👀 Me trying hard not to make Jer my least liked person…

𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: The Dangerous Ones
𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Deep South Vamp
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: Gael
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Easy
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: e-book novel
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Historical Fantasy
4.5/𝟱

🌵𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁
~ vampires & historical placements
~ well-written & fluid
~ real enemies to lovers

A story about tiny but SUPERHUMAN once enslaved Jerusalem (who escapes the plantation where her family was allegedly killed) & how she fights for freedom with other once enslaved persons, a Russian vamp & the “Allies?” (against non-Confederates?) in the South of the US. The story presents an action-packed, fast-paced & well-written alternative to very dreadful time. It hints at cruelties faced (nicely done while moving the plot forward), & makes your cheer for the little band of misfits, although you know that victory will be immeasurably hard. Friends and families can come and go as the cost of freedom.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌵𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗵
~ Jerusalem needs to learn to focus & plan
~ 👀 how is sabuze (sa) being “good” to someone?
~ The shoving, pulling, attacking, whining 😬 is tiring & irritating
~ Millie should hv been killed 👀 especially after what Lex had to suffer
~ Could never have Jer & her family around during a zombie apocalypse

♡🌵 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

*The Dangerous Ones* by Lauren Blackwood falls short of its potential with a disjointed plot and underdeveloped characters. The premise—a magical world filled with danger and intrigue—promises excitement, but the execution feels flat. The pacing is inconsistent, with long stretches of dull exposition and a lack of meaningful tension. The characters, especially the protagonist, are hard to connect with, and their motivations feel shallow. The world-building, though imaginative, is muddled and difficult to follow. Overall, the novel fails to deliver on its intriguing concept, leaving the reader more frustrated than entertained. Sadly, it's a forgettable read with little impact.

This was a NetGalley I didn’t finish in time, but I went and borrowed from the library in order to finish!

This book has a lot going on and it was super promising for me at first. Vampires, civil war, super powerful humans called Saints. But about halfway thru the book when a Sasquatch joins the character list, I thought “what the heck is this?!” There was just too much for me. But I liked Alexei.

If you like vampires and just plain obscure books, then this might be for you!

I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately I didn't really connect to either of the main characters.
Up from 2.5 stars.
Thank you very much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

Absolutely loved the story and adventure in this one. I loved the suspense in some scenes and the cover is absolutely stunning!

The premise of the story was so interesting and I was very excited to read this but I liked the story but didn’t fall in love with it!

Firstly, I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing. It felt to modern to be a historical fantasy which pulled me out of the story. The plot fell a bit flat at times and the pacing felt choppy.

Lastly, I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance.

It was a fun & fast read but I wasn’t very attached to the characters.

The base of the story was so incredibly fascinating: what if vampires, werewolves, and humans with supernatural abilities existed and fought during the Civil War? Such a cool concept!

This story with its dual POV gave us more insight into the new beings existing in this paranormally retold past history as well as allowed readers to get some idea of the romance developing between the main characters.
Alexei, despite being 300 years old, gave off the “pulls pigtails and pokes fun because he likes a girl” kind of vibes when it comes to Jerusalem. If you don’t think too hard about the amount of years the vampire has already lived (and should have matured through) he actually comes off as sweetly mischievous and fiercely loyal. He likes spending time with Jerusalem and making sure she feels safe and can take care of herself.

While I kind of wished that we got more of the development between Jerusalem running and first discovering her abilities to the capable fighter climbing the ranks as she is now, I guess I can see the benefit of jumping that time period to get readers to the heart of the action.

While the concept was really fascinating, it wasn’t quite enough to keep me invested in reading the full book. There were some language issues that really threw me for a loop with the time period this was set in and it took me out from the story a bit. I do think this one would really work for those that like a little bit of history twists with their fantasy but who also may not fully mind not strictly following the rules of that historical time period. Ones who are craving a “what if” kind of read with a physically strong female character growing into her own and have a basic understanding of the events in history this is pulling from. It wasn’t quite the read for me, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be someone else’s favorite read.

