Book Review: Firelight by Sophie Jordan

Firelight
Author:  Sophie Jordan
Publisher:  Harper Teen, 323 pages
Publication Date:  September 7, 2010

From Goodreads:

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.

Review:  
This book is pretty good if you just accept it for what it is.  And what it is is Twilight with dragons instead of vampires.  Jacinda is Bella Swan if Bella was a dragon (well, she's really a draki, a descendant of dragons and she can manifest into a dragon) and Will is Edward Cullen if Edward was a dragon hunter.  Everyone loves Jacinda for no reason whatsoever.  Does this sound familiar?  Well, she is special, she's the only fire-breathing dragon in generations (of course Will doesn't know that and still falls in love with her instantly upon seeing her).  But he can just sense her specialness.  And I digress, but if I read one more book where the main character has red hair...what is up with that?

To give you some background, the leaders of the dragon commune decide that Jacinda must mate with Cassian and hopefully make more fire-breathing dragon babies. Her Mom says no way and takes her and her twin sister Tamra away to the desert to live among humans, where Jacinda's powers will literally dry up.  I actually really liked Tamra, she just wanted to fit in and was pretty resentful that her sister got all of the attention.  Tamra, by the way, never manifested into a dragon so basically she's just a regular girl.  She also spoke her mind, which I appreciated.  

This book is heavy on romance, light on plot (I finished and realized almost nothing happened).  There's a lot of back and forth where Jacinda knows it's not smart to be around Will (you know, since he and his family are dragon hunters) but she just can't help herself.  But then she comes to her senses and pushes him away, but then she's drawn to him again because he's just so gorgeous and they're clearly meant for each other.  Then she comes to her senses again and pushes him away.  Then she again is drawn to him because he's so gorgeous...those teenage hormones!  

I am interested in what happens next so I'm planning on reading the rest of the series.  I did like this book even though all I did was complain about it, but just know what you're getting into.

Posted by:  Pam