Alright so this book was just a little hard to get into. It could be the fact that it was a few years after the first book came out that the sequel was released, and I finally got around to reading it that a lot of what happened in the first book I had completely forgotten. But luckily for the book while reading it, it did become more interesting, at least enough for me to finish the book. Yes I will be continuing on with the series because I have to know what happens next and at the end of the book, it got really interesting and intriguing. The best part of this book, was that the main characters little trio of girl, young man, and wolf, was expanded in some details, but more to come on that as I read the next book in the series. ( )

I liked this book and will read the next in series. Book blurb at goodreads accurate so not re-doing their synopsis in this review. Story at first takes point of view from Tens/Meri and Juliet (and author handles that deftly, makes sense to plot and doesn't jump around so much it gets confusing).

Pros: well, you sympathize with the characters. Tens and Meri obviously the good guys and are trying to do the right things. Juliet's story with abused orphans and seniors -- well of course we sympathize; but, author avoided making them cliched victims and kept them imbued with humanity. Story well-paced.

Cons: Digital prices are ridiculous (this one was $10.99 for Kindle). While less outright than in first book deus ex machina things conveniently fell into place for our characters. Tens/Meri got a job right away that came with completely flexible hours, free food, and a place to live. Juliet, despite everyone being completely confined to DG with no money, always had groceries to make chef quality meals. More divine appearances with Juliet having a guardian angel and a feline version of Tens' wolf; Josiah delivers messages; everyone always knows who they can trust (and no one gets betrayed), etc. A balance of that, I would like (too many urban fantasy/paranormal things out there have angels and the side of good pretty much not intervening so the bad guys get upper hand a lot); but, there's a danger with this series to overdo.

Oddity: I've been running into authors putting lots of weirder words in their books lately. Is there some writer's group or seminar series or publisher mandate readers don't know about? Maybe a movement against ereader abilities to look words up in a dictionary for you forcing the industry to use words not in a standard dictionary? In this case, words were in context and part of the Rumi character who supposedly spoke with an accent and was hard to understand anyway. I slammed another author's book ([b:Touchstone|12682072|Touchstone|Melanie Rawn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320385799s/12682072.jpg|16978955]) for using words she made up or adapted from a text on outmoded words -- but in that book they were rampant and not identifiable by context--made for difficult reading. I did not think this book was difficult to read, even with unfamiliar words. But if you need word definitions author notes she used these two books: Eugene Ehrlich’s [b:The Highly Selective Thesaurus for the Extraordinarily Literate|216487|The Highly Selective Thesaurus for the Extraordinarily Literate|Eugene Ehrlich|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172783694s/216487.jpg|6294721] and Simon Hertnon’s [b:From Afterwit To Zemblanity: 100 Endangered Words Brought Back To Life|7062392|From Afterwit To Zemblanity 100 Endangered Words Brought Back To Life|Simon Hertnon|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328339754s/7062392.jpg|7314526]. ( )

I read the first book before I started blogging and really loved it. The whole world building as well as the characters capture my imagination an set me on a whole new path to discover.

What I loved most about this book is the character growth. Meri is growing in who she is and what she is meant to do. There are times where she feels so incapable of doing things that I could feel her frustration. I could see the time away from her family as well as always being on the run is taking a toll of her.

The love interest really grew as well. Their relationship is sort-of on a stand still being that they are always on the run but it definitely grows in trust and strength. The have late night talks that really bring a smile to my face as I watch them become so much more than friends. The jealousy issues is bound to catch up being that they haven't really gotten in further in their relationship with trust in that area. Their sort of like just going with flow, assuming things. And we all know what happens when you assume.

The action of the book is great. I loved reading about other characters who are the same as Meri and going through the same troubles like her. Meri has such a big responsibility. She takes everything in with stride putting everything aside for what need to be done.

Wildcat Fireflies explodes with so many new possibilities! Exciting new characters, new revelations of being a Fenestra, and the darkness that surrounds them. Wildcat Fireflies is great! ( )

Honestly, I was hoping that Kizer would grow as an author and not do the telling instead of showing again. Instead, she told even more and showed even less. I still got no sense of emotion from these characters. The only thing that made me read this sequel was the fact that the story is interesting. Unfortunately, the story isn't enough to make me read the next one. The emotions and fake "Native American" lore were terrible, and the fake American Indian story was disrespectful, to say the least. I don't think she was disrespectful toward an entire race of people on purpose, but people seldom are. Furthermore she referred to the pioneers as the first Americans, which is basically pretending that the Native Americans weren't here first. Then she went on to talk about some Native American story that, from what I could tell, was made up. Why is this the only group of people who still gets constantly disrespected? As an American Indian Studies major, that kind of thing really bothers me. Moving on before this entire review turns into a lecture on racism in the 21st Century.

The characters... They all cried at the drop of a hat. I'm assuming this was an attempt to try to show emotion, but it failed miserably. It just made all of the characters seem weak. I got so tired of people crying, but I finished this book so I could review it. I kept thinking maybe it'd get better, but it didn't. The new characters introduced in the book would have been likable had they not burst into tears constantly over nothing. They were all a bit unique and easy to relate to. I felt that Kizer tried too hard to make Rumi different though, and his "word game" thing got really old really fast. We got to learn more about Tens, and that was cool, but he ran around crying like a freaking girl half of the book. It was just obnoxious. And Meridian went from being a likable character to a whiny, jealous brat. Juliet was boring, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make myself care what happened to her. I did like Mini, however. I'm a sucker for cats.

It was obvious who the bad guys were from the start, and there was no sense of mystery or suspense in this novel. It was 500 pages of nothing. And I swear to you, the descriptions actually were longer than in the last novel. I counted the paragraphs of descriptions in one chapter. I found 8 paragraphs of descriptions, all bunched together, in two pages. I did not need to know THAT much about anything. Unless this is a textbook (which it's obviously not because it's historically inaccurate), then there is no need for that level of description. Also, the explanation of who Mistress is and what part she plays was cut short. Basically every time Kizer got to an interesting part, she sped through it , giving no details, so she could go back to describing snot (yea a lot of snot and things ingesting snot in this novel... I felt like I was reading a novel Beavis and Butthead wrote at times) or the color of grass or something. The "big reveal" which wasn't a big reveal at all was the most anti-climactic thing I'd ever read. It was just bad.

The one redeeming factor for this book is that it was told from 2 perspectives, Meridian and Juliet. Kizer actually did okay differentiating between the 2 voices, and it was believable that different people were talking. And, as I said, I did love Mini. She was the best character in my opinion. However, as juvenile as some of the book was (snot, snot, snot... and discussions of going to the toilet), it was a bit graphic in the sex department. Too graphic, if you ask me, for a YA audience. I didn't need to know about what anyone's business looked like. I thought I was reading a YA book, not smut. Just a helpful suggestion, less is more when it comes to sex and violence (and bodily fluids... just sayin'). All in all, I wouldn't recommend you buy this novel. I checked it out from the library, and I'm glad I did. And I certainly wouldn't give it to anyone under the age of 18 to read. Yucko. ( )

A decent follow up to Meridian, although not quite as exciting. In this story Miridian and Tens search for another Fenestra they have been told is in grave danger. This story is told from the POV of both Meridian and 15 year old Juliet, who is a resident of an abusive orphanage/rest home.

This story was interesting although there are parts that may be troubling for tweens and younger teens who might pick up the story. There are some sensual scenes between Meridian and Tens along with descriptions of abuse and murder. Overall I found the book interesting, if not engrossing, and would not mind reading further books in the fledgling series. ( )