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thesteinreads's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very enjoyable read! I was sad to see it end. It was a bittersweet romance that you just kept wanting to learn more and more about. Looking forward to more from this author!
aprilbooksandwine's review against another edition
3.0
I don't often read contemporary adult romance. Not necessarily because I don't enjoy it, but because I tend to enjoy young adult romance more. I see a book with Nicholas Sparks' named emblazoned on the top though, and feel sort of turned off, he's just not the right author for me. I cannot get into his books, but a few of my friends can. I approached Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffery Stepakoff with trepidation. The plot piqued my interest, but one of the cover blurbs mentioned Nicholas Sparks, which is again, sort of a turn off.
Read the rest of my review here
Read the rest of my review here
bookwormadventuregirl's review against another edition
4.0
This was a love story like The Notebook meets Bridges of Madison County. Enjoyable!
serenaac's review against another edition
3.0
Jeffrey Stepakoff's Fireworks Over Toccoa is a romance set around World War II -- a time when decisions between young couples were made in haste and passionately. Lily Davis runs against the grain of her family and society's expectations, but she's trying to curb her wayward inclinations and carve out her own life.
"It was a gorgeously plated meal that was ordered for her, one she was reluctant to disturb with immutable matters rendered by the fork, but even more loath to send back untouched." (Page 10 of ARC)
Lily meets Paul Woodward, and they fall in love just before he is shipped off to the war overseas. She spends three years alone, living at home with her parents as their marital home stands empty. In many ways, her life was put on hold, but just as her "life" was coming back to her it is turned upside down. She meets a fireworks technician and her soul mate, Jake Russo.
"The smell from the furnaces lingered. It ruminated through the woods well beyond the razor-wire-topped fences that surrounded the muddy camp like a nightmare that remains upon waking. Indeed, it was a smell that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Sulfurous and singed, coppery sweet, the remains of deer after a wildfire. It was nauseating, the stench of madness." (Page 222 of ARC)
Readers will be immediately drawn into Lily's story and the effects of war on Jake, Lily, America, and the entire world. There was much more WWII in this novel than readers may expect, but it is integrated well from how it impacts the characters and their decisions to their environments. However, one element that may bother readers is that Lily's granddaughter Colleen is introduced early on in the story and by the end seems little more than a plot device to get Lily to revisit her past. Readers may feel cheated in that the lesson they expect Lily's story to illustrate for Colleen is not as clearly defined and interaction between the two characters is very flat -- especially given parallels drawn between their lives. Overall, Fireworks Over Toccoa is a well-written romance that offers a look at a tough time in America's history, the passions of young love, and the duty-bound decisions many of us have made.
"It was a gorgeously plated meal that was ordered for her, one she was reluctant to disturb with immutable matters rendered by the fork, but even more loath to send back untouched." (Page 10 of ARC)
Lily meets Paul Woodward, and they fall in love just before he is shipped off to the war overseas. She spends three years alone, living at home with her parents as their marital home stands empty. In many ways, her life was put on hold, but just as her "life" was coming back to her it is turned upside down. She meets a fireworks technician and her soul mate, Jake Russo.
"The smell from the furnaces lingered. It ruminated through the woods well beyond the razor-wire-topped fences that surrounded the muddy camp like a nightmare that remains upon waking. Indeed, it was a smell that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Sulfurous and singed, coppery sweet, the remains of deer after a wildfire. It was nauseating, the stench of madness." (Page 222 of ARC)
Readers will be immediately drawn into Lily's story and the effects of war on Jake, Lily, America, and the entire world. There was much more WWII in this novel than readers may expect, but it is integrated well from how it impacts the characters and their decisions to their environments. However, one element that may bother readers is that Lily's granddaughter Colleen is introduced early on in the story and by the end seems little more than a plot device to get Lily to revisit her past. Readers may feel cheated in that the lesson they expect Lily's story to illustrate for Colleen is not as clearly defined and interaction between the two characters is very flat -- especially given parallels drawn between their lives. Overall, Fireworks Over Toccoa is a well-written romance that offers a look at a tough time in America's history, the passions of young love, and the duty-bound decisions many of us have made.
brandiemetzger's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. And all the talk about Coca-Cola (the main characters dad was a salesman for Coke)...made me crave a Coke ALL WEEKEND. :) Very good story, somewhat predictable, but still entertaining anyway.
aubreyreverie's review against another edition
5.0
I loved everything about this book, but mostly, I loved the setting. Everything from the era to the sweet southern style, this book is a winner. Particularly, I was shocked at the way a man wrote a book from the point of view of a woman and had it come out so darn well.
Definitely a complete and utter fave. I wept, I dreamt about it. I want to live inside this book, in Toccoa.
Definitely a complete and utter fave. I wept, I dreamt about it. I want to live inside this book, in Toccoa.
athira's review against another edition
3.0
I had this book on my wishlist, ever since I saw it on someone's blog, so I was pretty excited to receive this one for review! The excitement wasn't misplaced either. This book delivered!
My opinion
Fireworks over Toccoa spans four days in the lives of Lily Woodward and Jake Russo. Lily had been married three years to a man she lived only a couple of weeks with, before her husband, Paul, was sent to Europe to serve in the war. Anticipating Paul's return, Lily is nervous realizing that she is no longer the seventeen year old immature girl she was when she got married. She is even more anxious wondering how Paul would have changed. One day, on her way back home after buying groceries, she stops her car, amazed, staring at a "silver trail of light fly up into the sky", and thence she comes across Jake Russo, who is the pyrotechnics man preparing the fireworks show for the July 4th parade.
