This was a very interesting concept, vampires fighting with the Confederate army and being a driving force of upholding slavery. And on the flip side, humans known as Saints, with extraordinary powers, fighting to defeat the evil. I had some issues with the modern dialogue used in this book, so much that it took me out of the story too much. I didn’t feel the connection between the two main characters, Jerusalem and Alexei. Again, this may have been due to the modern phrasing. How many times did Jerusalem call Alexei a dumb ass? Too many. Overall it was a pretty good story, and I think the attended audience of YA (I’d pinpoint ages 15-18) would enjoy it though.

I loved this book! The combination of vampires and Saints, the intrigue of past choices coming back into the present situation, the culture that has grown up around the vampires, the Underground Railroad... it's so fascinating.

Ever since Within These Wicked Walls, I've had Lauren Blackwood on my list as a must-read new author, and I was beyond excited for The Dangerous Ones. It sounded like everything I ever wanted to read: vampires, a historical setting, and a strong FMC with a compelling forbidden love story.

Unfortunately, this book didn't quite grip me like WTWW did, for a number of reasons.

But first, the stuff I loved:
Jerusalem's POV grabbed me by the throat from the first line and didn't let me go until the last. She was strong, bold, brave, and sassy, and I loved her voice=y first person narration. Although Jerusalem's backstory was often ugly and difficult to stomach (many thanks to Blackwood for including trigger warnings at the start!), I felt Blackwood balanced the trauma everything Jer endured with the joy of her budding relationship and the inner strength she possessed. In particular, I loved the banter between Jer and love interest Alexei.

I felt Blackwood handled the blend of Civil War history/fighting for freedom and the speculative element of vampires very well; it reminded me of H. G. Parry's Declaration of the Rights of Magicians duology in that regard. The worldbuilding was stellar and the ending was so immensely satisfying.

But for me, I think the biggest issue was I just did not love Alexei's narration. Since he is the MMC, we're in his head for an approximate half of the book, and those were the parts I wished to skim. While I think Blackwood did an excellent job of tying both MCs back to the villain, I simply did not feel Alexei's motivations on the visceral level that I did Jerusalem's, and I kept wondering why exactly she was attracted to him. I got why he was attracted to her--she's a spear wielding badass and a five-foot-nothing bundle of sass--but he felt...bland in comparison. I also had some issues with the pacing and with the giant chapters, where Jerusalem and Alexei switch POVs numerous times. It may just be a particular critique of mine, but I wish each chapter had kept to one character throughout until the next chapter, rather than switch within.

I think fans of romantasy and vampires will definitely eat this up, especially the "he falls first" and "eternal pining" coming from Alexei's chapters, but it just wasn't my favorite Lauren Blackwood novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books, and Lauren Blackwood for gifting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Definitely going to have to read more books from this author because I truly feel there are slightly better books from them then this one. I truly did like this book, maybe not love but it was an okay book after leaving a MASSIVE reading slump. I do feel that certain things took me out the book an back to reality with a confused face, but it wasn't horrible.

What a unique take on the Civil War! Anyone who loves Twilight knows that Jasper was also in the Civil War, so if you were intrigued by that storyline, this book is absolutely for you. Plus it has the added bonus of actually being about the slaves and Black people's freedom, and honestly, the relationship between Jerusalem and Alexei was so god damn wholesome and inspiring. This is also incredibly relevant to the times now unfortunately, and the author did a 10/10 job of mixing in the fantasy with the real world applications.

What?!? No seriously... what!!! I am so excited that I got approved to read this, as I've read "Wildblood" from Lauren Blackwood and LOVED IT! Her writing style and world building is just absolutely fantastic. It truly puts you into a trance. This one did that to me as well. I felt like I was a part of the story right along with the MMC and FMC. The back and forth between the two main characters was interesting to watch, in the beginning I expected Alexei to definitely die at some point at the hands of Jerusalem. Because of how brutal they were with one another, until I saw how the story was unfolding. The character development between the two characters was truly remarkable, especially Jerusalem. I also loved Odessa... for so many reasons. This story truly had me on the edge of my seat so many times. I even got teary-eyed a few times. I loved every moment of this! I cannot wait to check out more books from Lauren Blackwood as they're always so brilliant!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

I really wanted to like this book, but the odd use of modern slang throughout definitely threw me off and brought me out of the reading experience. Also, I thought we were past the whole teenage girl and thousand year-old vampire fall for each other dynamic, but apparently not.

The Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood is a unique historical fantasy romance, so it basically has everything. It is well-written and I was pulled in right from the beginning. The characters are written in such a way that I really cared about what happened to them and the romance was sweet and felt very genuine.

The story follows two characters, Alexei and Jerusalem, who are involved deeply in the Civil War. My one complaint on this storyline is that the addition of vampires and fantasy to the Civil War kind of pulls the focus away from the seriousness and real issues of the Civil War, but they do always try to bring it back to the struggle of Black Americans and the racism in these times. Alexei is a vampire from Russia who moved to the US to escape his evil keeper, The Red Mask. He becomes involved in the Civil War as he believes in the cause and is against the idea of people being in control over others. This is where he meets Jerusalem, who is an ex-slave who was held by a vampire mistress. She escapes after her family is killed and becomes a vampire killer in the Union Army. Alexei is enamored with Jerusalem and is almost head over heels after their first meeting. She is more hesitant. I find Jerusalem to be a really intriguing protagonist, but she definitely makes some impulsive decisions. I love how independent she is, but she is also independent to a silly degree sometimes. Their relationship is sweet and they work well. I would consider this a medium-burn romance.

The plot follows Alexei and Jerusalem as they attempt to get revenge, him on The Red Mask, and her on the vampire mistress who tortured her and killed her family. The background characters in this story are well-written and characterized and I like their relationships with the main protagonists. The story is written well and the plot moves at a good pace.

Overall, I would give this book 3.5/5 stars. The story is well written and I liked the characters. The story promises and achieves a good historical fantasy romance and it is definitely worth the read. I would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fantasy books with a bit of romance. It is definitely not super spicy, but it does feature a bit of spice. It is definitely a good read, and I recommend it.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was beautiful and magical, full of so much pain and vengeance, but also unexpected love and friendship. That’s all you need to know besides “civil war but make it vampires.” I would read so much more about the adventures of our main couple after the ending of this book.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for an advanced copy of this book!

The Dangerous Ones has a super cool concept of vampires during the Civil War and people who are born with enhanced strength and endurance to fight the vampires. I haven't read a vampire book in a long time and it was exciting to go back to a genre that was such a huge part of my adolescence.

One of the things I loved was the characters. Jerusalem and Alexei were super well written characters, who each had extremely compelling backgrounds. Jerusalem is a Black girl who escaped from slavery, but at the expense of losing all of her family, but not without exacting some revenge and justice for her family before escaping and Alexei is a vampire running from his past and the sadistic woman who turned him into a vampire. Both of them end of crossing paths and end up becoming an unlikely pair for the time period.

While I did like them both I did unfortunately feel like Alexei's background was given more explanation and expansion than Jerusalem's. This I feel was a disservice to Jerusalem as the main character because she is the focal point of the story and without her and the things she endured the story wouldn't exist. I also felt like a lot of their romance and what led up to their eventual love for eachother occurred off page and therefore left their love story feeling incomplete and rushed and while we get glimpses of it in the flashbacks it didn't feel like enough to establish or even move the relationship forward.

I also really liked the side characters Odessa and Gael. I loved how they supported Jerusalem and her goals, while also trying to help guide her. Plus Jerusalem's staunch resolve to hate Gael was hilarious to me. I did feel terrible for Gael and Odessa though at the end. They deserved better.

One thing that did throw me off was the use of the language at times. The cursing seemed almost too modern at times, but it was accurate to the time period so it did work out. However, it did throw me for a loop at times. I also wish we'd seen more fighting with the vampires because it didn't feel as if there was an actual war going on and what we did see didn't make me feel like Jerusalem, Odessa, and Gael were given a chance to show what their enhancements in strength and endurance could really do in a battle.

Overall, I did like book. It was a quick read and had some amazing characters and I enjoyed going back to a world with vampires.

