Series: The Bargainer #1 (full reading order below)
Publication Date: November 15th 2016
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.
Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.
But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more.
For the Bargainer, it’s more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken.
If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one.
Laura Thalassa is one of my favorite new authors I discovered this year. I had a craving for some new adult paranormal romance and Laura Thalassa came up frequently when I was looking on Goodreads. I read her Fallen World series first and fell head over heels in love with her writing style and world-building. When she announced that she was writing a new series and I read the blurb for it, I was dying to get my hands on it. And trust me, she did not disappoint. Rhapsodic is the first in an epic new series about a siren with a few too many IOUs to the Bargainer… who has finally come to collect. And his first repayment? A kiss.
I lean my forehead against his, placing my hand against his cheek. “Thank you for coming for me,” I say.
I fear what would’ve happened if he hadn’t.
“Cherub,” he says, his voice serious, “I will always come for you.”
Seven years ago, Callypso Lillis made a deal with the devil the Bargainer, also known as Desmond Flynn, that ended up saving her and changing the course of both their lives forever. Lonely and young at the time, what Callie wanted most was a friend, and she got that with the Bargainer, despite the fact that his time came at the cost of an IOU… that he never collected on. Callie slowly fell in love with him, but the Lord of the Night broke her heart when, after one night, he never came to see her again, no matter how many bargains she offered him. Seven years later, Callie is all grown up and still bitter at Des for abandoning her. So what does she do when he shows up out of the blue now? She gets pissed.
Des is finally back to collect on the hundreds of IOUs Callie owes, but he’s not doing it in any normal way. Nope, he’s back in Callie’s life because he wants her to be his, and there’s nothing that can stop him from winning her heart again. But a dangerous, powerful force is causing the death of many fae in the Otherworld. Will Des and Callie have what it takes to balance their budding romance while figuring out a way to save their fae brethren?
I loved Rhapsodic SO much. It was exactly what I was looking for in an NA PNR book. Laura Thalassa writes this genre so well – she’s able to create fantastical, epic worlds with characters you can’t help but root for and love. The sweeping romance between Callie and Des (who are seriously adorable together) and the thrilling suspense had me captivated by the book from start to finish. If you’re looking for a unique read that’s both dark, romantic and funny, Rhapsodic is definitely for you.
“You know,” I say, “I miss you. Every day.” It was an ache that lasted seven years. It should’ve dulled, but it never did.
He’s quiet for a long time. Finally, he confesses, “I missed you too.”
Reading Order: The Bargainer series
#1 ~ Rhapsodic: Ebook • Paperback • Audible • Goodreads
#2 ~ A Strange Hymn: Goodreads (May 2017)
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