My Reading Spot

Chasing Fireflies

Taylor Dean

311 pages

Kindle Edition

From the Publisher:

My sisters think I’m crazy.
But, I’ve never forgotten the mysterious woman from my childhood who told me Paul is the name of my one true love.
She told me to search far and wide for him.
I haven’t stopped looking ever since.
When I stumble across an article about a successful American entrepreneur named Paul who lives and works in China, I’m intrigued. When the opportunity to teach English in China presents itself on the same day, I know it’s not a coincidence.
It’s destiny.
My sisters say I’m chasing a dream.
Just like the fireflies we tried to catch on the warm summer evenings of our youth, the dream seems beyond my grasp. Will my quest for the elusive Paul always be just short of fulfillment?
My sisters tell me it’s a fool’s errand.
Until I remind them of the day we saw the Red Bird.
The memory silences them.
The Red Bird Incident remains inarguable—and proves my search for Paul is not a silly fantasy.

I will find Paul . . . I will.

Review:

Chasing Fireflies is a stand alone book, but part of the matchmaker series of books written by 12 different authors.  I’ve really enjoyed this series, because it has twelve different books in this series that are being released, one each month this year.  So every month I know I have a new book waiting for me! While you can read each book separately there is one reoccurring character, Pearl (The Match Maker) in each book.  I really love this idea and really liked the prequel novella about The Matchmaker. I SO love having a book to look forward to each month! While I am familiar with some of the authors, some of them are new to me and I am excited to see how this all turns out!  I also really like how the different books in the series are set in different periods of time, some are modern day and some are historical fiction.  It is a really good mixture for me.

I’ve been in a huge reading slump lately and haven’t found anything that has really grabbed at my interest, until this book!  I was looking forward to it, because for the most part I’ve really liked all the Matchmaker books.  But this one just sounded good to me.  And I was not disappointed.  It was so hard for me to put this book down once I picked it up.

Chasing a a dream and love, Savannah moves to China to teach English for a semester.  She has spent most of her adult life looking for a man named “Paul” who is destine to be her soulmate, according to Miss Pearl, who predicted this to her at age 11.  She truly believes that she will find her “Paul” in China.  I thought the descriptions of China and her experiences there were a really fascinating addition to the story. I’ve never been to China, but I have friends who live there, and I have friends who have been to teach English, just as Savannah.  I would be interested in hearing what they think of this story and if they feel it is accurately portrayed.  In fact, if you follow the author, Taylor Dean, on her blog, she says that a lot the material about China came from her own daughters experiences there teaching English.  I love that!

I loved Savannah’s character.  She was strong, independent and smart, but not overbearing or annoying either.  Some of the other student characters I thought were so fun to read – they really added some humor to the book and kept me laughing.  I really enjoyed the conversations that Julian and Savannah would have back and forth. They seemed really well written and flowed well.

The book was fun and light-hearted.  This is a clean, sweat romance. There is no language or uncomfortable scenes, but there is a lot of kissing!  There was a bit that I thought was predictable, but then a twist was added at the end that really made it worth it.

Near the end I really loved a discussion the friends had among themselves when they were visiting the Great Wall.

Hunter says, “I feel small, “I know what you mean,” I say. “Once you have a chance to see the world, it doesn’t feel smaller.  Instead, you realize it’s a huge and amazing and incredible place.  And we’re just a little speck on its surface.””It’s humbling,” Hunter adds, his eyes focus off in the distance. “This makes my little problems feel like fluff.  Coming here today has helped me put my life into perspective.”

Reading this was exactly what I needed!  I need to be better at putting my problems into perspective.  I didn’t seek out this book looking for advice – but I loved that it was a fun story to read AND I found a good message intertwined inside it too. The book really touches on some serious/tough topics towards the end and does it so well!  For me, the best lesson I got from the entire book was wrapped up nicely at the end, I ton’t think it gives anything away.  But is just really great advice to remember.

“If I don’t have people in my life, I have nothing.  Relationships last forever.  Everything else is fleeting.”

While I have enjoyed all of the Matchmaker books, this one might be one of my favorites (June was super busy and I read the book, but I haven’t posted my review yet.) You can read my other reviews in the Matchmaker by clicking the links below.

• Power of the Matchmaker, Karey White, Rachael Anderson, Kelly Oram, Heather B. Moore, Julie Wright, Heidi Ashworth, Taylor Dean, Michele Paige Holmes, Janette Rallison, Regina Sirois, Sheralyn Pratt, Jaima Fixsen
• Broken Things To Mend, Karey White
• Not Always Happenstance, Rachael Anderson
• If We Were a Movie, Kelly Oram
• Love is Come, Heather B. Moore
• Four Chambers, Julie Wright

Totally loved this book.  So glad I have been following along in this series, because I needed a good book and I needed to get out of my reading funk.  This book grabbed my attention and I couldn’t’ put it down.  I am looking forward to reading more from Taylor Dean in the future.  Even if you haven’t read any of the other Matchmaker books, this one is worth it.  Fun book!

Final Score:

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