Two for One Review: Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Dangerous Creatures (Dangerous Creatures #1)

Authors: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 368 pages
Expected Publication Date: May 20, 2014
*ARC received from publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads:
Ridley Duchannes will be the first to tell you that she's a bad girl. She's Dark. She's a Siren. You can never trust her, or even yourself when she's around. Lucky for her, Wesley "Link" Lincoln can never seem to remember that; quarter Incubus or not, his heart is Mortal when it comes to Ridley. When Link heads to New York City to start a music career, Ridley goes along for the ride-and she has her own reasons. As if leaving small-town Gatlin for the big city, trying to form a band, and surviving life with a partially reformed Siren isn't hard enough already, Link soon learns he has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay.

Sheri's Review:
Having previously listened to the Beautiful Creatures series this was my first experience with the written words of Garcia and Stohl who have a lovely writing style in my opinion. Even though the main characters, Ridley and Link, have moved to New York I still felt the pull of Southern culture thorough out this story. Since I loved this aspect of the original series it helped me to continue to feel connected to the Beautiful Creatures series. That said, I don't think you need to read Beautiful Creatures to enjoy this book. The character of Ridley and her backstory and her choices are interesting enough. Learning more about Sirens and their place in Caster order was fascinating. The complexity of the relationships between Casters and Incubuses continues to intrigue me.

Link continues to make me laugh but he also makes me feel melancholy about the fierce attachments young people make even when the relationships are not good for them. I thought the new characters making up the New York band were inventive, fun, and just creepy enough.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the Beautiful Creatures series or to readers who have no idea who Ethan and Lena are and why Gatlin is such an important place.

Questions for Others: There was something not quite right in the timeline presented in the book regarding Ridley, her time in Barbados, and the new "friends" she makes in New York. I can't wait to hear what others think about this.

Pam's Review:
I enjoyed this book, but I felt like I was dropped right in the middle of it with no explanation. The authors definitely assume you have recently read the Beautiful Creatures series. It's been awhile for me and I would have liked more reminders on who people were and even the world and how everything worked.

Ridley was an interesting main character. I didn't really like her in the Beautiful Creatures series and I didn't like her for a lot of this book, but she grew on me. Part of the reason she did is because she grows and changes throughout the book. She's struggling with her fate, her destiny to be dark, and wanting to be different. The authors include scenes between Ridley and Lena from when they were young, before Ridley was claimed by the dark side, and those scenes added to the complexity of her character and made me feel more sympathetic toward her.

Link…still not the biggest fan of him and he doesn't add a lot to this story except for being Ridley's connection to being good, even being human.

There was one character whose name I won't mention so I don't spoil things, but I didn't get why that character cared so much about Ridley. It sort of came out of nowhere, and I would have liked to see that relationship develop rather than have this character so deeply affected by a couple of conversations with Ridley.  I just wasn't feeling it, although I'm interested to see how all of that plays out.

I did like the new New York characters and I think the series has potential, but to be honest, not a whole lot happens in this book.  Except for the ending.  Yet another middle of the scene cliffhanger.