Firelight

by Kristen Callihan
Book 1 of Darkest London

Hmm... so going by what I recall of the prologue novella of this series, detailing some of the scattered tangents between Miranda and Archer before Firelight's story line...  I'm not certain this book really came off the way I'd been expecting it to.  I guess I'd been expecting something maybe a bit darker, maybe a bit more paranormal... maybe some more explosive fiery goodness...

Firelight is most definitely more romance than it is anything else.  There was an appropriate look into Archer's dark thoughts and Miranda's own misgivings.  There was a murder mystery.  There was even the typical society happenings.

I guess what I'd hoped to see was more of Miranda exploring her dark secret--her ability to summon and control fire.  And maybe I would have liked for Archer's dark secret to not have been dragged out for quite so long, only to be stuffed with a lot of sweet nothings spoken between Miranda and Archer about how much they love each other despite their secrets... BEFORE they even knew each other's secrets.

So yes, as a romance, this wasn't a terrible one if you can overlook some of the insta-lust, the insta-love, the over-intense possessiveness between our main characters, as well as their inability to think past their libidos for a good percentage of the book.  Also, even for the fact that, having read Ember, you KNOW that Miranda is not a young virgin, she certainly does act like one and I found myself wondering if the story was being rewritten or something.

Meanwhile, for that entire first half of the book, I'm not entirely sure I really understood what was actually going on in the romance between Miranda and Archer.  Their relationship came off kind of standard and boring, to be honest.  And it isn't until halfway into the book, when Miranda stops being meek, that their relationship starts feeling more sure-footed.

On that note, the excitement DOES start about halfway into the book at that same time that Miranda stops being meek, with more exploration of the murder mystery, the secrets pertaining to the West Moon Club and Archer's past, and then Miranda even starts taking charge of herself by hopping into the investigation.  This then eventually leads to Miranda's powers of fire manipulation making more of a show.  Because for the first half of the book, I'd wondered if we were going to capitalize on one of the biggest plot devices of this book at all when Miranda's powers are only ever mentioned in passing by her and her sisters.

But at that point in the story line, I think everything starts getting interesting.

There's a great premise in this book, as well as in this series, and by the end of the book, we've been introduced to the next book's main hero, who is obviously a werewolf, what with his references to the moon, and emphasis on his super strength and fast healing abilities.  I'm not entirely sure that our author was all that subtle about that, and I sort of wished she had been, because those mentions all seemed kind of forced.

Anyway, despite the slowness of the book's beginning, I rather enjoyed the book.  Save a fix for the pacing of the conflict, I think this could have been a great book, and I'm curious enough about the rest of the Darkest London world to continue on.

Halloween Bingo 2019

Ember

by Kristen Callihan
Darkest London #0.5 (novella)

In preparation for Halloween Bingo 2019, I'm reading a few books and novellas that are either the first book or, in this case, a prequel to a book I want to read for the game.  I figured, what better book to read for the Darkest London square than a book from a series titled Darkest London, which follows a girl with a supernatural gift for creating fire?  Apparently, there's also a mystery involved in said book so I'm super excited to read it.

And so, I decided to go ahead and read Ember, which is the prequel novella to Firelight (the first book in the series), and found it intriguing enough to keep me hooked, even if the outline of the novella itself was a bit chaotic.  I'm also not sure that the novella did much for me as a story if it weren't attached to a book I'm interested in reading, and which has gotten enough positive critique for me to want to keep moving forward.

For a little while, I was having trouble following the novella's story's events, especially with the hopping timelines that didn't seem to have any reasoning behind them.  The brief tangents following Archer were pretty confusing, and didn't feel like they contributed much to the story.  I DID find that I liked Miranda, but that was the extent of how I felt about all the characters.  I didn't much care for Miranda's at-present lover nor her father.  And I'm not certain I saw how Miranda's and Archer's tangents fit together.

Maybe it'll all make sense in Firelight, since the novella is supposed to give more of an insight into the first book of the series, according to a lot of reviews I'd skimmed out of curiosity.  So I decided to get it read.  So rather than being a historical romance with a paranormal twist, the conclusion of Ember was rather open-ended and bittersweet.  There's so much unresolved conflict going on in Miranda's life that I'm tempted to just hop right into the book to get at a possible Happily Ever After... or at least a more satisfying resolution for her.

After all, there are still more books in this series I can read for the Darkest London square, right?  The series is seven books long, and any of them would fit the square... and then some!

I'm glad I went with the suggestion to read the prologue in Firelight before reading this. The prologue of Firelight is referenced in this (Miranda and Archer meeting). Having made a lasting first impression on each other, they go their separate ways. Archer trying to find a cure for his affliction. Miranda stealing per her father's directive. 
Miranda's father is as asshole. I thought the difference in timelines distracting (they are off by 2 years- Archer's taking place 2 years later). It was sad what Martin did, but was a really a favor since he was only focuses on Miranda's looks and not on her as a person.

So there's a reason why Dracula is a classic horror story. Stoker created the vampire that is still a thing in 2018. Why do writers come back again and again to the tale of a creature that was all about murder and mayhem?I tend to love Stoker's look at Dracula and vampires the most. I always side eyed writers that made vampires poor tortured and sad and alone. Stoker's first look at Count Dracula shows us a cunning character who is focused on wrecking Johnathan Harker's life and those connected to him.

"Dracula" focuses on Count Dracula who travels from Transylvania to England (London specifically) in order to spread more vampires. Fighting against him is Johnathan Harker, his new wife, Mina along with friends of the couple (Doctor John Seward, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood). The latter group also comes across a vampire slayer (whatever, that is what I am calling him) Abraham Van Helsing. 

I think the saddest character in this is Lucy. She's best friends with Mina and has attracted many marriage proposals. When she finally agrees to marry Arthur, it would be seem that her life is perfect. However, she seems to be growing weaker and weaker and is sleepwalking. John calls in Van Helsing who suspects what is going on, but doesn't inform all parties. The end of Lucy always made me feel bad.

We also have the character of Renfield who is creepy as all get out. Reading about him collecting bugs, spiders, sparrows, and wanting a kitten or cat and finding out what he was eating and feeding to other animals was a bit much for me. 

The book cuts things up by showing us the journal or diary entries from many of the characters. I can't really argue against this style of story-telling. It allows us into the characters heads. I do wish at times that we could have gotten more dialogue between characters though. Sometimes it just reads as flat sometimes. The flow was up and down. I think switching between characters/entries takes you out of the story at times. 

I do wish that more movies/tv shows had been more faithful with the original work since you do get a sense of the camaraderie that has developed by all parties in order to stop Dracula especially when he ends up cursing Mina with vampirism. 

The ending shows what happens after they all confronted Dracula which I liked. 

Haven’t read this since I was a teenager.

The description of Dracula and Renfield is awful. We now have Mina and Johnathan married though Mina has no idea what has happened to him exactly.

I forgot these were written in diary/journal format.