The Firelight Girls.

☆☆☆☆☆

the firelight girls.

kaya mclaren.

Publisher St Martin's Griffin.

Publication Date: October 14,2014.

Genre: Contemporary.

Format|Pages: Paperback|368.

 Source:  Goodreads|Library.

The summers you spend at summer camp are indelibly etched on your heart. But what happens when the camp you love is about to close? Can you ever really say goodbye to the place that made you who you are? These are the questions that plagues Ethel, the seventy-year-old former camp director who is nursing a broken heart after losing the love of her life as she now faces the impending closure of the camp on Lake Wenatchee that she called home. It's also a question that inspires change in forty-year-old Shannon, who spent the summers of her youth as a vibrant, capable camp counselor and is now directionless after watching her career implode. And there's Laura, who has lost all intimacy with her husband and doesn't know if she can save what seems to be gone forever. Finally, Ruby, who betrayed Ethel years ago and hasn't spoken to her since, hopes this will be her chance to make amends.



When the four women learn that a homeless teen has been hiding at camp, they realize camp is something much more immediate for all: survival.



And so the three generations of women search for a way to save the place that saved them all, finding in the process a way back to themselves and each other in The Firelight Girls. 

 ☂

Magnificent.



I had worked at summer camp before, way before I got a full-time job. The one I had worked at wasn’t like one that was described in THE FIRELIGHT GIRLS but it reminded me of how much fun I had, how much fun the kids had. I loved how this camp was described, some through memories and other through conversation. I could picture it and that camp sound like fun. Just like the girls, I felt sad that the camp was shutting down. All those girls had a lot of memories down there, especially Ethel who met Haddie, her love. When I first picked up this book, I didn’t know what to think of it, I didn’t have high expectations since I never read book by this author before. THE FIRELIGHT GIRLS took me by surprise, I had never read a book like this one. I feel like it’s one of best books I read that deals with friendship. After the first few pages I had this feeling that I would end up falling in love with this book, and I did. There were times I wished I wasn’t working so I could finish, could see how things ended for Ether, Ruby, Laura, Shannon and of course, Amber.



If I were asked who was my favorite character in the book, I don’t think I would be able to answer because I loved every single one of them. Ethel, Ruby, Shannon, Laura and Amber were unique in their own way and you couldn’t help but love them. By end of the book, I learned a lot about them and to me they became real, they felt as they became my friends. I loved point view of each character between past and present as each of them were telling us a story and how they got to where they were today. How all of them stood by each other even after years apart, especially when they discovered Amber, and how they made her feel welcome, loved and part of the crowd. That had me smiling. I was observed in the book from first page till the last page. THE FIRELIGHT GIRLS is type of book that will always stay with you. Once I finished reading the book, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to them all after. However the ending gave me feeling that they would end up being okay.



A powerful story about love, loss, friendship, hope.