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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Special thanks to the author, @macmillan.audio #MacAudio2024 for my advanced listening copy & @WednesdayBooks for my gifted e-ARC‼️
This was an interesting book it had a lot of potential but fell short for me. Jerusalem was a young teen with supernatural abilities who escapes the plantation where she was held captive and teams up with Alexei a couple centuries old vampire stuck in a teenage body to help get revenge for her family and kill those who enslaved her. The premise was quite clever and original with the vampires during the Civil War but the slavery aspects involved threw me for a loop. I think I would’ve loved it more without that being included in the context because it just seemed weird to me.
For it to be a historical fantasy I also felt the dialogue was very modern. Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer mixed with True Blood and the book The American Queen these are the vibes the book was giving.
I wasn’t feeling the chemistry or connection between Jerusalem and Alexei. For the majority of the book she had a lot of anger and aggression towards him kinda felt like she hated him. I do understand why she felt the way she did considering her past encounters with other vampires. But when they began working together her thoughts about him slowly changed. Still wasn’t feeling them together but I liked that Alexei was a good guy.
Overall, the book was okay not at all what I expected. The author touched on quite a few themes surrounding slavery, the Civil War, death, physical abuse, hate crimes, racial discrimination, and references to sexual abuse. The characters are kinda fascinating in their own way once you understand their backstories. The pacing was up and down but if you’re a lover of vampires, Romantasy, or historical fiction you may like this book.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved reading this book, I loved these characters and the set up, it was just so fantastic, and oh, the emotions it raised!
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
**3.5 stars
The Dangerous Ones just seemed like it was going to be such an exciting book - swirling together historical fiction (the Civil War specifically) with fantasy, but it ended up like feeling more like a slow burn thriller. And it was interesting to see how Lauren Blackwood incorporated humans with extra strength (Saints) with vampires (and maybe other creatures of legend), though I didn't really feel the connection between Lex and Jerusalem.
But it was also disturbing to learn even more about some of the specific ways Black people were treated because some of the torture characters in the book had to endure were based on real experiences. It just makes me cringe and completely flabbergasted that people are able to treat others in such absolutely awful ways.
Overall it was a solid book. I learned new things and enjoyed how historical fiction and fantasy were merged and the overall story. I would say though that this is probably a book for the higher range of YA.
The Dangerous Ones just seemed like it was going to be such an exciting book - swirling together historical fiction (the Civil War specifically) with fantasy, but it ended up like feeling more like a slow burn thriller. And it was interesting to see how Lauren Blackwood incorporated humans with extra strength (Saints) with vampires (and maybe other creatures of legend), though I didn't really feel the connection between Lex and Jerusalem.
But it was also disturbing to learn even more about some of the specific ways Black people were treated because some of the torture characters in the book had to endure were based on real experiences. It just makes me cringe and completely flabbergasted that people are able to treat others in such absolutely awful ways.
Overall it was a solid book. I learned new things and enjoyed how historical fiction and fantasy were merged and the overall story. I would say though that this is probably a book for the higher range of YA.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, War
I would love to review this book but unfortunately, St. Martin's Press still hasn't addressed and denounce the Islamophobic and racist remarks from their employee, offered tangible steps for how they are going to mitigate the harm this employee caused, nor addressed how, moving forward, they will support and protect their Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and other BIPOC influencers, authors and readers.
Visit https://www.instagram.com/readersforaccountability">Readers For Accountability to learn more.
Visit https://www.instagram.com/readersforaccountability">Readers For Accountability to learn more.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This book wasn't for me, and on top of that I wasn't a fan of the narration (the breathings made me want to throw my phone at the wall). I did listen to the last 30% of it at quite a fast pace which indicates that truly I should have DNFed but at this point I just wanted to finish it (I need to get better at DNFing).
The premise of this one intrigued me right away. A romantic historical fantasy set in the American Civil War with vampires and people with demigod-like abilities, it sounded so awesome. But I was quickly let down. I just couldn't wrap my mind about the time period because of the language used, but that honestly is the lesser of my issues. I also felt like the whole "Saint" part with their powers and all was a bit underdeveloped, but it had so much potential.
The major thing for me though is that I really couldn't help hating our FMC. She was truly awful. I get it, you had a lot of unfair stuff happen to you, trauma and all, but that doesn't give you the right to literally HATE everyone and act as if they did something bad to you when you haven't even met them yet. That is not a trait I like. She was always so mad at everything and had such harsh language all the time it was irritating. Grow up.
The main reason I continued the book was Alexei. He was perfection and I loved him, loved his voice looooooved his personality. So you can guess where I'm going... The way Jerusalem was treating him was absolute bullshit. He has been in love with her since the first moment he saw her and she treated him like shit. Even though she started having feelings for him, she continued treating him like shit... and why? Because she wasn't okay with those feelings... way to go girl. He deserved so much better. This was such an abusive relationship and he still stayed with her like she was some queen. I just couldn't enjoy any of their interactions.
Last thing: 15 chapters for a book over 350 pages? Hell no, this should be illegal. I'm a super fan of short chapters, like give me a place to pause, I can't go on for this long. Literally the audiobook chapters were all over 1 hour long... just nope. And the chapters were so confusing, switching through memories and present time like it was nothing all the time. Didn't like that at all.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
The premise of this one intrigued me right away. A romantic historical fantasy set in the American Civil War with vampires and people with demigod-like abilities, it sounded so awesome. But I was quickly let down. I just couldn't wrap my mind about the time period because of the language used, but that honestly is the lesser of my issues. I also felt like the whole "Saint" part with their powers and all was a bit underdeveloped, but it had so much potential.
The major thing for me though is that I really couldn't help hating our FMC. She was truly awful. I get it, you had a lot of unfair stuff happen to you, trauma and all, but that doesn't give you the right to literally HATE everyone and act as if they did something bad to you when you haven't even met them yet. That is not a trait I like. She was always so mad at everything and had such harsh language all the time it was irritating. Grow up.
The main reason I continued the book was Alexei. He was perfection and I loved him, loved his voice looooooved his personality. So you can guess where I'm going... The way Jerusalem was treating him was absolute bullshit. He has been in love with her since the first moment he saw her and she treated him like shit. Even though she started having feelings for him, she continued treating him like shit... and why? Because she wasn't okay with those feelings... way to go girl. He deserved so much better. This was such an abusive relationship and he still stayed with her like she was some queen. I just couldn't enjoy any of their interactions.
Last thing: 15 chapters for a book over 350 pages? Hell no, this should be illegal. I'm a super fan of short chapters, like give me a place to pause, I can't go on for this long. Literally the audiobook chapters were all over 1 hour long... just nope. And the chapters were so confusing, switching through memories and present time like it was nothing all the time. Didn't like that at all.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated