Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.

I'm sad, this book had a lot of potential. I was truly intrigued by the synopsis, but honestly the writing was just super flat for my taste.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Disclaimer: I received this audiobook from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Dangerous Ones

Author: Lauren Blackwood

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3.5/5

Diversity: Black FMC, Black characters, Mexican character

Recommended For...: Young Adult Readers, Romantasy, Romance, Fantasy, Re-Imagining, Monster Romance, Vampires, Historical Fiction

Publication Date: May 14, 2024

Genre: YA Romantasy

Age Relevance: 17+ (slavery, animal violence, violence, blood gore, rape, death, birth, racism, torture, romance, sexual content)

Explanation of CWs: This book is set during the Civil War era, so there are mentions and showings of slavery and racism. There is some animal violence and violence in general with blood gore. Rape is mentioned. Death is shown. Birth is mentioned. There is some torture shown in the book. There is some romance and slight sexual content.

If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Mad Woman

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Pages: 368

Synopsis: 1863, Pennsylvania. War doesn’t scare Jerusalem—she’s a Saint. Thanks to powerful demigod-style reflexes, endurance, and strength, she’s fearless. And ever since the Confederates declared civil war, partnering with the vampires who benefitted off slavery, she and her battalion of Saints are essential to the Union army. Jerusalem herself had been enslaved by a vampire, escaping North only after her family was murdered. She knows the enemy better, hates the enemy more than anyone in her battalion, and has been using it to her advantage since she joined the war a year ago. More than anything she wants revenge, but if she can help Black people gain freedom and equality without having to steal it for themselves like she had to, then all the better. But she never expects to have to team up with a vampire to do it. Alexei is one of those handsome, arrogant Ancient Vampires. But he’s on the Union’s side, and in the year they've known each other, has never done anything but prove he’s on hers. Together, they set out to change the course of the war and take down the vampire who destroyed everyone Jerusalem loved. But for her, it’s about more than justice. It's about killing a god.

Review: This book was a bit of a wild ride LOL. The book is set against the backdrop of the civil war and it basically answers the question of what if the civil war happened with vampires and these people called saints. Saints are people that have kind of inhuman strength and abilities And so they are used as some of the force against the vampires in the civil war. Vampires are mostly on the Confederate side, Saints mostly on the Union. We read the book from two povs, one from a vampire who is fighting on the Union side and a saint who is a former enslaved person who is also fighting on the Union side. There is a monster romance in the book and overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought that the World building was pretty well done and I was interested in the book from start to finish.

However, I had a couple of issues with the book. My first one is that it seems that a lot of modern slang was incorporated into the book. I am not a linguist so I don't know how much but it did feel like I knew some of the slang that was being used and that I was alive when it was being developed during my time LOL. But that I can easily forgive because you know there's vampires and shit in this book. However, I did also feel like the character development did lack in a couple of places, specifically the main characters. Was more developed than the other but both of them were kind of lacking in a little stale.

Verdict: It was good, just not really my cup of tea.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this one.

Historical and vampires are two subgenres that I just love. Put them together and you have a sure fire recipe for a book I’ll want.

Sadly, this book missed the mark for me. The romance felt like enemies to lovers except one person hated the other and the other was hopelessly in love. It’s like having two tropes in one (in a bad way). Similarly, the world building and flashback set up was very confusing and made the characters’ motivations difficult to understand.

I loved the idea of this book and I would give this author another try. This book just wasn’t what I was hoping it would be.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

4.5 round up to 5.


I went into this book blind, like I do most of the books I read. I just knew that it was it was a romantic historical fiction and the cover, had me. I also knew that this book took place during Slavery and included vampires and folks with abilities - SIGN ME UP!!

Now, on to this book.

From the beginning, the plight of Jerusalem was heart wrenching. Her fight, everything she went through and experienced from such a young age. All of the of the loss, the hurt and torture - being born enslaved. And everything she did to escape her captors - which included a vampire.

Finding her way to the underground railroad and making her way to the union soldiers and fighting alongside them as a Saint. Doing the best she could to take down the vampire that held her captive, and more. And having to learn how to trust the thing she hates the most - Alexei because he was on the union's side. Alexei knew pain, hurt and torture at the hands of an ancient.

Following their venture to true freedom, to victory and to love. This book had a lot of heavy points for both parties. But I appreciate how it was conveyed and not watered down (when it came to Jerusalem) to make the readers feel comfortable.

I would LOVE a part two.

• Atmospheric settings: Blackwood excels at creating vivid, immersive environments that transport readers to new worlds.

Fresh perspectives: Her works often blend different cultural influences, offering unique twists on classic themes.

Rating: 2.5

I probably should have dnfd this. I didn't care for the writing. And I thought that the character's decisions and reactions to things didn't make any sense. This is the third book I've read by this author and it might be the last.

The Dangerous Ones is a historical fantasy full of vampires, romance, and fun characters. Personally, I didn't love this book, but I think some other readers will. I wasn't the biggest fan of the author's writing style, and had some problems with some of the plot points. That being said, I think the book's elements (such as vampires) and romance will make for a fun ride for some other readers! For me it was a very middle of the road read, but that may just be subjective.

the writing is awful. I understand why it is written the way it is and the tone the story has. but I just can't. it seems the entire book is written this way and I am annoyed by it. I do like the story mostly but its just not for me. The actual story has a good start and I would like it a whole lot more but I cannot with this style of writing, Just not for me. Made it about 100 pages or so. I DNF and won't be picking it up again for any reason.

