Seeing as this is a rather well-loved novel (even among my GR friends), I'm pretty sure that a lot of people won't agree with me, but I'll write this review in my usual brutally honest fashion nonetheless. So if you're a super fan of Firelight and can't tolerate criticism of your favourite book, by all means skip this. 
 If, however, you're open to a different perspective of the novel, which may even be food for thought later, I welcome you to read on. 
 Before anything else, I'd like to clarify my criteria for assessing a book. Of course they may change depending on the genre, but normally, I give importance to three factors: mastery of writing technicalities (style, tone, grammatical form), characterisation (development, overall likeableness), and the plot execution (structuring, development, and planning). 
 And this is why Firelight is just "okay" for me. It barely passed my three criteria. 
 First, the writing feels awkward. And this is mainly because of the choppy sentences, which are a pet peeve of mine. For example: 
 He burst through the door at the top of the stair and slammed it behind him, setting the panes of glass above his head shuddering. Solitude. Already he felt his disquiet ebb. His green house. A little glass jewel hidden away on the roof of the house. 
 And in the next paragraph: 
 The mask first. He tore it from his head, then the inner one, and allowed himself the first fresh breath he'd had in hours. 
 And, oh, in the paragraph after: 
 God it was cold. Good. He needed as much. Being trapped in the dammed coach with her had been torture enough. 
 The deal with choppy sentences is that they don't really make for a smooth narration when overdone, and they're more suitable--or pardonable, in my case--for modern romances than historical. They make the whole story seem anachronistic, and I don't know about you, but I have difficulty getting into a historical novel if the characters act or speak in a modern way. (Digression: This is actually my beef with Ms. Tessa Dare's works; anachronism seems to be a common feature of her books.) 
 Another thing about the writing is the repetitive sentence form. Her sentences seem to follow the same damn pattern that it gets to my nerves. For example, in the Prologue alone, we have the following: 
 "... mirth bubbled up within..." 
 "Admiration filled him." 
 "Heated energy flared..." 
 "Tenderness warred..." 
 "Amusement danced in her voice" 
 Mind you, these are just some of them in the Prologue. I was too annoyed to copy all of them. SERIOUSLY. Am I the only one bothered by this? Look, I've read so many historical romances but this is actually the first time I've had this problem with a writer. From an experienced one, no less! You'd think that this would be a fledgling writer problem. It's all very distracting, really, how the sentences are significantly similar to each other. It makes me think about the bad literature submissions I did when I was a kid. 
 Moreover, the abrupt shift to a modern tone and vice versa (plus the inconsistent use of contractions) confused the bejesus out of me. In one instant, the narrative would be flowery and verbose; the writer would also use "would not," "could not" and the like. In another, there would be modern slang and expressions, and "didn't" "don't" and other contractions. It was as if the writer couldn't make up her mind which tone she'd use. Normally, I'd ignore this, but all the technical mistakes in the writing just snowballed into this big monster that made the issues hard to ignore. 
 Second, the characters are not very likeable. Again, before you throw tomatoes at me, let me just reiterate that this is according to my preferences, which, may be different from yours. But personally, Miri and Archer didn't seem like the kind of leads that I can relate with. For one thing, they were too fucking mercurial to be natural. They change moods so damn quickly that I can't imagine them to be real people. For instance, in the Prologue, Archer's grim and all "Oh I'mma kill dis sonofabitch Hector Ellis" and prowls his way to Hector Ellis' house, all intent and determined. And then he gets distracted by two boys. And then he gets amused by them, and even smiles. And then decides to follow one of the boys. And then finds out that the boy is actually a hot girl. And then gets horny like a rutting bull. And then decides not to kill Hector Ellis because he deduced that the hot girl was the bastard's daughter. 
 Er, how was that logical???????????? HOW WAS THAT A LOGICAL COURSE OF EVENTS??????? 
 Even at the Prologue alone, I was like, "What the fuck just happened?" Seriously. Look, that's not what a normal person would do. If you were going to kill someone, you'd be so intent at the impending attempt at murder that you won't give a fuck at the two boys playing in the corner. You won't let that distract you; you'd be too caught up with your own dilemma and guilt and rage that you won't have attention to spare for others. Also, if you hate a guy so much that you wanted to kill him, it would be logical to assume that you won't be swayed from your decision by a hot girl. Well, unless if you're a shallow son of a bitch. Either way, that doesn't paint Archer in a very good light. And Miri's not any better either. She's too easy to anger. Dear God the temper of that woman. 
 I guess that's why I never connected with the characters. They don't seem real to me. Plus, the fact that the writing irked me. Yes, the characters' actions were somewhat justifiable, but that does not make them anymore likeable. I also think that the writer focused too much on the leads to the detriment of others. The secondary characters barely had screen time, and were not fleshed out well enough to pique my curiosity. This is important since the next books center on Miri's sisters. Elizabeth Hoyt has mastered this art. She uses it so well that the whole Maiden Lane series is connected intricately. You cannot appreciate one Maiden Lane book in isolation, because the character development starts way, way before that. 
 Third, the plot execution was far from brilliant. One reason for this was that the romance was not very convincing. Archer just went all "insta-love" for her in the Prologue, and Miri fell for him far too abruptly later on. And it seemed that their "romance" was really just based on sexual attraction, and not on love. There was no "getting to know you at a deeper level" phase. There was just... sexual tension. 
 Which brings me to my second reason: the sexual tension was too prolonged. Ugh. They should have done the deed earlier, really. The sudden interruptions in an obvious attempt to suspend the tension was annoying as fuck. 
 Overall, the book was... okay. It lacked depth, brilliant writing and overall cohesion, but it makes for a satisfactory read. It's just sad because it could have been better; it had so much potential.