Firelightby Sophie Jordan

With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret. (goodreads.com)

Release Date: September 7, 2010I was having trouble finding something to read this weekend. I'd pick up a book and put it down after one or two chapters. I'm not in the right head space for reading right now but I really wanted to read. I picked up one of my "Stunning Dramatic Eye" books that I got at BEA in May (I never did finish writing up those posts. Drat.) and thought I'd give it a whirl.** I am going to try to not spoil anything but you might want to skip this post just in case. **I have seen varying reviews around about Firelight. Whereas I read it cover to cover in just a matter of hours I did find some parts of the book to be a little much for me. I do not like "I love you the second I see you and have to be with you all the time no matter what" story lines. This book is a little like that only it doesn't quite beat you over the head until you're unconscious like Twilight did. ("If I can't be with you I will just kill myself because that is the only obvious answer and killing myself will just make you forget me and not mourn me like a normal person would do! zOMG! WTFBBQ!")*Jacinda and Will have this weird animal attraction that even though they shouldn't be together they HAVE to be and ARE. The thing is I didn't really feel like it was all that dangerous for them to be together. It was really sort of anti-climactic to be honest. I think the relationship could have been explored a little more? Or the secondary characters could have been a little meatier and added to the story?I did like this book, I truly did. Enough to want to read the sequel and to buy it in its finished format when it comes out. There was just something flat about the story and plot.I would really love for someone to explain to me what an enkros is. That word was tossed around randomly in the second half of the book and no one explained it. Even Jacinda was all "humans can have draki blood?", which I don't think it quite what an enkros is. Then again it was never explained so I'm just making up my own story line now!I could ignore the irritating "I am only alive when you're around" romance without any problems though, I was curious enough about what draki are and what sort of mystery element was going to pop up to ignore the pining. What bothered me the most was this:(AND THIS IS SPOILERY! Sorry but I have to rant about this and I can't not spoil things while I do it! Highlight to read it!)Jacinda's twin sister, Tamra and her mother were REALLY inconsiderate of her feelings and the difficulties she was having adapting to human life. I mean, REALLY. Her mother was all "I'm choosing for you, it's hard but you'll get over it" which I guess parents tend to do do their kids on occasion (my house, my rules) but Jacinda was obviously having trouble adapting and accepting the choice her mother made for her and her sister was just a bitch. I'm sorry, but she was. I know there was sibling rivalry and whatnot, but come on! Tamra gets pissed at Jacinda because JACINDA got beat up and in trouble for trying to save herself? Come on now! What a bitch! "Why is it always about you?" Tamra demands. Um, hello? Being beaten to a bloody pulp by Mean Girls in the bathroom was done just to ruin your social life, Tamra? Yeah. Get a clue.(END SPOILERS!)What I did like, paranormal teen, sappy romance and all was how much this story could be told as any new girl trying to fit in at a new school after a parent tears her away from the life she knew and was comfortable with. Trying to figure out where to sit in the cafeteria, who to talk to in class, who not to talk to. Mean girls, nerds, jocks and bullies. After having reread those Class of books from my younger years, I can totally see the same themes in this book and I think that Sophie Jordan had her finger on the high school mentality and the trying to fit in in the teen years pretty well. Just replace the normal human new girl with a draki new girl and you can interchange these books. (Firelight is much less cheesy than those Linda A. Cooney books though even with the crappy romance stuff!)The ending was way too fast and the climax seemed to climax into nothing. Although I DO want to read more and the cliffhanger was VERY obvious so I know there WILL be more. I didn't realize that Sophie Jordan was THAT Sophie Jordan - the Romance Writer. I'm pretty impressed with her first foray into the YA world. Can't wait for more! (But I will NOT read the Romance stuff!)I also didn't realize that this book falls under the Debut Author YA 2010 challenge! Woot! Another book to add to (then cross off) my list!* Not an actual quote from the book.