Firethorne by Nikki J Summers is a gothic dark romance and is darker than most of the other books I’ve read from her. She is one of my favorite dark romance authors. In fact, she was one of the first dark romance authors I read. The first book in The Soldiers of Anarchy series, The Psycho, was an instant favorite and I’ve been hooked since. I’ve read most of her backlog and with each book she releases I run to grab a copy. Firethorne was no different.
Firethorne by nikki J Summers
Firethorne by Nikki J Summers is a dark gothic new adult romance. It released on October 30th, 2024 and is 327 pages. I read this eBook through Amazon Kindle Unlimited.
Premise
Maya Cole would follow her father anywhere, simply because she felt a strong obligation to take care of him. But after barely scraping by for so long, her father is hired for a live-in posting at the Firethorne estate. And lucky for Maya, she was hired too.
Maya, untrusting of the sudden good fortune, is keeping her eyes open and on the Firethorne’s. The three younger Firethorne’s are pulling her into their wicked games that she has no interest in playing, but if she’s going to find out the secrets hidden within the walls of the estate she’ll need to get closer to them. With warnings appearing randomly and the dark history of the estate, Maya soon realizes not everything is as it seems and no one can be trusted.
With almost Cruel Intentions vibes this book will suck you in and leave you guessing as to what twisted things are happening in the Firethorne estate. Nikki J Summers does a brilliant job with the story telling in this book. Maya’s chapters are all done in first person POV, while several chapters labeled “The Firethornes” are all done in third person. It isn’t until about 57% through the book that we finally find out who our second Dual POV is.
Of course, I’m going to leave you guessing on that because… no spoilers.
“Firethorne was an imposing, gothic mansion that stood two stories high and was easily the length of a football field, probably longer. The windows and doors had pointed archways above them, and spires along the roof that gave it an old church feel. Even though it was dark, only a few windows were lit up from inside. It barely looked lived in, there seemed to be no life in the place. It was sinister, eerie, and altogether disturbing.” – Firethorne by Nikki J Summers
Triggers
- Stalking
- Sexual harassment
- Guilt and gaslighting from a parent
- Discussion of suicide
- Seeing a body hung (following a hanging that isn’t described on page)
- Group sex
- Double penetration
- Use of date rape drugs
- Non-consensual sex but not with the FMC
- Voyeurism
- Abduction
- Drugging
- Kidnapping
- Captivity
- Trafficking
- Non-consensual sexual medical examination
- Graphic violence and torture
- Non-consensual oral sex
- Biting
- Consensual sex scenes
- Cum kink
- Anal play
- Knife play (Not the pointy end)
- Interesting ways to use yogurt
- Death
- Shooting
My Thoughts
I am a first person, dual POV type of reader. While I will and have read third person I just don’t like it as much as first. And that’s okay, so naturally when I first opened this book I was expecting first person POV, which you do get with Maya, and then suddenly there is a third person POV for the Firethornes. I almost put the book down, but it’s my Nikki, there had to be a reason for this betrayal of my favorite narrative.
I was right to continue, because every single chapter had me guessing through the first half of the book. “What was happening?” “Could anyone be trusted?” “This poor girl is gonna get murdered!”
Okay that last one is a bit over-dramatic, because while Nikki may have switched up the narrative there wasn’t a chance she’d take away my happily ever after. And my patience in the switching narrative paid off in the best possible ways.
“You really need to work on your putdowns. There’s a whole lot of cuss words you could use instead of fuck. Mix it up a little. Call me a cunt, a bastard, a mother-fucker, even. You like that f-word, don’t you?” – Firethorne by Nikki J Summers
While the book is a slow burn, for our main couple, there is an intense group scene that takes place. All of the sexually explicit warnings in the trigger list basically took place during this orgy, which was completely necessary for the plot, and no one can tell me otherwise. Firethorne was very plot heavy, however, in typical Nikki fashion, the spice that is in the book is extremely well done.
Oh, how I wish I could dive into the character growth present in this story. Unfortunately, that’s about all I can admit to without spoiling the book and taking away all of the fun.
“I didn’t want to admit it, but I didn’t like the thought of letting her go. Of not seeing her again. Because when she left this apartment, that’s what’d happen. Life would move on, and I wasn’t ready for that to happen.” – Firethorne by Nikki J Summers
We also know that I love side characters, but in this case… no spoilers.
The vibes of this book are dark, gothic, with a touch of Cruel Intentions – it’s a movie from 1999 for any younger readers out there. Side Note: If you are a dark romance fan and haven’t watched that movie, you probably should.
I think by this point I’ve made it pretty clear that Firethorne by Nikki J Summers is a book that has twists that will leave you guessing. At no point was it predictable for me, and after reading almost 300 dark romances I’m pretty good at predicting where a plot is going. So I was thrilled how well Nikki kept me guessing.
Who Would Like Firethorne by Nikki J Summers
Tropes for this book include:
- Touch her and die
- Dark secrets
- Imaginary Love Triangle
- Morally Grey … everyone
I don’t honestly know that I have read anything quite like Firethorne in the romance genre, so it’s hard for me to come up with a comparison. However, it is the classic definition of gothic romance, in it pairs fear, terror, and pleasure with romance.
While I normally would compare Nikki with KG Reuss or RA Smyth, for this book I would say it’s a blend of Emily McIntire heavy plots, with Sav R Miller’s writing style, and HD Carlton’s darkness. This book proves how versatile Nikki J summers is in her writing.
If you’ve read Firethorne, or you are adding it to your TBR, let me know in the comments below. I love interacting with other readers.