This book is told from dual points of view; some chapters are from Jerusalem and others are from Alexei. Something I found a little jarring is that the chapters would start as one POV and shift to another throughout the chapter. The author does indicate when the shift is happening, but I just prefer it when POV shifts happen with chapter changes. In addition, part of this book is told through flashbacks. I thought the flashbacks were a little messy. For the most part, I thought that Jerusalem's time enslaved and Alexei's time being tortured could have been better told either as separate chapters interspersed throughout the novel or in order at the beginning of the book.

I really loved the magical realism of this book; the writing style reminded me a lot of Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. Jerusalem is a fierce main character and Alexei was just kind of okay. I felt like there was not enough between them to really warrant a love story. Almost all of their conversations are surface level, and that's just not enough for me. I think the language used in the book was also just a little too modern. I do like a good revenge story, and I enjoyed reading this book.

This was a fast read for me and had some really interesting elements, but for me, it was a little jumbled and just an okay read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Dangerous Ones is a fantasy historical fiction book set in 1863 during the Civil War in the United States. It focuses on 18 year old Jerusalem, a Saint (a person with powers) who escaped slavery after her family was murdered and Alexei, a vampire from Russia who fights alongside her as part of the Union. Alexei is also 18 but has been for hundreds of years.

I loved the concept of this book and the catharsis of it. I really enjoyed Jerusalem’s range as not just a stubborn badass but also as someone who stopped to admire a baby snail. Given the setting and the events that take place, the book is really dark and deals with a lot of trauma but it also has moments of levity that made me laugh, like the banter between the cast of characters. I wasn’t into the main romance in this book at first but it eventually grew on me. The pacing was great.

Without giving anything away, I struggled with this book insofar as I felt like some of the world building was told rather than shown and some of the characteristics of vampires felt silly. There were also some phrases that I do not think were around in the 1860s that took me out of the time period but at the same time this is a fantasy book with vampires etc. so it’s not really fair to be critical over historical accuracy.

All that said, I liked this book overall and think it would make for a really cool and powerful prestige network adaption.

Thanks very much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This gave me Twilight Eclipse vibes in the very best way. What happens if mythical/magical creatures fought in the civil war? This story imagined this scenario and paints a beautiful picture. The plot line was incredibly unique and kept me interested however the use of modern slang and dictation threw me off. I also failed to root for Alexi and Jerusalem. Their relationship was toxic and lacked chemistry.

What a unique story!! I really enjoyed this book. The uniqueness of it was enough to grip me. I read a lot and find that it's becoming harder to find stories that don't feel like I've read something like it before. There are two things that irked me a bit. First, the modern language in the Civil War Era really throws you off balance. FMC says salty. Really? The other was the description of the chimera. I realize it's fantasy, but if it's going to be a made-up creature, then don't use the name of something already around. Overall, it was an interesting, fast-paced read.

4.5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: fantasy, vampires, dual POVs, historical fantasy

This review has been posted to Goodreads as of 2/27 and will be posted to my review blog on 3/26 and to Instagram on 4/14.

TW: slavery, whipping, mentions of SA

This book definitely has an interesting premise. The Civil War, but if vampires and Saints (i.e., supernaturally strong and fast vampire hunters) were a thing. I thought it was an interesting take and I liked seeing how the different fantasy elements got woven into the existing history. This world ended up being more expansive than just vampires, Saints, and humans, and it would've been interesting to explore the other groups as well but there's not really room for it (but note, I would be interested in exploring them...maybe with Gus and Jules).

As it is, we get a good amount of info about the vampires and Saints. Vamps seem to be a pretty Eastern European thing, though I think they do come from other European locations as well. They're sensitive to sunlight, holy water will burn them, and a wound from a silver weapon will never heal. Saints are pretty much the perfect enemies of vampires. They're stronger and faster than the average human and tire out less easily. When a Saint knows what they are and has proper training, they're a formidable foe against vampiric enemies. Even without training they can pose a threat, as Jerusalem shows in the opening chapter. Saints seem to pretty specifically hunt vampires and we actually see them working alongside other supernatural creatures in the book as allies.