The premise of the book was really interesting. It’s an imaginative take on American history. A historical fiction story with a twist, if you will. It takes place during the American Civil War, only the confederates were the evil vampire plantation slave owners (that’s a mouthful). Although our MMC, Alexei is also a vampire, he fights along side our FMC, Jerusalem on the right side of history.

Jerusalem’s fire is due to her quest for revenge against the ones responsible for the murder of her family. Her partnership with vampire, Alexei is marred by her prejudice, her distrust of the vampire species. It was interesting to see how that relationship developed from one of distrust to a romantic relationship.

The jargon used in the novel was a little distracting. It took away the feeling of being immersed in that time period. But other than that, I quite enjoyed reading it. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for this review.

Thank you NetGalley, Wednesday, and St. Martin’s Publishing Group for the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for an e-ARC of this novel. Here is my honest review:

Taking place in 1863, our main character, Jerusalem, is free after escaping slavery. She is a saint with super-human powers that was enslaved by a vampire. Now, while fighting in the civil war she is using her new opportunities to avenge her family and put this terrible vampire to an end. Alexei is a handsome vampire who is working with Jerusalem, but can she trust him or are all the vampires in cahoots?

I loved the combination of historical fiction and romantasy. I haven’t read this genre combo too much yet, and I appreciated the research that went into this novel as well as the imagination. Adding vampires and saints to the civil war added this fantastical element which allowed the material to be more approachable.

This book is filled with surprises and twists. I would say about half of them felt like genuine surprises to me, while half were fairly predictable. I enjoyed Jerusalem and Alexei and felt they were fully fleshed out characters. Sometimes I thought they could both be rather intense in their stances and opinions, which took me out of the scene a little bit.

Overall, this is a super fun YA romantasy that hits on incredibly important themes from history, some of which are still creeping around in today’s day.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

2.5, rounded up. I would have enjoyed this far more if Lauren Blackwood had expanded the lore (post-Civil War America with Sasquatches, werewolves, vampires, and some category of fighter called "saints"? Sign me up!) and gotten rid of the romance. Insta-love is already a pet peeve of mine, but the way Alexei unequivocally adores her immediately with no explanation annoyed me--especially with the way Jerusalem treats him. (If I had to read one more anachronistic use of "dumbass" I would have thrown my Kindle across the room.)

"The Dangerous Ones" has an intriguing premise with a world filled with magic and danger, but sadly, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. The plot revolves around a young woman who must navigate a world where magical creatures and treacherous decisions are part of daily life. The idea had so much potential, but I felt the execution fell a bit flat.

The world-building is certainly imaginative, and the setting is rich with detail, but I found myself struggling to connect with the characters. Their motivations often felt unclear, and some of the dialogue seemed forced. The pacing was uneven—there were moments that dragged on, only for the plot to suddenly speed up in a way that left me a little disoriented.

Overall, "The Dangerous Ones" offers an interesting concept but didn’t manage to fully captivate me. It might work for fans of the genre, but for me, it was just okay.

A lot of tropes, poorly composed plot/logic scenarios, and overall fairly uninspired. Maybe I’m just not into US civil war books; but you’d have thought adding vampires would make it interesting enough?!
A little surprised at the white vampire saviour story here given the author is of colour. Although I do like the attempt to break people, races, and vampires (species?) from stereotypes and look at people as individuals first.

And then there are the tropes! For me, its odd that author Lauren Blackwood admits to wanting to write a book with all the tropes in her afterword… not sure why you would the tropes to be so boring and cliche the way they are here. I don’t mind tropes (generally) but the overall story has gotta capture me, or have really good characters; sadly this had neither. I didn’t hate the characters; but I also didn’t love them. I was very meh for a lot of this story. Again, it’s worth noting I’m Canada and USA civil war stories are far from my thing. That said I’ve read others where I loved the commentary on racism, classism, sexism, etc.

Overall this one just missed the mark for me. One of many subpar romance in a supernatural setting that are available today. Given the flood of these books to the market in recent years I feel that you really need to have something that is fast paced, well written, engaging reader with characters, and has an element that is unique. Vampires during the civil war is just not unique enough for me. All that said I might consider reading another novel Lauren Blackwood, however, I’d be sure the premise is something I really care about.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I wanted to love this! I tried but I just couldn’t get hooked. I think it’s a bit to YA for me. That’s ok! I’m an adult so I think that there’s a big audience out there for this book.

