In the beginning I found myself really interested in both Archer and Miranda. I loved the little snippets we are shown of them in the past and I was curious to see how things progressed between the two. Archer has been in love with Miranda for years and essentially paid Miranda's father handsomely for her hand in marriage. Miranda doesn't want to marry Archer. She doesn't know him and he's essentially a social pariah. He has a disfigurement on his face and has taken to wearing a carnival mask when out and about the ton. Ladies swoon in fear in his presence and she doesn't understand when Archer a noble, would want to marry her a third daughter of a business man. Miranda doesn't realize at first that she has actually met Archer, years prior and he happens to be the man she can never stop thinking about. When people who were once close to Archer start to turn up dead, Miranda quickly places her faith in Archer and believes in his innocence. She sets out on a mission to find out who may is trying to set him up.
This is where things start to go south for me. The mystery of the book. It goes on for forever. So long in fact that when the mystery is revealed I couldn't have cared less. It seems like the romance aspect of this book take a backseat and I hate when that happens. Also, when Archer finally does reveal himself to Miranda, I found that I didn't really care. I was so bored with their relationship and everything that was taking place. Both Miranda and Archer after awhile just became so annoying by the end. Neither is completely honest with the other and both are constantly running around and doing things in secret. I really don't understand how they both seemed to fall so in love with one another when they are both keep so many secrets.
With Miranda especially, I just never understood how she came to love Archer. She just wakes up one morning and all of a sudden she's in love. Neither had really spent anytime with the other at that point so it just didn't make sense to me. And if she loves him and trusts him why does it take so long for her to share her secret with Archer? As for Archer, I liked him a bit more than Miranda he just frustrated me a bit. I just wanted him to open up with her more. I understood why he loved he so much but I just wanted him to be honest with her. It frustrated me so much that these two just wouldn't open up with the other. Every time there's a problem Archer runs off. Why couldn't these two just ever talk?
All in all, this book was just okay for me. With completing Firelight, I'm not a hundred percent sure if I would read the next book in this series. I loved the world Kristen created with the mix of historical and paranormal, I just don't know if it's enough for me. I pick up a book because I want to be blown away by the romance and with Firelight there just wasn't enough romance to keep me interested.
**ARC copy provided by NetGalley**
RATING: