Firelightby Sophie Jordan
Hardcover, 323 pgs
Published September 7th 2010 by HarperTeen
Cathee at Forever Lost in Books turned me onto this book.
Premise: Ganked from Goodreads:
A hidden truth.
Mortal enemies.
Doomed love.
Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki—a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.
Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away—if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.
Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.
My Review:
Where’s the next book?!
The third isn’t coming out ‘til September?!?! AAACK!!
This book is refreshingly fast. I have a “thing” for flying,
for turning into a dragon and taking off in the air. It’s exhilarating!! Getting chased by hunters, makes my blood run
fast.
Right near the beginning, we get a taste of the best part of
being a Draki… and the worst. The two extremes leap from the first 25 pages.
And we’ve also encountered Will, and he has done something amazing, something
completely un-hunter-ish, something confusing, fascinating, intriguing.
Jacinda is a fun character. I love how she loves and honors
her family and her clan even when she disagrees with them. It gives her more
character to care especially when it’s physically painful to honor them… both.
The romantic attraction is all Draki-blood hormones. (My terminology.) There
is very little to base relationship on, although the overwhelming physical
attraction brings characters close enough to interact and start building
relationship. There is lots of kissing, frantic, heat-soaring, crazy-wild
kissing. The Draki blood intensifies the experience for Jacinda, drawing out
her inner Draki.
Cassian is a great protagonist. He’s powerful, sexy, the
up-n-coming leader of the draki clan and he has moments of kindheartedness. I
never knew which part of him was real, the calculating leader or the kind man.
I’m too suspicious of his motives to wait and see if he’s really kind. Run
away!!!
Will is a fun mystery, dark-but-not-really, brooding,
unapproachable, tall and super-strong, intense… and somehow detects Jacinda
before he sees her. *shiver* Because of their initial encounter, Jacinda is
more inclined to trust his intentions than his description suggests she should.
There’s always a tension between something mysterious and his strong attraction
to Jacinda.
I never know if the attraction is all based on that
iridescent purple blood, though. In part, I feel very sorry for Jacinda because
no matter how much she wants to make her own decisions, even those decisions
are instinctual. Nothing about her is free from what she is, which makes her
twin sister the wisest of everyone, since she sees this and still loves her
sister while resenting all this wild instinct stuff. It’s ironic, actually,
that Jacinda is trying so darn hard to create a bubble of free will about
herself, while only pitting vying instincts against each other.
That said… the kissing is very hot. The attraction is strong
and dramatic. I love the action: the
panic attacks, the fights. There’s an intense girl cat fight in the bathroom
that’s just brutally fun – ouch!!
Sophie Jordan writes adult romance novels, which I think is
important to note. Her writing is skillful, if repetitive in a sprinkled
through-out sort of way, and she handles the action really well, especially
that kissing. I don’t really think two sophomores should be making out that
intensely, in retrospect, but ages don’t seem important, for reasons eventually
uncovered. It worked for me, even though I was blushing while reading. The best part, for me, was how fast of a read this book is. I set Firelight aside for
some family time, but other than that, I
finished it in one sitting. This was a much-appreciated boost to my
current reading slump.
Oh… one warning… there is one line that I wish didn’t exist
in this book at all. It killed the storyline for me temporarily and wasn’t even
necessary to the story: Catherine, new
friend, says of Will, “He doesn’t date high school girls.
He hardly talks to any of us.” All I
could think was, “Edward”. Since the
perspective changes so quickly and Will’s character and that of those around
him explain him well, this entire conversation was pretty unnecessary. Will is more like Mr. Darcy, really, than Edward, if I was
to compare: Reserved, mysterious, bad
relatives, amazing in his own right.
When you get to that scene, skim quickly to the other side!!!! (And resist the urge to chuck the book!! The
comparison is gone as quickly as it comes up!) (You shouldn’t be throwing
books, anyway. It’s not a good practice and definitely a horrible habit. Just
say “no” to chucking.)My Rating: 4 - Pretty Darn Good-n-Fun!
About the Author:
Sophie Jordan took her adolescent daydreaming one step further and penned her first historical romance in the back of her high school Spanish class. This passion led her to pursue a degree in English and History. A brief stint in law school taught her that case law was not nearly as interesting as literature - teaching English seemed the natural recourse. After several years teaching high school students to love Antigone, Sophie resigned with the birth of her first child and decided it was time to pursue the long-held dream of writing.
In less than three years, her first book, Once Upon A Wedding Night, a 2006 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Nominee for Best First Historical, hit book shelves. Her second novel, Too Wicked To Tame, released in March 2007 with a bang, landing on the USA Today Bestseller's List.
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