Member Review

Chasing Fireflies is a new YA novel by Chloe Fowler. It is a story about a young girl named Rainey Collins and part of her senior year in high school. While a lot of this book was cute flirtation, sibling love, and high school friendships, there was also a lot of over the top drama and a plethora of YA novel cliches. Chasing Fireflies is predictable in its entirety. It almost felt like I had read this book before because of how many cliches I recognized from other media. Unfortunately, I think that really took away from the originality and the potential engagement of the novel. There was also a lot of problematic behavior throughout the book from multiple characters that never really got addressed or dealt with with any sense of consequence. While parts of it were still sweet and emotionally moving, the predictability of Chasing Fireflies was disappointing. Even the fallout from the biggest plot twist in the book was predictable. 
Cliches and predictability aside, I do think the main characters, Rainey and Liam were both quite well written. The way they interacted with supporting characters and with each other really helped progress their character development and made you want to see them together and happy. The relationship between Rainey and her sister, Maverick, was one of my favorites in this book. Their sisterly bond was so sweet, and the dialogue between them was fun and witty. It feels like “life is short” is what we are supposed to take from this book, and while it took awhile to make that point, overall, it was well made. Even though the story itself was rather banal, the characters are what really shine and make this novel an emotional narrative on first love and loss.
2.5 stars