Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 17, 2011 Linda C rated it liked it

Shelves: read-2011

I'm very much on the fence about this book. I liked it, but I think I liked it for that wrong reasons. I liked it because I felt like I was reading about my life, up until age 22 when I left Washington state. The characters and I are close to the same age, grew up in the same area, went to the same school, and yes, were in sororities. So I loved the trip down memory lane.

However, I think that was also a major flaw in the book. If it wasn't a trip down YOUR memory lane, i.e. right age bracket, ri I'm very much on the fence about this book. I liked it, but I think I liked it for that wrong reasons. I liked it because I felt like I was reading about my life, up until age 22 when I left Washington state. The characters and I are close to the same age, grew up in the same area, went to the same school, and yes, were in sororities. So I loved the trip down memory lane.

However, I think that was also a major flaw in the book. If it wasn't a trip down YOUR memory lane, i.e. right age bracket, right geographic area of the country, I think it would have been VERY distracting to have so many pop culture references and Northwest Washington references that weren't explained very well. Yes, I KNOW who Jean Enerson is (she was a Seattle news anchor in the '70s and she was/is a real person), but not many other readers would know that.

(She also got a few things wrong, which really grated on me. If you're going to recreate a time period so completely, then you need to be 100% accurate. Come on Kristin-- you know that Starbucks wasn't "a trendy coffee house" in 1982. It was a shop selling coffee beans and coffee equipment. You blew that big time.)

OK, now that my rant is over-- the characters were cliches. I tried to like Tully (on her website, Kristin said that Tully was one of her favorite characters), but she is a perfect example of a frenemy. The worst part is, I think that Kristin Hannah is a very skillful writer and has the ability to be a great writer. She perfectly captured (well, almost, putting Starbucks aside) a time and place which is now, frankly, in the category of historical fiction. Does that make me feel old? Uh, yeah...

So when she did so many things right, why did the book feel unright? Not wrong, just not right. She needs to spend more time on her characters, make them do something different, be something different-- make Tully plain, make Kate be the bitch etc. Shake things up a bit. She has the potential to be great, but with this chick lit stuff, I'm not feeling it. Which disappoints me a lot. ...more

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Jun 08, 2012 mussolet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2024-shelf-challenge, 2021-sorted, language-english

Review can also be found at 238 books in 238 days.
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This is the third (or fourth) book by Kristin Hannah that I've read, and it is by far the longest. And - to get the bad things out of the way - it didn't need to be that long. It's meandering quite a bit, and even though I love Kristin Hannah's writing, I had to deduct points for that.

Nevertheless, it is still a good book (as usual), and one that will make you cry (as usual). It's also set in Washington (you know what) and it tells the story ...more

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Sep 18, 2020 Kim rated it liked it

Shelves: twins, women-friends, authors-i-ve-read-5-or-more-books, 1000books, coming-of-age, chick-lit, family

3.0/5.0 stars - I read the sequel to this book 7 years ago, I'm terrible about not reading books in order. This is a story of two friends, who found each other when they both needed it the most, as young teenagers, facing high school and all of its angst. For thirty years they are friends with all the ups and downs that go with a friendship that long. They go down different paths, for one fame and fortune, for the other, love and family, but they're almost always there for each other when the ch ...more

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