Firelight

Firelight

by: Sophie Jordan

About the book:

Jacinda is not your typical 16 year old girl. Actually, she's not your typical girl period. She's a draki, a descendant of dragons, able to shift from human form to dragon form at will. Yet, even among draki she stands out. Not only is she exceptionally fast, she is a fire-breather. The first is centuries. To say her pride is protective of her would be a gross understatement. They will do whatever it takes to keep her safe and, as Jacinda soon realizes, under their control.

After breaking one of the main pride rules Jacinda and her best friend end up hunted by the enemy. In an effort to help her friend escape Jacinda becomes cornered. Certain that she is going to die, she is surprised when the hunter appears to be a boy about her age. She is downright shocked when he lets her go. Not only that, they seem to have a connection that she just can't forget.

Having narrowly escaped death she returns to the pride only to be forced to flee with her mother and twin sister. They begin their new lives in the desert climate of Nevada. Jacinda misses her old life and the freedom her draki had. Her new life and home is restrictive and literally deadly to her draki self. How will she survive? Is this new life really preferable to her old? And what was it about the hunter that still has her tied in knots?

My thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A lot. Like, actually, I loved it. Sophie Jordan is fabulous. This is her first novel for young adults but she has written several romance novels for adults. This expertise shows through.

Jordan has created an incredibly interesting and beautiful mythos for her draki. I love the way that she imagined and explained their evolution. It wouldn't make sense it the draki were still like your stereotypical idea of dragons. How would they have survived and remained unnoticed? Jordan's draki are a new and unique type of supernatural being that I can't wait to read more about!

Now enter hot boys... you can't have romance without the hot boys! Notice my use of the plural! Firelight has not one, but two, yes, TWO hot boys. There is hot draki boy (Cassian) and hot hunter boy (Will.) If that isn't enough to get you reading it I don't know what more I can do!

I honestly had an INCREDIBLY hard time putting the book down. I haven't had that happen in quite some time. It's extra impressive because I was reading it before seeing Sophie Jordan (and two other lovely YA authors!) at an area bookstore. She is absolutely delightful and I am glad that I put the book down to go and meet her. Check out her website at http://www.sophiejordan.net/ and follow her on twitter @SoVerySophie :) Pick up your copy of Firelight ASAP. The only thing you'll regret is the wait for the next book.

I read banned books!

Book banning kind of makes me ill. Seriously. It reminds me of that saying, "Your right to swing your fist ends when your fist meets my face." You have a right to dislike a book or feel it's inappropriate... just keep it to yourself. It sounds kind of harsh but I really don't want to know. I can figure out for myself what I feel is acceptable to me. A parent can decide what they want their children to know/read. We don't need you to tell us. Having said that, here are my top ten favorite challenged or banned books. They're not actually in order of how much I like them. That would be too hard ;)

1. Looking for Alaska by John Green

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

3. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

6. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

7. The Giver by Lois Lowrey

8. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

9. Anything by Chris Crutcher

10. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Also, check out the tag bannedbooksweek on twitter and Andrea Cremer's post at http://blurredhistory.blogspot.com/2010/09/epic-contest.html

FOREVER by Maggie Stiefvater cover reveal!!!

Maggie Stiefvater just revealed the cover of the third and final books in the Shiver series!!! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!! You can preorder a signed copy here: http://www.fountainbookstore.com/autograph-maggie. It's coming out in July 2011. I CANNOT wait! If you haven't read the first two I highly recommend it. The audiobook of Linger is amazing too! Pre-order your copy AND order signed copies of the first two today!

Oh My Mockingjay!!!

Alright, it's been nearly a month since I read Mockingjay. I figured it's time to blog about it. The more I thought about it the more I realized I really don't want to write a review. I'm actually still processing it. So, having said that, here are my two main responses to it. No spoilers ;)

1. I loved it. Also, I hated it. Like I said, I'm still processing. I read it all at once. I HAD to know how it ended. There were parts where I thought, "YES! That is exactly how it should be!" There were also parts that as I read them I thought, "I'm going to pretend that didn't just happen." When I was done I just sat there thinking. I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. There was so much that I had to think about and connect. Things I didn't like at first I came to understand after mentally arguing out how I wanted it to be. I'm pretty sure I barely slept that night. Every time I tried to do something else Mockingjay would come back to haunt my thoughts. Haunting, that's exactly what it was.

2. It ended exactly how I wanted it to and not at all how I wanted it to. I can't go in to too much detail here with out spoiling it. I'll just say this... while the outcome was what I had hoped for, everything that got the characters there, all the triumphs, the setbacks, the "it's about time" moments, and the "oh my stars that did not just happen" moments added up to make my ideal ending....well....not ideal. I have come to terms with it. Heck, I even like it now. But still, it's not how I imagined I'd feel when I read it.

So, yeah. I've read all kinds of reviews. I've talked to people who've loved it, who've hated it, who just didn't get it. When I think about it I don't think there is anything I would have changed yet there are so many things I wanted to be different. It was awesome but it hurt. A lot. Still, it was worth it. Oh so very worth it.