Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Firelight was one of my amazon recommendations for awhile and I just finally decided to give it a try. Here’s the synopsis from Amazon

“Descended from dragons, the draki's ability to appear human protects them from hunters. Jacinda lives with her pride in the Cascades, but she chafes under her special status as the only fire-breather in hundreds of years. Recklessly breaking the “no-fly” rule, she attracts hunters; mercifully, one hunter, a beautiful boy who looks upon her with wonder, lets her escape. After this, the pride intends to hobble her rebelliousness, and Jacinda is forced to flee. But while twin sister Tamra, who never manifested and was shunned, is happy with the move, Jacinda feels only anguish within Nevada's desert climate. Then she meets Will and, despite recognizing him as the same draki hunter, feels herself come alive. Jordan's compelling addition to the supernatural star-crossed lovers theme is equal parts taut suspense and sensuous romance, with visceral writing and believable relationships among characters, particularly among Jacinda's family. A foreshadowed twist and a thrilling confrontation in the end pages leave Jacinda heartbroken and in trouble, and readers will howl for more.”

It took a little while for me to get invested in Firelight. For YA readers the action sequence didn’t do a great job of drawing me in the beginning. However, as I got further in the book I became intrigued at the family dynamics of Jacinda and her family.

I didn’t really care much for her mother in the book. As a mother myself you can’t make choices for your children. I did respect the way that Jacinda tried to keep her identity despite the fact that her family wanted her to be different. I think most readers can identify with having done something that your family didn’t agree with at one time or another.

The magnetism between Will and Jacinda is getting a little old in this genre. I wish there would have been a little more to their relationship. They really don’t spend time getting to know one another before deciding they are practically in love with each other. This over romanticized view of love is the main negative for me in this book. In the most publicized magnetic relationship at least Edward knows Bella’s full name and details about her. After the initial magnetism I would have liked to see them make an effort to get to know one another.

I did find the idea of draki interesting. I have not read a shifter book about dragons. I wish there was a bit more description of what they look like because I didn’t really feel like I could quite visualize them. I am a very visual person when it comes to reading and I like to be able to  imagine what is going on.

Overall, Firelight was a light quick read. It does have a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the story that will lead the reader what happens next. I did try to find a sequel release date because I was quite curious about the ending but was unable to find one. I give the book a 3.5/5. While there were some negative detractors I think the base story was interesting and has a lot of potential for development.