Firelight, by Sophie Jordan

Firelight is a unique fantasy adventure that I found very entertaining. Sophie Jordan has created a paranormal creature unlike any other.  The draki are descended from dragons.  They have a human form, but can manifest their draki form usually at will, and especially when they are stressed or frightened (or sexually aroused).  Jacinda is our main character, and she, as an adolescent, has decided to manifest and fly through the skies with her friend in their draki forms during the daylight, which is against the rules.  There are humans that hunt the draki and sell them to the enkros, and the two draki are immediately pursued by a very aggressive group of these hunters.

The enkros are not very well-defined in this book, but that may be intentional, because they may play a bigger part in the coming installments, and we really don’t need to know that much about them yet.

So from the very first couple of pages this book grabs you.  After Jacinda manages to escape the hunters, her mother takes Jacinda and her twin sister, Tamra away from the pride (the group of draki’s they live with.)  Tamra and her mother are unable to manifest, but Jacinda is supposed to be mated with the alpha male, Cassian, because she is a fire-breather--a very rare form of draki. She does not accept this destiny, but also doesn’t want to leave the pride.

They end up in the dessert, which is the very worst possible place for draki, because they need moist, rich soil, and green plants to thrive.  Jacinda’s mother wants Jacinda’s draki to die, so she will no longer be able to manifest.

There’s romance, of course.  Jacinda is inexplicably attracted to the “wrong” boy, Will.  As the story progresses, we are given more and more reasons why Will is the wrong boy.  And, of course, Cassian tracks down Jacinda and wants her back.

The romantic scenes between Jacinda and Will are hot and steamy.  Jordan does a great job of describing the tension, and the struggle that Jacinda goes through to keep from manifesting when she is near Will.  You will not be able to stop turning pages—as the end of the book nears, things between Will, Jacinda, Cassian, Will’s family, and Tamra get more and more tense and the book ends with a shattering, unfulfilling climax the keeps one hoping that there’s GOT to be another book, because things can’t end this way. (And there will, of course, be more books in this series.)

Give this book to your paranormal romance fans – vampire, werewolf, and fairy lovers.  There gonna love the draki too!