Dangerous Dream (Dangerous Creatures 0.5) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Published: December 17th 2013

Catch up with Ethan, Lena, and Link as they finally graduate from high school and get ready to leave the small Southern town of Gatlin. But when Dark Caster Ridley makes an appearance, the sometime bad girl can’t resist picking a fight with her sometime boyfriend, Link. Angry and rebellious as ever, Ridley ends up alone in New York City and becomes entangled in the dangerous underground Caster club scene, where the stakes are high and losers pay the ultimate price.

Where’s a Linkubus when you need him?

I was ecstatic when I learned the world of our beloved posse from Gatlin County would be continuing in a new series. I read Dangerous Dream the day it was released and was left WANTING DANGEROUS CREATURES TO RELEASE IMMEDIATELY. It is important for readers to read this novella first, as it sets up the key players for the series extension. Go, read it! 

Dangerous Creatures (#1) by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Published May 20th 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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.

Dangerous Creatures begins in the small-town of Gatlin County (the same setting of Beautiful Creatures.) This time, instead of focusing on Lena Duchannes, whom is all things light—her siren cousin, Ridley Duchannes takes centre stage and leads the story.

Ridley and her boyfriend, part human/quarter incubus Link Lincoln set out for a new life together in New York City. Hoping for a bright future, and all the drama and chaos of what occurred in Gatlin to stay in Gatlin. Rid and Link are the couple you will always root for, they are hilarious with their jealous attitude and no matter the situation—always entertaining. As they travel to New York to start a new life after graduation, Ridley’s hiding a few secrets… most importantly, the results of the events of Dangerous Dream, which most certainly drives the narrative for this book and therefore must be read first.

Ridley is unapologetically bad, a no nonsense, modern day femme fatale. She is a protagonist you can’t help but love. Typical Ridley, she enters a high stakes card game and tries to use her powers to win. Ultimately she loses and now owes the house a marker—a favour that can be asked at any time, forcing Ridley to do anything.

Throughout the whole book there is tension. The foreboding feeling that a storm is brewing in the distance. A storm that has the power to uproot and destroy everything Ridley and Link have built together, and ultimately everything that defines Ridley.

I love these characters and this world. It is one of my favourite fictional worlds to escape to.

I love when Garcia and Stohl team up, it’s magic!