Review - Fireflies by Ally Blue (3.5/5 stars)

I picked up this book because I loved the cover.  Also it goes towards my GLBT challenges so that is a bonus.  Overall this is a sweet little book with a simple story line.  It does contain explicit M/M sex, so this is just a head up for people who are uncomfortable with that.

Braeden is a Sidhe warrior exiled from fairy; he has spent his whole life watching over Joey.  Joey thinks he's human but soon finds out he is a half-sidhe that has powerful plant magic; he saw Braeden when he was younger and has been obsessed with the Sidhe ever since then.  When Joey finds out his parentage he also discovers that he is being hunted by a powerful evil Sidhe.

Initially I will say that this book started out as a book with a loose plot that was basically a vehicle to explicit sex scenes between the two male characters.  As the book continued this improved.  Blue's characters (mainly Braeden, Joey, and Joey's mother) are all likable, caring characters, that are easy to read about.  Blue did an excellent job of keeping the language styles of Braeden and Joey separate and this helps distinguish their very different backgrounds (Braeden centuries old and Joey modern and young).  The plot is predictable and simple, but overall well done.

In general this book was a quick read.  It was a sweet book, nothing was ever too dire for the characters, and all of the characters were loving and understanding.  The world Blue creates is realistic but not incredibly well filled out.  I did like that all of the characters were so open about their sexuality and that the supporting characters were also understanding.  The setting is also well described and the book takes place in a variety of beautiful and lush settings; Blue does an excellent job describing her settings.

For this book, being what it is, there must be some discussion of the sex scenes.  In general they were decent, pretty creative, and touching (both physically and emotionally).  They are very explicit, all sex was consensual, and there is some creativity there (Joey controls plant life and this gets involved in some of the scenes...we will leave that at that).

This is a very short book and the story matches this length.  Overall a good read.  A sweet simple story with lovable characters.  The plot was a bit thin in the beginning of the book and predictable throughout the book.  I predicted if/how Joey would deal with the evil Sidhe pretty much at the beginning of the story.  A good read if you want a simple and sweet fairy tale story with some explicit M/M sex scenes.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- GLBT Reading Challenge
- Summer Romance Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge