time with Susie Zook, who reminds her so much of her twin sister, Faith. She shares some of her special places and activities with Susie and it helps her to deal with the pain of losing Faith. Then one night, while firefly-hunting, the unimaginable happens…

My thoughts: This is one of my favourite books in the Summerhill Secrets series. Susie Zook is so adorable and I love how she becomes friends with Merry in this book. (I have noticed that the person who seems to be Merry’s best friend only holds that position for one book; the exception being Rachel who is always around.) Merry really misses her sister Faithie and as she spends more time with Susie (who reminds her of Faithie) she shares places and memories that are really special to her. This book helped me to understand a lot more about Merry and her relationship with her sister.

Just as a warning though, it is really sad, ‘cause Susie gets hit by a car and almost dies, but then pretty much as soon as she’s recovered enough to come home Susie's grandfather dies. The ending is very unrealistic, but nobody wants to read a book that ends too realistically because sometimes that's just depressing.

I love the Christian content throughout the series so far. Merry is always turning to God in her struggles for comfort and help. I don’t find the Christian stuff to be overbearing, and it also doesn’t make me feel bad like I’m a rotten Christian because the main character is literally perfect. It feels like I could be reading the story of one of my friends. Merry wants to serve God; she doesn’t always understand why He allows things to happen; she makes mistakes, but she’s always holding onto His promises for strength. Finally, an actually relatable main character.

My personal rating: 5/5 stars.

Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...

[Jessalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a continuation of the last three books. Lisa saw Merry and told her to try on this dress that she thought would look good on Merry. Merry wasn’t very happy to see Lisa because Lisa had taken Jon as a friend and boyfriend, even though Lisa didn’t know that Merry liked Jon. Merry was waiting for her mom, and then Susie fell off a tree and hit her head, so Levi was going to take her home but they decided that the fastest way home was with Merry’s mom. Merry’s mom came, and Lisa and Jon were surprised that Merry was riding in a buggy with an Amish guy. They made it home, and Susie didn’t want to leave. She wanted to look at pictures of Merry’s twin that died.
Then they went to Susie’s house and, Susie wanted to go look for lightning bugs. They went outside, and there was this noise out there that scared them, but it was really Rachel, who is Susie’s sister. After they caught the lightning bugs they showed them to Susie’s grandfather. He told them a poem about lightning bugs. Susie went to Merry’s house and asked if they can go look for lightning bugs again, so they did. When they were looking for lightning bugs, Merry was chasing one, and Susie went on the street to catch one too. Merry turned around and started screaming. She yelled, “Watch out; get out of the way!”, but by then it was too late. Susie was on the grass, and the person who hit her was running towards Merry’s house to get her dad. Merry was so scared and saw that there was a dead lighten bug in Susie’s hand, and Susie’s family came. Susie was at the hospital, and she was in a coma. The nurses said that she was decreasing in health. Merry was so upset and stayed in the hospital with her as much as she possibly could. Is Susie going to make it, or is she going to die?

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so heart-warming and I loved the little friendship between Merry and Susie. Near the end of the book my heart was in my throat, I truly love everything about this book.
Also, I hope Merry choose Levi and not Jon, those two couldn't be more opposites if they tried. Jon is trying to change Merry, Levi loves as she is..big difference!

[Joy (Cheery♡Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing wow. It's a good light read in between my usually heavy readings. A nice read with Christian values.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't stop reading this book!!! Such a great story of never giving up hope and the power of prayer!!

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

good

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is my review of the entire series:

http://rwlreviews.blogspot.com/2014/0...

[Jennifer Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Merry and Rachel's younger sister Susie are featured as developing a sisterly friendship. They enjoy capturing fireflies together and Susie's grandfather writes her a poem.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal book -written for teenagers, but worth the listen anyway.

[Megan Rang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartfelt story of love and friendship. A great read especially for younger readers learning about their faith in God.