Thanks to
Rockstar Book Tours for allowing me to host a spot for this new young adult novel.
Title: THE BRILLIANCE OF FIREFLIES
Author: Leslie Hauser
Pub. Date: May 21, 2019
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 310
Summary: Emma Loukas had a typical teenage
life. Until she didn’t. After choosing to stay home instead of accompanying her
family to a minor league baseball game, Emma is not present when a suicide
bomber detonates an explosive device at the entrance to the stadium just as her
family arrives. In the months that follow, grief therapy and the gloomy looks
from friends and her extended family do nothing but drag Emma further down into
the rubble left behind by that deadly April afternoon.
To escape the sad reality of her new
life, Emma heads out to California to spend her senior year with her
grandmother. Getting away from her former life is the only way to survive. It
doesn’t take long, though, for Emma to experience Grandma Connie’s dementia,
and it’s more than a seventeen-year-old is capable of handling on her own. Now
Emma fears she has just made her bad situation worse, and she begins to wonder
if it’s even worth trying to survive.
But when the family mementos on the
dresser catch her eye, Emma feels a bit of light turn on inside her. Maybe the
way to make sense of her new life is to live the lives her mom, dad, and
brother no longer can. So she sets out to achieve each of their dreams. It
won’t be easy, but it’s all Emma has left, and in the process, she just may
find out who she’s supposed to be.
Review: This was a cute sad story about Emma, a girl who is suffering survivor's guilt. She lost her parents and brother in a bombing attack at a minor league baseball game. She is being watched by her aunt and uncle, but she decides to go stay with her grandmother in California to live out her parent's and brother's dreams.
She makes this major moving decision on the chance of fireflies. When she gets to California, she gets a job at an animal shelter to pay tribute to her father. In memory of her mother, she joins the cross country team at her new high school and signs up for a half marathon. For her brother, she decides to apply to Ohio State University. Her big goal to make their dreams come true, is to take a trip to her familial roots in Corfu, Greece.
I have noticed a theme with recent releases and that is more mental health rep and terrorist attacks.
I am a YA writer and middle school
teacher. I have a B.A. in English from UCLA and a Master’s degree in
Educational Administration. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and currently
reside in Los Angeles, California, with my dog Mr. Darcy.
When I’m not living in fictional
worlds inside my head, I run all sorts of distances, torture my body at
CrossFit, and DVR entirely too many television shows. I dream of one day
returning to the Midwest to live on a farm. Or perhaps owning a cookie delivery
service.
I am the author of CHASING EVELINE
and THE BRILLIANCE OF FIREFLIES.
Giveaway Details:
3 Winners
will receive a finished copy of THE BRILLIANCE OF FIREFLIES, US Only.
Rafflecopter Link:
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
Week Two:
