Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Genre: Paranormal Young Adult

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.

Thought:

Firelight sucked me in with its gorgeous cover, the promised Romeo and Juliet love story, and dragon shifters. For those of you worried about it being a Twilight copy, get over that idea. It really isn't and every book is going to have similarities to others, but this one is not a Twilight reincarnate with dragons. (For those of you that are not fans of Twilight, breath easy!)

That said, this is a pretty cute romance, and a very conflicting intense one at that. Where the hunter and the hunted meet and fall in love. Truly you have to leave you skeptic at the door for this one, but then again you kind of have to for all romances.

This book is pretty fast past, no time is wasted allowing you to sink into the story swiftly. Jordan gives us time to adjust to life as a dragon, and makes it easy to understand. Her words are very simple--almost too simple at times--giving readers the brash and scary reality that Jacinda lives in. Dragons are hunted, ripped apart and the pieces sold. No one knows that dragons can shift into people and that is the one thing keeping them alive. The dragons live in guarded communities that still rely on a King and elders to rule them. Dragons are dieing out, whether from defunct children who can't shift, to hunters taking them out one by one. Jacinda is the first fire breathing dragon to be born in ages, making her a prized possession in her Pride. A Pride that has scary plans for there "property."

Jacinda heart ache is so sad to watch. As her mother takes her away from her Pride to a desert where her dragon will slowly die out. Then the sad realization that her Pride will do anything to use their prized possession as nothing more then a breeding mare. This all accented by Jacinda's growing love for the hunter Will, who she knows she should not love.

The characters interact well in this book. From Jacinda's mother who is not proud of her dragon heritage and let it die out. To her defunct twin who finally gets to be normal in there new human life. This is a different take on twins who have lost each other, but still love one another. Sometimes Jacinda's mother and sisters willingness to let her dragon die is almost sickening. Will's family life and his connections to them are also stark and some times a little scary. Leading to the question are the monsters the ones with scales and fangs, or are the true monsters those who hunt them.

The love between Will and Jacinda has a magic pull that draws them together. Jacinda needs Will because he's the only force keeping her dragon alive and he has clues to get her to other Prides. In the end the romance builds up nice and slowly so that the reader feels like the two come together for more reasons then magic and necessity. That's one of the main things I look for in a romance, I want the characters to realistically fall in love.

Bottom Line:

We get nice plot twists and turns, with a fun love triangle mixed in. While the writing is a bit simplistic, it works for this story. Go into this expecting a cute romance, because in the end that's what this is. One of those grab you by the throat-teary-eye kind of things.

Rating: 4/5- Great! Really enjoyed

Add it:

Amazon: Firelight

goodreads: Firelight