I didn't enjoy the writing style. It felt like I was reading an academic paper. The story sounded interesting but I couldn't get into it.

Normally YA vampires would get me SO excited. But I just could not get into this one. I kept putting it back down to try again later, and each time, it just didn’t hit right, and was a struggle to get through, Nothing blatantly bad about it.. just lacked anything to keep me vested.

DNF at 25-30%
I just can’t bring myself to finish this book. The writing really is hard to get through. The premise of the story seems intriguing but the execution fell apart.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but really couldn't get into it. The concept sounded great and I like the cover. However, I just couldn't get into the story at all, and the narrative fell flat for me.

Amazing book! A great twist on a history known by most! I love when authors take a peice of history and introduce magic, vampires, werewolves, and show a new view of that time but though a fantastical lense! Lauren hits all expectations with her writing and makes a satisfying read and end!

I really loved the premise of this, but it wasn’t as good as I had hoped. I wanted more romance, more back and forth with the characters. Instead, the MMC was the only one that seemed in love.

This book was a pleasant surprise.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was a quick read and a good time.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for allowing me to receive an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Life got busy and I wasn’t able to reach it within the timeline but I still wanted to give it a chance because the cover was so beautiful.

This book is not my typical cup of tea but I enjoyed some parts of it. I was thrown off by a couple parts as the language was not really civil war like but enjoyed some of the drama. I wished there would have been more background into why Jerusalem trusted Alexei so much considering she’s never trusted any vampires.

2.75/5⭐️

The premise of the book is good but sadly it fell flat for me. It is supposed to be set in the civil war but it had more modern aspects.

I really loved the idea of this book, but the delivery didn’t match. The setting is during The Civil War, and we’re following a FMC named Jerusalem and her MMC named Alexi who is an ancient vampire. We follow Jerusalem as she runs from her former plantation to a Union fort. There we learn that she and a few others are Saints who are abnormally strong and fast humans. Unfortunately, that’s all we know about Saints as we never learn what makes them different, how one becomes a Saint, or the uniqueness of the different Saints. That’s Red Flag 1.

My second big red flag is the fetishization and violence that is happening in this coupling. Jerusalem is hyper-focused on her dislike of Alexi mainly because he’s 1. White and 2. A vampire. His vampire identity becomes a very bad allegory for their racial differences. When she’s over the fact that he’s white, she focuses on him being a vampire just to swing back to his whiteness. This happens for a solid 95% of the book which makes it very annoying. The worst part is that Alexi has only shown himself as a loving and patient man, so you’re more likely to hate Jerusalem for it especially because she’s consistently violent against him. There’s a line where she says she couldn’t imagine herself without him, but she’s bites him all the time and had permanently hurt him with her silver weapon twice now. I understand that he represents all of her trauma personified as a very pretty, very pale white vampire, but it’s also hard for the audience to engage with their love if she’s actively attacking or hiding from him every other page. I try to remember what an 18 year old me would have been like, but I struggle to believe any of her love declarations when they only come in the face of death and never directly to person even as he was facing death.

I’m a hopeless romantic, and I’m always on the side of love. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy their love. It felt toxic and not present. Alexi seemed obsessed with Jerusalem often seen when he referenced her smell. Jerusalem seemed to rely solely on his ability to help her reach her goals, and that felt dangerously close to how Adelaide treated him. After the mid-point, they threw love at each other so much that it felt like a taunt and cheapened the idea. There’s a few times when we see a little insecurity from her that her feelings are only one-sided when in fact she ACTIVELY went out of her way to make sure Alexi never saw hers. Jerusalem’s love only seemed present when she had to defend it to others because they probably saw what I saw, THAT IT WASN’T THERE!! Knowing Alexi’s story made me hurt for him, he had to learn how Zamir played a role in his torture, but I believe Zamir actually loved him like a son. I wish he would’ve flew away with him instead of returning to his toxic and harmful relationship with Jerusalem.

Other nuisances that bothered me, there was a lot of timeline jumping that sometimes distracted from the story from both main characters. I would’ve appreciated more context on Saints instead. We find that they shared a tormentor, but that also felt unearned. Alexi was very vulnerable in this moment, and I appreciate that we saw Jerusalem’s humanity here, but I would’ve appreciated some vulnerability. As someone who loves spice, their scene also felt unearned. I think it was supposed to show that Jerusalem fully trusted Alexi, but it failed for me and Alexi as he didn’t know until she told her brother at the end. The entire chimera/trial plot line was so unneeded. We could’ve connected with the Underground Railroad, learned of the impact, and jumped to the woods without the extra. Lastly, the end all felt rushed and not planned at all where I was actually needing an epilogue to finish the story.

Thank You NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While The Dangerous Ones excels in magical realism and revenge-driven tension, its execution falters in pacing and character depth. The dual POV structure and flashbacks, though intended to build suspense, feel disjointed at times. The modern dialogue occasionally clashes with the historical setting, pulling me out of the world Blackwood so beautifully crafts. That said, the plot kept me turning pages, and Jerusalem’s strength as a protagonist carried the story. If you enjoy fantasy with dark themes and a fast-paced narrative, this book might be worth a read—just be prepared for some structural quirks.