Early Review: Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Dangerous Creatures #1

A new series returns to the world of Beautiful Creatures. Some loves are cursed...others are dangerous.

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.

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthors of Beautiful Creatures, are back and casting another magical spell. Their signature mixture of mystery, suspense, and romance, along with a dash of fun and danger, will pull fans in and leave them begging for more.

I have to admit, prior to reading this book I wasn't the biggest Ridley or Link fans. I could still take or leave Link to be honest, but Ridley really grew on me. She's just so harsh and abrasive. While in my mind I knew she hadnt had things very easy, it was hard to remember that when I would see how she would treat others. Now however, after being in her head, I realize just how truly damaged and broken she is. She's in an almost constant battle with herself between her siren nature and what she wanted from her life. It's a struggle to balance her desire to be good with her true nature, and the fact that she cannot trust and good emotions due to her influential nature, well it's utterly heartbreaking. Suddenly it all made sense why she always did things to make people angry with her, negative emotions she could trust to be real, but any affection may not be. And sometimes something real even if it's negative is better than something fake. So that being said, seeing her try to be with Link is painful to watch because you know she's trying so hard, but yet everything keeps falling apart. As I said, Iink's not really my favorite character, but since he has the potential to make Ridley happy, he's alright in my book in the end.

Can I just say that I am 100% over cliffhangers? I mean prior to reading this book I wasn't the biggest fan of them, but this one seals the deal. To me cliffhangers most times feel like a marketing ploy to keep readers coming back. But I'd rather come back because a book sold me on its own merits rather than a driving need to find out what happened after a shocking ending. I just don't see the need to leave readers frustrated for months if not years until the next installment comes out, especially in this case as the series can more than stand on its own without the need for this. Granted, this could be the way the authors wanted to tell the story, with the shocking ending, but frankly it's turned me off and overall lessened the read for me. It's to the point where I'm seriously struggling with how to rate this book. Without the cliffhanger, a solid, well earned four, but the cliffhanger makes me want to knock it down to a two. That's how much it's frustrated me, but in the end I'm going to ignore the ending and look at the rest of the book as a whole to rate it.

One thing to note is that even though this is a spin off series, it really isn't the place to start reading this world. There is no recap, no explanation or back story, so if you haven't read the main series, you will probably be pretty lost. Even as myself, having read the previous series, I still felt just a bit lost and scrambling to remember everything, so I think at least a little recapping would have gone a long way. That being said and frustrations with the ending aside DANGEROUS CREATURES was a pretty good read for me. I loved seeing Ridley in a new light and want to see where things head next

(Received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley)

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Beautiful Chaos

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Caster Chronicles #3

Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected - and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What - or who - will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin?

For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask. 

Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.

Strange things have been happening in Gatlin since Ethan met Lena, but he still wouldn't change any of it as long as he has her at his side. Of course that just might change as it now seems like the apocalypse is upon them with sweltering heat waves, killer storms, and swarms of insects are ravaging the little town. It would seem the caster's problems are now slipping into the mortal world as the consequences of Lena's claiming come to light. Things are really broken this time, and it will take a momentous sacrifice to set things right. Meanwhile, Ethan is dealing with his own mess as he has haunting dreams centered around himself this time rather than Lena, and with each one he loses a little more of himself. With no happy end in sight, there is little time left to set things right or everything will come crumbling down in the end.

The description of there being no happy ending this time really scared me at first, but to be honest I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop for some time now. All of the events from the previous books were bound to have serious consequences, as there were some majorly game changing events. I knew at some point things would finally catch up to them, but to be honest I never would have seen this coming. Of course the story centers around a new song, this time around being Eighteen Moons, and each verse is its own prediction of things to come. However, unlike the previous songs, this one only points to doom rather than any chance at a happy solution.

My favorite thing about this series has been the characters, and that still holds true now. Their emotions are so real be they happiness or suffering. Even though this installment mostly consisted of the darker side of things, there were moments of levity to help balance things out, mostly coming from Linkubus. Even though most of the focus was on Ethan, and by association, Lena; Link and Ridley's troubled paths were front and center as well. Link is still trying to come to terms with his transformation as well as his love for the very troubled Ridley. Ridley is also going though a lot as she's supposed to be mortal now, but some pretty mysterious things have been happening around her. To be honest, she comes off as more selfish than anything to me, but again, the emotions are so real, that a part of me will still feel for her. I just wish she would stop messing with Link's mind, as he has enough to deal with on his own.

