Review: Dangerous Creatures [Dangerous Creatures, book 01]

Title:       Dangerous Creatures [Dangerous Creatures, book 01]
Author:   Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Rating:   ★★★1/2

I'm a fan of Link and Ridley tandem, but Dark Creatures seem to change my mind, with the introduction of a certain Lennox Gates...

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've always been able to relate to Ridley, since I was a dramatic and an emotional wreck during my teen years. While I didn't go wild, I did have several fights with my parents growing up. I immediately empathized with Ridley. I have always felt that she was acting bad because she thinks it's "expected" of her. However, based on her flashbacks, it seems that her bad girl attitude particularly comes out when she's protecting Lena.

But in Dangerous Creatures, the Link-Ridley tandem seems to be on shaky ground. However, they are both starting to mature as individuals, and I like that for them. Link is slowly starting to seriously think about his future and the future of his relationship with Ridley, while Ridley is starting to show signs of caring for someone other than herself (or Lena) this time.

New character Lennox Gates is as bad and as dangerous as they come. It's not very clear what he is exactly, only that he's really powerful - as powerful as Lena, it seems. And sorry, but he makes Link look like a high school loser, and he seems a much better fit for Ridley. Authors Garcia and Stohl certainly threw me off the Link-Ridley ship for a while.

However, for some reason, I just don't love the story. Something still seems to be lacking for me. I enjoy it, but I don't love it yet. Also, that ending, what. the. hell. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I know you'll be saying the same thing if you read it. If Garcia and Stohl wanted to throw a cliffhanger that's sure to make me itch for the next one, well, I gotta hand it to them!