3/5 This was a romantasy! I didn’t realized this! I started realizing I’m not a fan of this genre this year! So with that being said the story was good if we didn’t focus on the romance! There’s a war going on and you looking at this black woman with lust in your eyes🤷🏽‍♀️🤨 like “what”?

Wow! Not what I was expecting but I really enjoyed it!
Jerusalem killed her master and escaped from the plantation. Then, she joined the Confederate army to learn how to fight and wait for the moment that she could avenge her family from the vampires. Jerusalem is a saint. Being a saint, she has faster fighting abilities and can handle more to fight the vampires; however, she is still mortal.
Alexei is a vampire, however, haunted by his past. By turning into a vampire, he joins the Confederate army and trains with Jerusalem. He trains her and as he spends time with her she has a scent that smells amazing to him and he knows he loves her. When they go together along with two others for a mission and things do not go as planned they are left with one another and Jerusalem struggles with her feelings and how she feels about Alexei. Alexei is everything she is against, the type of creature that killed her family without any remorse and who still holds her brother hostage. Slowly, she realizes her feelings for Alexei, and while she realizes her feelings she struggles with the trauma and everything he represents that haunts her. Will they be able to work together to kill the vampire that haunts them both or will their struggles with one another be their downfall?
I absolutely loved this book, while the dialogue wasn't always appropriate for the period I can't say it took anything away from the story. I had a hard time putting the book down to go to bed! It was that good.
Thank you Wednesday Books, St. Martin's Press, and Netgalley for the extraordinary opportunity to read and review this one! It was an absolute treat!

THE DANGEROUS ONES by Lauren Blackwood is an alternate history YA set during the civil war with vampires as plantation owners. While this set-up provides an interesting angle for exploring racial history in the U.S., what I enjoyed most was the relationship between Jerusalem and Alexei.

Jerusalem is a Saint - human but with superhuman strength and speed. After escaping the plantation where she and her family were enslaved, she trains to serve the Union army as a vampire hunter.

Alexei might appear eighteen, but he’s lived hundreds of years as a vampire. He has traveled to the U.S. with the Russian Navy to aid the effort to abolish slavery.

Alexei is clearly smitten for the diminutive but fierce Jerusalem. While Jerusalem can’t even admit to the close bond of friendship the two clearly share. She stubbornly holds tight to her well-earned hatred of vampires, despite knowing that Alexei will always have her back.

Rounding out this found family are Odessa and Gael, two more Saints who fight alongside Jerusalem and Alexei. All four are driven by their own past traumas, with secrets that put them all at risk on the battlefield.

I’m always a fan of first person, dual POV. It was especially effective in this story, as both Jerusalem’s and Alexei’s histories were told in detailed flashbacks. And knowing their real thoughts as they would taunt and bicker with each other was a treat.

I’m looking forward to reading the other books by Blackwood on my shelf - Wildblood and Within These Wicked Walls.

So this book has so much potential but it wasnt a good read to me. When writing historical fiction, using modern vernacular always takes me out the story. Antebellum AAVE is different from Modern AAVE. And it holds alot of cultural importance. Especially during the Civil War when Black people were still enslaved. So to see misuse of that AAVE really made the story flat. Also the romantic subplot was very authentic to me. If I cant feel the chemistry between two characters being conveyed to me I feel it isnt strong enough.

The concept was really good. Loved the idea of paranormal involvement in civil war. Unfortunately it just was a bit of a miss for me. The writing was disjointed and the pacing was very choppy. Overall the story was pretty interesting and the main characters were relatable.

The Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood is an exhilarating read that had me hooked from start to finish. This novel dives into a world of high-stakes action and complex characters, making it impossible to put down. The protagonist is fierce and determined, navigating a series of intense challenges that keep you on the edge of your seat. Blackwood’s writing is fast-paced and full of vivid descriptions that make the scenes come alive. The story is packed with twists and turns, and just when you think you have it all figured out, something unexpected happens.