Laura Thalassa

A siren is reunited with her former flame-the Fae King-as they try and save his kingdom from an evil force who has also been keeping them from their happy ending

Rhapsodic (The Bargainers Book 1)

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.

Rhapsodic

Brandon Liew

Julia 

I would've taken Des just about any way he came. I had taken Des without fully understanding his past.

"Let our enemies come, and l will kill them all. So long as you're at my side, cherub, I have something to fight for." 

You know," I say, "I missed 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."

Des clasps my cheeks. "And mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and the sea claim the land and swallow the sky. But you will always be mine." He runs his knuckles over my cheekbone. "And the stars might fall from the heavens, and night might cloak the earth, but until darkness dies, I will always be yours."

Stranded 

"And mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and. the sea claim the land and swallow the sky. But you wil always be mine." And the stars might fall from the heavens, and night might cloak the earth, but until darkness dies, I will always be yours."

I didn't fall for Des because he was handsome, or because he knew my secrets, but because he stuck around when I was least lovable. Because he was a man who didn't try to take anything from me even when I lay next to him, but instead gave me peace and comfort. Because each one of those nights he saved me all over again, even if it was from myself.

Margaret Hulsey

 Des clasps my cheeks. "And mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and the sea claim the land and swallow the sky. But you will always be mine." He runs his knuckles over my cheekbone. "And the stars might fall from the heavens, and night might cloak the earth, but until darkness dies, I will always be yours.

"Callie, I love you. I've loved you from the beginning. And I love you long after the last star dies. I will love you until the end of darkness itself."

Natalie Sypeck 

Hell couldn't give me a more wicked man; heaven couldn't give me a more perfect moment. 

You want to know a real secret?" he rasps. I nod against him. "I want to wake up to you every single morning."

His eyes flash as he swivels to face me, one hand on my sliding-glass door. "You're righter than you know, cherub. You did force me to leave you. Seven years is a long time to wait, especially for someone like me. A word of caution: I'm not leaving again."

 Consider me a modern day Jekyll and Hyde.

Selin Igten

marta 

** spoiler alert **
           ✨ 1 ✨

Antes que todo decir que este libro lo dnf el año pasado (sin ninguna razón especifica) y decidí continuarlo por que me acorde de él :)

Lo más importante que tengo que decir es que este libro, en mi opinión, trata el tema del SA bastante mal, y por lo que he leído en el segundo empeora. 

El libro está bien si no has leído mucho sobre este tipo de romance, pero si ya tienes algo de experiencia en estos libros, en mi opinión, te va a resultar bastante parecido al resto, no siento que haya nada nuevo que haga destacar al libro del resto.

Por otro lado, la segunda mitad del libro me ha parecido (quitando el último capítulo) que podría ser perfectamente el final del tercer libro, puede que sea porque me gusta que las relaciones se creen despacio para poder desarrollarlas bien, pero es que se están diciendo que son almas gemelas y te amos en el primer libro, y viendo eso, que tengo que esperar de los siguientes libros? Porque espero que no sean problemas de comunicación ni triángulos amorosos.

Y por último, el smut me lo esperaba más kinky¿?, siento que fue bastante soft y no se porque había ido con la idea de que no iba serlo.

The Bargainer is such a lovely character and Callie is strong, but flawed, which I love too. Looking forward to the next book of this series. 

Kristen Savage

Jodie Reads

Erin Cawthorn

This book was such a nice read, I really liked the character development and can't wait for the plot to progress more in the second book

(Bre)anne✨

Kelsey Joëlle

I really liked this book. Literally finished in a day. 

I did miss some things in this book, like some extra characters. I know Des his life is pretty private, but I would have loved to see some side characters from his side. From Callie we’ve got temper and Eli, but it was basically just Des and Callie. 

The book also really reminds me of ACOTAR. I love ACOTAR. excited to see where the other books go.

Samantha Waterson

Honestly… I’m embarrassed that I finished this book in under 12 hours. Because it’s fundamentally not good. 

If you are looking for a rich fantasy world with fleshed out characters and an understanding about what the hell is going on, turn away. I struggled with giving the book 3 stars, because it’s really probably more deserving of 2. 

There is genuinely 5 maybe 6 if I’m being generous characters in this book… 6! How do you build a fantasy world that has 4 different courts on a different plane and ‘earth’ (maybe idk we don’t really know anything about the world) and have just 6 characters? 

The only thing I think that saved this book for me was how through the majority of the book each chapter started with a flash back to the past that developed the two main character’s relationship more than what was happening in real time and honestly far more interesting. 

It was messy and awful but I read it all in a quick session of maybe what can be considered hate reading. I don’t recommend this book but respect it enough to offer 3 ⭐️‘s.

Gabriela Gorgoni

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the plot of this book and how interesting it was to alter from present to past every chapter. The main character has a spine to herself, which was refreshing. I just can't get over how they met when she was 16, kinda makes me a little uncomfortable. The plot itself was okay, but not very dense. We don't really see a lot from the bargainers side of view, so it's hard to go off. I hope the next two books are more in depth about the magical world side of the series.

Mikala Mawer

** spoiler alert **
           I would have liked this book a lot more if it didn’t have any of the flashbacks. I get she is technically legal in their world and they are mates and he doesn’t touch her until she is older but it made me uncomfortable nonetheless.

