Fireflies

Fireflies #1

by Melissa Seyler

Pine Grove has always been a peaceful place, and sixteen-year-old Marley feels right at home in the Appalachians. Things change when a close encounter of the third kind leaves a glowing mark on her shoulder, and a new boy shows up at school. A peculiar green glimmering in his eyes reminds her of fireflies, both captivating and scaring her right out of her boots. When he reveals that he's a host for alien symbiotes, it sends her running in the opposite direction…that is, until he catches her.

Meanwhile…Will is entering yet another school midyear. He has all his usual problems: acclimate to a new school, deal with his assigned FBI agent, track a compatible human, all the while appearing the normal teenage boy. He can’t believe his luck when his search leads him to Marley, a girl more agile in the woods than in a mall. He reminds himself that he can’t let what happened to his last assignment happen in Pine Grove, not to her…

Genres: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult

270 pages, Paperback

First published April 24, 2013

About the author

Hello! I write rom-coms and light science fiction with humor and heart. I embrace my romantic 'geekiness' and enjoy sharing it with the world. My passion for stories comes from an imaginative childhood where every day ended with a book. If you're looking for romantic and funny, that's me.

Reviews

[Natalie Santellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a great book and I'm looking forward to the second one!(:
(Recommending it to everyone I know)

[Jennifer Del quadro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be classified as a young adult book, buy it's a great read for all ages. It's in the same vein as Suki Stackhouse books (minus the gratuitous sex) and twilight, but with more of a sci-fi, government conspiracy type of twist. It refreshingly moves away from earthly supernatural beings and takes readers to the next level by focusing on how the untapped human mind can be opened up by an alien force and as a result produce both super heros and super villians and possibly a new race of humankind. I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of the text and must now wait patiently for the second installment of the trilogy. The last series that intrigued me to this point after reading the first book was Hunger Games!

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book to read

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won this book on good reads. If you like books about supernatural than this book is for you. I recommend this book. I like the story about a girl name Marley meet a new kid in town, his name is Will. That where there story begins when Marley realize there something different about the new kid. I don't wants to gives this book way but I hope Marley get her happy ending in the books to come.

[Hmr28 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just about a do not finish for me. Lots of tell, little character development, and very juvenile writing (more middle grades writing than young adult).

[Sheree Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a really good book.

[Lisa Caskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't stop reading. I stayed up late and almost missed an early-morning work meeting because this book is THAT GOOD.

If you like sic-fi, romance, and aliens, I highly recommend it.

[IIS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very quirky and entertaining. I really liked how Marley ALWAYS spoke her mind. Great heroine.

[Hannah Woods · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book with a good premise. It's like The Host crossed with Twilight.

It's the Twilight element that leads to my low rating - this book glorifies what looks like grooming. The male main protagonist is offering to give the female one all sorts of amazing life, but she has to give up everyone she knows and loves in order to be with him. This message, delivered by teenage main protagonists, makes me very uncomfortable. If the element of what bonding entailed had been addressed differently I'd have given the book a much higher rating, as it is well written with an interesting premise and relatable protagonists.

[Kelsey Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great read!!

I am a huge fan of The Host so anything scI-fi is up my alley. I wasn’t sure how I’d like it as the main character Will comes off super arrogant at first. But the character development is amazing. It kept me on. My toes and I read in one day. Highly recommend :)

[Brittany Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

A very good story with great characters and an unexpected twist. Loved how believable the story was within the confined of the story.

[Jennifer Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

**I was given a copy of Fireflies by the author for an honest review.**

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

It took me a long time to get through this, partly because I kept loosing interest and partly because I'm in a really bad book funk that I can't seem to get out of.

Overall I can't say whether or not I enjoyed Fireflies. I'm leaning more towards that I did not enjoy it but on the other hand it wasn't absolutely terrible.

There were a few things that bothered me so I will go over them first. Get the negative out of the way.
1. Insta-love.
2. The story can be a bit confusing, the parts that really confused me are spoiler-ish so I will hide them. For example, the fact that Will ages very slowly. and says his year of birth was 1961. I'm not 100% certain, but I assumed that this story was taken place in present day. So that would make him 50 years old. Is the aging process really that slow? He mentioned that he's the same age for longer, ei: 12 years old for like 3 years instead of 1? Besides the fact that the age thing is super confusing and kind of creepy, it is never mentioned until the very end of the book. I assumed the aging process was completely normal as there was no hints or foreshadowing. It was all very strange.
3. Will and Marley's relationship is so awkward sometimes (now even more so since the aforementioned spoiler tag). There is a scene where Marley is being.. teased I guess? I'm not sure. Pretty much a guy she used to like says he wasn't into her but into her friend and Will goes super strange. It's one of the most awkward parts of the book. He walks up to him and calls him a douchebag in his mind for snickering at his girlfriend. The guy gets confused and uncomfortable and walks away. I still don't get that scene. Is that suppose to be romantic? I don't know.

Now onto the things I didn't mind.
1. No love triangle (as of yet, knock on wood).
2. Marley, she is a good strong female protagonist that knows her mind. I think she's someone young girls can look up to.
3. The Chondria are really interesting and I'm eager to learn more about them, what they are, where they come from, what they want. There was a lot of unanswered questions.

I'm on the fence about whether or not I enjoyed this as I previously said, but give it a read anyways, everyone has different taste!

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a GREAT read!! I can't gush enough about it. The writing was absolutely amazing. I loved being able to get a look at how each of the characters felt & what they thought "in real time". I really enjoyed being able to stay in the moment with the characters rather than have to complete the chapter just to get the other characters' view point much later. Even though this book is placed in the teen genre for reading purposes, I 100% believe that this book/series/trilogy can be enjoyed by multiple reading groups. You can DEF get emotionally attached to the characters & their lives, which is something that I personally enjoy when I am reading a book/series/trilogy!! This book really made me excited to dive into it's second book right away. The story telling is brilliant & the author did such an AMAZING job, you'll want to read additional books written by her. xo

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the designer of this book, I had to read this book to get a better feel of what to design the cover and boy it was not a mistake. From the moment I picked up the book, I could not put it down. This book has two main characters giving them their own perspective of their thoughts and feelings. Every time I turned a page, I wanted to know more about them and turn of events in the plot. This book is like a mystery, you think you have it all figured out but you don't until you find out the end. But the end isn't enough to satisfy you, it will leave you wanting more. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a good read!

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal book that seems just too true to not be.

A meteorite that has an alien form that can enhance a person mixed with high school love gets you Fireflies. At first I thought this book was going to be more supernatural than...well, natural. I was wrong.

The high school love is a great back drop to a story that will keep the reader intrigued from the first page and (im)patiently waiting for the next book (just like I am right now :) ) The decisions that are made sets off a chain reaction of events that will leave the reader second guessing everything they thought was going to happen. You don't believe me? Pick up a copy and see for yourselves.

[Morrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an adventurous and amazing book. It was honestly an amazing story with really good characters. The only problem was that in ONLY some parts of the book the main character was a little weak and whiney. BUT I still loved them all. I hope to read the rest of the series.

[Aisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just couldn’t get into this book so I stopped reading it. Even as science fiction, it just wasn’t believable and I couldn’t get into the characters.