Firelight by Kristen Callihan
Series: Darkest London (#1)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Once the flames are ignited . . .
Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family’s fortune decimated and forced her to wed London’s most nefarious nobleman.
They will burn for eternity . . .
Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it’s selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can’t help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn’t felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.
Well, well, well. That was all sorts of awesome.
Expectations. They’re everything. I fully believe that they can make or break a reading experience.
This book might have a lot of paranormal elements, but make no mistake, this is not an urban fantasy set in the late 1800s, and nor is this is a steampunk (seriously? Who even shelved it that way?).
This book is a historical romance. Straight up. With a shot of pyrokinetics, demons, and what I’m pretty sure might be a werewolf thrown in for good measure.
It has the same pacing, romance-to-plot ratio, ton parties, pretty ball gowns, insta-lust, and broody dark hero of some of my favorite HRs. And you know what they say. If it walks like one and talks like one…
Where this book differs from most HRs (aside from the paranormal elements) is with the plot. Gasp! There actually is one! And it’s a pretty unique one at that, filled with curses and ancient magic and demons and secret societies.
The male and female leads also break the mold. Okay, yes, he’s dark and broody, but that’s because he’s got some ACTUAL dark shit to brood about.
And this female lead? I kind of love her. In the opening pages of this book, she proves that she’s no damsel in distress in need of a white knight to save her. She can bloody well save herself, thank you very much. And she continues to prove that throughout the rest of the book.
She’s also not your average cut-and-paste Mary Sue. She’s not some blushing virgin that swoons at the sight of blood or shies away from sex.
I just…and she just…GAH. She’s a badass, OKAY???
The two of them together were hot. Literally. No really, they were ACTUALLY hot together. Don’t worry, you’ll understand exactly what I mean once you read the book.
And you will read the book. Won’t you?
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