A moment in the sky, forever in the heart.
This becomes a defining quote of the fireworks' dazzling effect as well as the meeting between the two. What follows then is a connection between two people who have been little understood by others and find themselves bonding intensely.
This is not a story of many twists and turns nor is it a story of many events conjuring to create a suspense. Yes there are twists, and yes, this is a story of how a chance meeting can lead to a lifetime of memories. But that is not the main focus of this book. Rather, it is in how two people discover and fall in love with each other, and find themselves reveling in their real selves and their life secrets. It is about how duty and desire can come together and conflict violently. Duty to one's husband or desire to follow one's heart. It is about reason vs impulse.
While instincts deep inside pushed her to lean forward, toward him, she willed these forces to stop.
I enjoyed Jake and Lily's relationship. I agree it is quite strange - meeting someone and bonding with him/her almost instantaneously, much less falling in love. Does love at first sight really exist? Or better, love at the first meeting? But the relationship was credible and I didn't feel it out of the ordinary. The way they connect in the initial few minutes of their meeting, which soon expands to a dinner together was quite heartwarming to read. The backdrop of fireworks was well woven into the story of the two characters. Lily's consequent savory of her meeting with Jake interlaced with her sporadic feelings of guilt, were eloquently expressed in the lyrical writing of Jeffrey Stepakoff. And lyrical it is, for the writing is simply beautiful and almost poetic.
Even though the sky is already filled with stars, you can always make your own.
This story is narrated by an eighty-two year old Lily, and drew me in quite from the first line. Lily and Jake's love for each other, Lily's relationship with her parents, her dilemma about Paul or Jake, and the suspense of what her decision would be had me turning the pages till the very end. It made me smile and cry in turns. Overall, I was quite captivated by this story as well as by the writing. I loved it so much, I couldn't stop reading it.
Title Demystified
This story is set in Toccoa, home to the Camp Toccoa. It's one of my places to visit too, and I was surprised that quite a few people I know had once stayed in or near Toccoa. Jake, who himself just returned from the war, moves from town to town preparing fireworks shows, courtesy of his family business, Russo Fireworks.
Cover Art Demystified
This is one beautiful cover. The poster doesn't even fully reveal the perception of beauty that envelopes you as you hold the book in your hands. I took my time reading through the book, simply because half the time, I would stare at this cover. There's so much love and poignancy on the picture and it immediately brings to your mind some of those old romantic classics that you have watched, especially those set during or after the WW2.
My opinion
Fireworks over Toccoa spans four days in the lives of Lily Woodward and Jake Russo. Lily had been married three years to a man she lived only a couple of weeks with, before her husband, Paul, was sent to Europe to serve in the war. Anticipating Paul's return, Lily is nervous realizing that she is no longer the seventeen year old immature girl she was when she got married. She is even more anxious wondering how Paul would have changed. One day, on her way back home after buying groceries, she stops her car, amazed, staring at a "silver trail of light fly up into the sky", and thence she comes across Jake Russo, who is the pyrotechnics man preparing the fireworks show for the July 4th parade.
A moment in the sky, forever in the heart.
This becomes a defining quote of the fireworks' dazzling effect as well as the meeting between the two. What follows then is a connection between two people who have been little understood by others and find themselves bonding intensely.
This is not a story of many twists and turns nor is it a story of many events conjuring to create a suspense. Yes there are twists, and yes, this is a story of how a chance meeting can lead to a lifetime of memories. But that is not the main focus of this book. Rather, it is in how two people discover and fall in love with each other, and find themselves reveling in their real selves and their life secrets. It is about how duty and desire can come together and conflict violently. Duty to one's husband or desire to follow one's heart. It is about reason vs impulse.
While instincts deep inside pushed her to lean forward, toward him, she willed these forces to stop.
I enjoyed Jake and Lily's relationship. I agree it is quite strange - meeting someone and bonding with him/her almost instantaneously, much less falling in love. Does love at first sight really exist? Or better, love at the first meeting? But the relationship was credible and I didn't feel it out of the ordinary. The way they connect in the initial few minutes of their meeting, which soon expands to a dinner together was quite heartwarming to read. The backdrop of fireworks was well woven into the story of the two characters. Lily's consequent savory of her meeting with Jake interlaced with her sporadic feelings of guilt, were eloquently expressed in the lyrical writing of Jeffrey Stepakoff. And lyrical it is, for the writing is simply beautiful and almost poetic.
Even though the sky is already filled with stars, you can always make your own.
This story is narrated by an eighty-two year old Lily, and drew me in quite from the first line. Lily and Jake's love for each other, Lily's relationship with her parents, her dilemma about Paul or Jake, and the suspense of what her decision would be had me turning the pages till the very end. It made me smile and cry in turns. Overall, I was quite captivated by this story as well as by the writing. I loved it so much, I couldn't stop reading it.
Title Demystified
This story is set in Toccoa, home to the Camp Toccoa. It's one of my places to visit too, and I was surprised that quite a few people I know had once stayed in or near Toccoa. Jake, who himself just returned from the war, moves from town to town preparing fireworks shows, courtesy of his family business, Russo Fireworks.
Cover Art Demystified
This is one beautiful cover. The poster doesn't even fully reveal the perception of beauty that envelopes you as you hold the book in your hands. I took my time reading through the book, simply because half the time, I would stare at this cover. There's so much love and poignancy on the picture and it immediately brings to your mind some of those old romantic classics that you have watched, especially those set during or after the WW2.