ARC Review: Song of the Fireflies by JA Redmerski

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Forever
464 Pages

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. A. Redmerski of The Edge of Never brings us a heart-wrenching New Adult novel.

Elias Kline and Brayelle Bates have been inseparable since they were kids. When Bray moves to South Carolina, separating the two for the first time, they realize that their innocent childhood friendship has developed into something much more. So when Bray returns to Georgia -and to Elias-four years later, things between them couldn’t be more perfect…until one fateful night changes everything.

Desperate not to go to prison for a terrible accident, Elias and Bray decide to run. As they try to make the most of their freedom, the two find themselves relying on a rebellious group of people who tempt the duo into a wild and daring new life. But they can’t run from their troubles forever.

As the consequences of their past catch up to them, the couple must face reality. Even if they can make it through the unimaginable, Elias knows the truth about Bray’s painful history, and in the end he may not be able to save Bray from herself…

Goodreads.Twitter.Website.Facebook

Goodreads.Amazon.Barnes & Noble

There were so many things wrong with this book, I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s just start with the one quote that’s said multiple times throughout this book, “If you’re not guilty, then why did you run?” At least 75% of the trainwreck revolves around that question. I’m going to try to make this review as spoiler free as possible, but I may need to reveal a few details so to understand my position.

Let’s start with our cast: First, there’s Elias Kane. He falls in love at a very early age only to have the love of his life bail the minute they decide to have a real relationship. He tries to move on, only to end up back in the arms of the girl who caused him so much pain. He’s fiercely loyal to the extent that his personality resembles a lost puppy following around their master. 

Source

Then there’s Brayelle Bates. She’s obviously the love of above said puppy. Bray, as everyone calls her, runs so hot and then so cold that it’s really hard to tell where she stands on anything. Everything is always about her – no one understands her, the darkness follows her, she can’t live like this, blah blah blah. I get that she has a mental disorder, but the author set her and her disease up horribly that the whole time I was reading, I was like

Source

Then there’s the plot – or lack thereof. Bray and Elias end up together after Bray flees the state to get away from her feelings. She comes back and everything is ok, they’re in love after all. Then there’s a party that ends up with a dead girl at the bottom of a cliff. Bray, convinced that she’s going to prison, decides to run and Elias goes with her. They pack up their car and hit the road. Side note: I’ve decided that Redmerski is incapable of writing a story without the main characters living out of a car or on some roadtrip. Anyway, I digress. Along the road, more drama happens and they find themselves without a car, money, or even clothes. But never fear, there’s a group of strangers that let them freeload off of them for months. Months spent partying on the beach just doing drugs and having sex. Literally, that’s the story. Oh wait, there’s a police standoff at the end – can’t forget about that.

 Source

There was just so much wrong with the writing and with the plot that I ended up skimming the last 20% because I was bored and annoyed. I understand that as a NA novel the characters have more freedom, but the amount of drug use in this book bordered on extreme. Same with the amount of sex. Sex was used as a transition. The author needed to end a scene but didn’t know how – sex. End of a chapter – sex. End of a fight –sex. And not even good sex scenes, I skimmed over those as well. And I’m sorry, but if you’re doing anal for the first time, there needs to be prep, you can’t just stick it in and have it be pleasurable for the girl. I figured that was common knowledge. 

This is this third book I’ve read from Redmerski and despite my hopes that maybe it will get better, it just keeps getting worse. Needless to say, I will not be reading anything else by this author.

I received an copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley for my honest opinion and review.