Jasmine

4.5 Stars
I just found this book to be completely addictive, I had so much fun reading it. Except for those prophecy chanting fae children shudders all those scenes creeped me the fuck out! I mean just look at this quote:  “They are listless, almost catatonic at times. They don’t sleep, they just lay in their cradles, their eyes focused on the ceiling. The only time they do anything at all is when, is when …” She touches the bruises on her chest, “they feed.” ... yep I just want to stay the hell away from them!

But ahh this book is soo good! I don't know what it is but I generally love books about fae they're definitely some of my favorites. I'm always keeping my eyes open for ones that sound interesting so Des being a bargainer (doles out supernatural favors for in exchange for a debt) and Cassie being a siren, that pretty much sold me right away. Also, I love the playful back and forth between them throughout this book. I've definitely fallen pretty hard for those two, basically, they have to be together no matter what because that chemistry is just WOW. 

At first, I wasn't sure about the shift between present and past storyline but it ended up working so well because what it did was built up my anticipation for things to come. It was fantastic getting to see the two different sides of their relationship almost simultaneously. A great paranormal romance imo and had just the right amount of adventure for me I can't wait to dive into the next one!

Defo gonna go to sleep crying about how no one will love me the way the dude loves the dudette UGH 😩😩😩😩😩

Danielle Silverman

shar

Megan Lowe

I wanted to be taken with this book but it just didn't do it for me. There were WAY too many similarities with a Court of Thorn and Roses for me to ignore or to stop comparing to. Needless to say, this didn't stack up terribly well. I was also annoyed by the constant switching between calling Des Des or the Barginner. I didn't understand the differences. The inconsistent use of swearing was also a little strange to me. Overall, not a favourite at all.

Tilly Moss

I enjoyed this book a lot, but did find it difficult to read/understand in points!

mevi

3.5 stars. buddy read

The progression of the story seemed a little fast on the romance side, but the past POV was helpful to understand why. I thoroughly enjoyed the world and the characters inside. I want to know more about Callie and her siren side and all of the creatures in the world.

Second read:
decided to reread it because i forgot everything, and i’m very glad i did. i enjoyed it a lot. definitely a favorite. however, i won’t be reading the second book as it’s received a lot of criticism





First read:
I enjoyed the shift Thalassa kept making between the past and present ,as it added immensely to the book. 

However, I didn’t enjoy the last few chapters as they felt rushed.

Overall: enjoyable read

jenn kause

Recently I seem to be picking first person books and I don’t know why I always seem deterred by them, but ultimately in the end this one was just *chefs kiss*.

There’s a lot of development into the two main characters and while normally it can get confusing constantly going back and forth in time for some books, I felt like it was pulled off really well. 

Probably one of my new favorite books now… also probably shouldn’t be saying that until I finish the series, but I loved it. Callie is such an intricate and amazing character that I wasn’t expecting, but I can’t wait to read more about her and Des.

I enjoyed this read. It was fun, short, and really easy to follow. I didn’t fall in love with either of the characters or connect deeply with them and the writing felt a little immature, but it didn’t bother me enough that felt I wanted to stop reading!

madison mcgarvey 

I love the concept of the plot. I do think the conflict is alittle rushed at the end to come to a resolution. It could have bled into the second book and left the reader on more of a cliff hanger. I’m slightly disappointed when the FMC gets captured, rescued within like 20 pages and then the book is over. And on top of that the villain and his motives were severely underdeveloped for him to be killed already.  Seems pointless and like the plot was underdeveloped. But I love the progression of Callie and Des’s relationship and the flash backs. Definitely seems like romance is the main plot and everything else comes second which I am fine with. Fun read, will continue the series because I enjoy the romance aspect. 

Katie Stafford

Bonnie Peele

TEMPER IS THE BEST


But really, Des is 👌

Meh. Very surface level character writing. Romance was boring. Magic system isn’t really described at all. Maybe will read the second one someday, maybe not.

Laura Wilson

Allison Garrett

As an avid fan of the ACOTAR series I heard that the Bargainer series had many similarities and so I ordered the 3 in 1 book collection. The first installment, Rhapsodic, flips back and forth between 16-year-old Callie and her best friend, the King of Night, Des, and their reunion 7 years later. Callie owes Des, also called the Bargainer, many debts and they must all be paid. 
	Pros: 
•	Callie- Usually I hate switched perspectives and flashbacks like we see in this book, but I think here they were utilized very well and allowed the reader to get to know Callie’s past with Des while still driving the plot forward. Callie is badass and isn’t afraid to go after what she wants, and I loved that about her
•	World-Building- I really enjoyed the world that this takes place in. On Earth, humans are aware of the supernatural but stay somewhat separate from it and then there is also the Otherworld ruled by faeries. I’m interested to see if Thalassa goes into more depth later on.
•	Des, a consensual king- What a man or faerie, I guess. I loved the fact that he and Callie were just best friends when she was young, and he didn’t take advantage of her in any way. He also made sure many times that Callie was comfortable with the way things were going and not forced by magic. The bar is so low for men, but Des really knocked it out of the park. 
Cons:
•	I only wish I had picked this book up sooner! 

Favorite Quotes: 
•	“And mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and the sea claim the land and swallow the sky. But you will always be mine. And the stars might fall from the heavens, and night might cloak the earth, but until darkness dies, I will always be yours.” 
•	“Love is another sort of subtle magic. It can bring people together and tear lives apart. It can wash away sorrow, it can forgive. It can redeem.”

Overall, I’m giving Rhapsodic 5/5 stars because I loved it and couldn’t put it down!

Rhapsodic (The Bargainers Book 1)

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