Several times throughout reading Beautiful Chaos I literally had to put the book down and walk away for a little while. The tension was so high that I found myself rushing through reading it just to find out what happens next that I wasn't fully appreciating it. Each installment in this series is even better than the last (an amazing feat considering just how good these books are), and truly deserve to be savored. I had to take periodic breathers to calm myself down enough to be able to read without rushing. Even so, I still devoured the book in less than a day. I'm sure I'll be re-reading it sometime in the near future to see everything I missed in my haste. Beautiful Chaos truly lives up to its name sake as it is a beautifully written book that is full of chaos and utterly raw emotion that will leave you reeling in the end and desperate for the next installment. 

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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Beautiful Chaos (Beautiful Creatures, Book 3)

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• Tales of the Ravenous Reader 
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Previous Books:

1. Beautiful Creatures
2. Beautiful Darkness

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• YA 

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Review: Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems. 

After not being claimed for darkness like she feared, you would expect Lena to be happy to be able to stay with Ethan. However her guilt from her Uncle's death is threatening to consume her and causes Lena to pull further and further away from Ethan. When Ethan starts having mysterious visions again, this time without Lena, he knows she is in trouble, but he just isn't sure what the danger really is. When Lena really starts to take a turn for the worst, Ethan may just be the only person who can save her from herself, but what happens when she doesn't want to be saved? 

The teen love angst was majorly stepped up in this book. It really surprises me to say this, but I actually think the angst added to the story. Usually this is something that will turn me off of a series, but it was handled perfectly in this book. Everything between Ethan and Lena is thoroughly strained, ripped, torn apart. It's almost as if all of their differences grew together and formed an impenetrable wall between the two of them. However, while the issues between them made for a terribly nail biting read, if they can overcome those obstacles, they will only come out the other side that much stronger. I really enjoy these two together and I hope their relationship will stand the test of time despite the road blocks along the way.

A lot of questions get answered in this book. Many of those answers are ones you will never see coming. Things are really starting to come all together and the events in the past have woven a very intricate web to lead into the present. It's amazing to see how everything has led up to the current events, and its hard to believe there is still plenty we do not know. This book really has just the right amount of revelations to really keep the pace going, but it leaves plenty of mystery as well. This is a really fine line to follow, and can be one of my biggest pet peeves in a book. Too little information and the book is very frustrating, but too many revelations can become boring as there is no mystery left. I am very impressed with the way this series is progressing and handling the "information and mystery" issues.

If you thought the stakes were high in the first book, this one steps it up that much further. Be prepared to sit on the edge of your seat the entire book. I couldn't read it any faster! This book will definitely grip you every bit as hard as the first one. After the revelations in this book, I cannot imagine the direction the next book will have to take. If you enjoyed the first book, this one surely will not disappoint. If you are anything like me, as soon as you finish this book, you will be counting down until the next one.

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Beautiful Darkness

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Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Caster Chronicles #1

There were no surprises in GatlinCounty.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

In a small southern town called Gatlin nothing interesting every happens, that is until the mysterious girl Ethan has been dreaming about for months starts coming to their school. He becomes instantly entranced by her and scrambles to find out more about her. The town, however, wants nothing to do with the new girl that is nothing like the rest of them, and will do anything they can to make her feel completely unwelcome. The closer Ethan gets to Lena the more he is committing social suicide, but compared to the secrets Lena is hiding, social suicide will be least of Ethan's worries.

I have to admit I was very hesitant to read this book. The biggest reason I kept pushing it down my to be read list was that I was doubtful I would care for a male first person narrator. Well, let me just say that I can't belive I didn't read it sooner. There was not a single thing wrong with Ethan being the narrator. I think it actually was nice to have a new perspective on things versus the usual girl narrators. I do have to say his voice did seem to be a little "censored" compared to what you would expect to be on a teenage boy's mind, but I didn't find that to be a problem at all.

The characters in this book are full of depth, even the ones you love to hate, and all of the different relationships between all them weave a very intricate web. Even though the main focus is really Ethan and Lena, the rest of the characters really add a lot of support to the story and are not just hollow characters used as "place holders." The nasty girls at school only make you root for Ethan and Lena even more. Lena's uncle only adds more mystery to the story. Ethan's best friend Link provides a great deal of comic relief. Amma's character is definitely the tough southern woman that you definitely do not cross, but can show immense love and caring as well. The list goes on and on.

I absolutely loved this book. There was a good deal of mystery in this book, but it progressed well and was not frustrating at all. The relationship between Lena and Ethan was very realistic and did not seem rushed at all. There was the perfect amount of twists and turns allowing the star crossed lovers theme to continue while still leaving the reader with a sense of satisfaction. I highly recommend this book if you are crazy like me and have hesitated to read it, you really will not be disappointed.

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Beautiful Creatures

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