Jerusalem has escaped slavery and is now fighting with other Saints in the Union army, with her sights set both on liberation and revenge. She's filled with rage about what happened to her and her family, and she uses that to focus her skills as she trains and fights. Understandably she doesn't trust a lot of people, but the people she does trust are people she is thoroughly loyal to. It's clear that she cares deeply and has a strong protective streak, and part of the way that shows up is through fighting the Confederacy and vampires.

Alexei is a vampire who signed on to help the Union army and in particular helps the Saints take down other vampires. He has his own demons to face from earlier in his life in Eastern Europe, demons tied directly to his vampirism. While he eagerly fights against slavery and clearly states his disgust for the practice on more than one occasion, he has more mixed emotions about newly turned vampires, as he's aware that not all of them have chosen that life, which at times puts him at odds with the Saints. We get to see his softer side on multiple occasions and it's clear he's warm-hearted at his core, even if he is, quite literally, ice cold.

While Jerusalem and Alexei are set up to seem to already be in love (though unknowingly on Jerusalem's part) when the book opens, I do feel like we get a bit of instalove going on. Alexei is clearly in love with Jerusalem but holds off because he doesn't want to lose her as a friend (also the fact that he's a vampire and she's not, lol), but it takes Jerusalem much longer. She even tries to kill the guy 24hrs before she admits she loves him! I have a hard time believing that someone like Jerusalem would so quickly have an about-face. While her attempts to kill him were in the heat of a very emotionally intense moment, it doesn't change the fact that up until nearly the end of the novel, Jerusalem worries Alexei will try to feed on her. That doesn't really scream love to me. I don't mind the romance, they do work well together, but I would've liked to see some of that resolved prior to their confessions (or at least prior to them fully getting together).

I have to say, I was cackling at the descriptions for white people. They were absolutely hilarious and I think it's a funny way to call out (and contrast with) the ways Black and brown characters' skin tones are often described in books. I also think it's interesting linguistically since it creates a Black-normative perspective in the novel.

This book is pretty fast paced and fairly action-packed. While there are moments when Jerusalem and/or Alexei have to stop for resting or planning, a lot of the book is filled with either strategy or fighting in some form. I definitely flew through this book and its fast pace makes it a nice, quick read. The ending is very satisfying as well.

Overall I enjoyed this book and found it to be a good, fast-paced vampiric read. I did find it a bit predictable at times, but I don't think it's trying to be a book with a ton of plot twists, so it doesn't impact the story.

Oh my what a pleasant surprise this was. I got this as soon as I saw the cover and read the blurb.And boy it did not disappoint .I stayed up late because I couldn't stop reading it! The writing and the characters were amazing and the world building was so interesting.What an absolutely terrific read!So glad I read this early and I need more .Top tier fantasy, you should definitely add this to your tbr!

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I have mixed reviews on this, on one hand I did enjoy the story but some parts were frustrating and I felt I missed out on some world building info. Jerusalem is very very strike first think second, while I 100% understand why that is and I believe she deserves to feel the way she does, I also did find if extremely frustrating for her to be attacking the people helping her. I also wish there had been a little more info on the supernatural creatures in this story but that’s just a personal preference. Still loved this even though I complained a little lol

4.5 stars rounded up
Thank you to the publishers for an early review copy.
The Dangerous Ones follows Jerusalem a newly freed slave and Alexei a 300 year old vampire during the civil war on their mission of revenge. The author was really good at combining fantasy and historical elements into one believable world. Additionally, the relationship between the two main characters was the strongest part of the book. I really enjoyed the banter between the main characters even if the constant mention to the characters height difference got annoying at times.The contrast between the two characters was compelling and I liked how they helped each other worked through their trauma. I think this book would've benefited from 60 more pages in the beginning and middle to flesh out the world and character motivations more. Overall, I would defiantly recommend as a quick read and would read from this author again.

Set in Jerusalem, this historical fiction novel with vampires and civil war. During this era there are wolves, vampire hunters, and intrigue. This read too much as a high fantasy for me, but I have students who would enjoy the world building, the alternative take on historical events, as well as the point-of-view it is told with.

This is not a book I would enjoy or pick up for myself, but definitely something I would recommend for a mature audience due to the violence and physical descriptions.

I quite like the voices of both protagonists! Sometimes it could be a little distracting though. I thought it was unique but sometimes felt a tad distracting with their dialects.