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Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

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Firelight by Sophie JordanFirelight (Firelight #1)
Sophie Jordan

Published: Sept. 7, 2010
Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Often in paranormal romance tales the guy is the one troubled with paranormal attributes. The woman is either human dealing with the fact the guy she’s into is from the ‘other’ world or her paranormal issues are ‘safe’ compared the life-and-death danger that comes with being a part of the preternatural world. That’s not the case with Firelight. Sophie Jordan has written a strong paranormal heroine with real problems (a unique and important role for a YA lead character). Jacinda is the dangerous one. Not just to the guy she’s into, but to her family, to her people.

Jacinda comes from a pride of draki in the mountains. Draki are what dragons would be if evolution took its course — slimmer, more humanoid while in draki form, but with the ability to shift into a human form. But Jacinda isn’t just any draki. She’s a fire-breather. The first one in ages. She’ll be able to protect the pride, and produce more fire-breathers. At least that’s the hope of the pride’s elders. They’ve picked out her mate, an alpha named Cassian. While Jacinda has a bit of a rebellious streak — flying during the day, which is forbidden — she’d mostly accepted this is the way things are. So, when she’s nearly caught by hunters, she knew the pride would be angry, but she didn’t expect her mom to grab her and her twin sister, who isn’t draki, and run for it.

Jacinda’s mom takes her and her sister to a desert town, a place where Jacinda’s non-draki sister can thrive, and where Jacinda’s draki should die. Her mom wants that part of her gone, but Jacinda can’t kill off a part of who she is, and her attempts to connect with her draki are failing until she encounters Will. She can sense when he enters the room, and each time they’re close her draki flares, including heating up her skin.

Being around him she has to fight not to manifest into a draki. Everyone tells her to say away from him, but he ignites her and it’s clear he feels similarly. Only Will is a hunter. His family kills her kind. If he finds out who she is, she’ll be dead, her family will be in danger and they’ll likely track it back to the pride. She shouldn’t risk it, especially when kissing him pulls steam to her lungs. But Will won’t make avoiding him a possibility. He needs her just as much.

Firelight is one of those novels you can’t put down. It was a two-sitting read for me, because I had to know if Will would find out what Jacinda was, if her pride would find her and bring her back to make fire-breather babies, if Jacinda’s mom would ever understand what Jacinda really needed. The story of star-crossed lovers is always excellent, but with the duality of Jacinda fighting to maintain and yet hide who she is while falling in love for the first time is incredibly powerful.

Those seeking a YA paranormal romance with a strong female and a love story that will tug at your heart (and pull you nonstop through 324 pages), pick up Firelight. It’s the first in a new series, and with the ending, we can tell you now, you’ll end up pre-ordering Firelight #2. We’ll keep an eye out for its availability.

CONTEST FOR A SIGNED COPY OF FIRELIGHT IS NOW CLOSED. CONGRATS TO OUR WINNER KAILIA!

We recently had the pleasure of meeting Sophie Jordan. (She’s just as awesome as you’d think.) She was kind enough to sign a copy of Firelight for one lucky Vampire Book Club reader.

While speaking at the book signing, Sophie talked about how she doesn’t have a good story about why she decided to write about dragons. She liked the idea of evolution, but there’s no “Aha! Dragons!” moment.

Let’s help her out. To enter for a signed copy of Firelight, leave a comment with your suggestion of how Sophie could answer the question “Why dragons?”

Extra entries: +1 for being a blog follower (GFC, RSS or email), +1 for following @VampBookClub on Twitter and +2 for sharing a link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook or your blog (please provide the link).

CONTEST RULES & DETAILS

1. You must comment on this post with a real comment answering the question above. (“Thanks for the contest” will not cut it.)
2. You will get +1 additional entry in this contest if you’re a follower — be it via Google Friend Connect (the “Join this Site” button), RSS or email. It’s not required, but we like giving our readers a leg-up. You can also get bonus entries by following @VampBookClub on Twitter (+1 entry) and by sharing a link to this contest on Twitter, Facebook or your blog (+2 entries, please provide the link).
3. This contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.
4. You must enter no later than 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 14.
5. Winner will be contacted via email. She or he then has 48 hours to respond and claim his or her prize, or we will select another winner.
6. Entrants must be at least 13 years old, or have their parent’s permission to enter this contest. Please review our privacy policy, if you have any questions as to how Vampire Book Club uses your information. (Short version: we’ll only use it to contact you for this contest.)
7. Though unlikely, Vampire Book Club has the right to change or cancel any giveaway at any time without prior notice.

60 Responses to “Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan”

  1. Audra says:

    Oooh, great question — it cracks me up that Ms Jordan doesn’t have a snappy story to tell.

    Why dragons? Dragons are always seen as ‘other’ from humans — beasts to be disdained, battled, killed — so the merge of human and dragon provides an awesome springboard to ask what is human (or humanish) and what is beast. You know, what if the ‘other’ is us?

    Thanks for the giveaway. I’m a follower via Google and on twitter.

  2. Lora1967 says:

    I guess the answer would be why not dragons. There arent a lot of books like this one. Its unique and well thought out. PleaSE enter me in your contest
    chaarmedone1512@aol.com

  3. Lora1967 says:

    One extra for being a follower
    Lora1967
    chaarmedone1512@aol.com

  4. Lora1967 says:

    I am an old follower on twitter @Lora1967
    chaarmedone1512@aol.com

  5. I am gonna say “Why not dragons??” I love the idea cause there are no books that I have read that have dragons. I really cannot wait to read this one.
    +1 I am a GFC follower twimom101
    +1 I am a twitter follower @twimom101
    +2 I tweeted http://twitter.com/twimom101/statuses/3660820709904384

  6. Natasha says:

    Dragons are something new to use. Lots of writers today have used fae, Vampires, Werewolves, Angels, Sirens, Etc, etc.. so why not something new? Don’t get me wrong, I love to read the different variations of how the writers use the same mystical creatures, but I also like reading something new, untouched. That’s the angle Sophie Jordan was probably looking for.
    Spunkyreader@gmail.com

  7. Laura H. says:

    Why not dragons? They’re mythical creatures just like vampires, werewolves, etc. but nothing has really been written on them…. which leaves the writer wide open to use their imagination since there are no real precedents.

    BornajhawkATaolDOTcom

  8. Laura H. says:

    +1 Follow on GFC (Bornajhawk)and e-mail.
    +1 Follow on Twitter @MamaHendo3.
    +1 Tweeted giveaway: http://twitter.com/#!/MamaHendo3/status/3978306009432065

    BornajhawkATaolDOTcom

  9. Jackie says:

    Hmm- I have read the the beginning of this book at ibooks. She could possibly say that she wanted to do something different than but yet the same with a genre that is popular right now. Instead of vampires or werewolves…dragons. However, like vampires, some have unique ablilities or like werewolves, they can shift forms. And, well maybe, she just thinks they are beautiful- that is how I see them when I read her story.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

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