I have always loved the dark fae genre and this one is no exception. Holly Black and Sara J Mass are my go-to when looking for a good rec with this, and after Rhapsodic Laura Thalassa is right up there with them.

Callypso is a siren with a past that will catch up with her eventually- she just doesn't know when. In her youth, she made a deal with one of the most dangerous figures in the paranormal world, a man known to most as The Bargainer. But after all those promises, he never came to collect. Until seven years later when he shows up in her room ready to continue where they left off as if nothing has happened.

I really loved the way Thalassa kept giving fragments of Callypso's story from seven years ago, who she was when she made these deals, and how she grew to be the person who is now being forced to face the actions of her past. The pacing of the book was enough to keep me interested without taking away from the building tension between these characters and the romance was all I wanted and more. I absolutely adored Dez, and while the reasoning behind his actions felt a bit flimsy, I enjoyed myself so much with this story.

Thank you to netgalley and Laura Thalassa for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book so much. It sounded so good and I have been wanting to read it for a while, and yes I admit the story is very compelling. But there are things about it I cannot ignore, very problematic things.

I am not a person that takes issues with the 500 year old and 19 year old romantically involved trope. It's fantasy and no one loves to 500, and they have the appearance of someone who is around their age, health, vitality, etc. However when this all starts Desmond is an ADULT and Callie is 16 years old. I feel it's trying to justify it by saying she's an adult in the supernatural world but that is a very weak excuse.sure, nothing romantically happens for 7 years, but he was falling for her at that time, he wanted her then, he hung around her, and also clearly had sexual thoughts. What this is doing is romanticizing grooming.

Second, why the hell does r@pe have to serve as a plot point in this story? Not once but twice?? They could have easily told the story they did with her stepfather abusing her in other ways and just making the Thief of the Night all around disgusting and other ways and it would have been the exactly same story. I can't support this story and I am very sorry to say this about a book I was graciously given to for free.

I love this series...the back and forth between Callie and The Bargainer's past and present is perfectly drawn out and suspenseful. There is so much angst but in the best way!

I loved this series, so I was thrilled to read the newly edited version.

Rhapsodic follows Callypso Lillis, a siren that has an entire arm of IOUs made when she was younger to The Bargainer. Seven years later, he's come to collect, but in a way that is unexpected by Callie.

It's such a fun premise and I loved these characters. Laura Thalassa is such a great world-builder. It was hard to put down!

“And the mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and the sea may 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.”

Synopsis: Callypso Lillis is a siren with a big problem, one that stretches up her arm and back into her past. The last seven years Callie has been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, 322 magical IOUs for favors that she’s received. Only repayment or death will make the beads disappear. If you need a favor everyone knows the Bargainer can make it happen, but there will be a price to pay and sooner or later he will collect. But with Callie, he hasn’t asked for payment, until now. When Callie finds the fae king in her room, her first payment is a chaste kiss–a single beads worth–and a promise for more. For the Bargainer, it's more than rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld, fae warriors are going missing. Only the women have returned in a glass casket and a child clutched to their chest. There is a whisper that an evil has been awoken. If the Bargainer wants to save his people, he will need the siren he rejected long ago.

Thoughts: I went into this book not knowing what it was about, it sucked me in right away. I loved that we got to see Callie at 16 first interacting with Des (Bargainer) and then now. This book was a dual timeline, which helped me learn more about how they met 7 years ago and how their relationship has changed. I enjoyed the pacing of the book and of course I loved the spice.

One thing I really did not like about this book was how Callie’s best friend was reduced to basic stereotypes of a black woman. Which wasn’t cool in my opinion and almost led to me DNFing it but I pushed through. Also since I am not a BIPOC creator, please read reviews of their opinion on it to decide if it's worth the read. I will read the next book and hopefully it's not full of stereotypes, this would have been a higher star rating for me if it did not have those stereotypes.

This book includes:
-enemies to lovers
-morally gray MMC
-angsty romance
-Fae and Siren MCs
3.5/5 stars
2/5 spice
Thank you Laura Thalassa, Bloom Books, and NetGalley for providing an arc for an honest review.

The part of this book that I really liked was the supernatural PI being called into solve a mystery in the Fae Kingdom of Night. The part that I struggled with, a lot, was the King of Night, The Bargainer, falling in love with a traumatized teenage girl.

Calypso “Callie” Lillis is a siren. She can compel humans to tell her things and to do things against their will. Very convenient for a private investigator. She’s in business with her longtime best friend, whom we don’t see nearly enough. She also owes hundreds of favors to The Bargainer, Desmond Flynn, the king of the fairy Kingdom of Night. She hasn’t seen or heard from him in 7 years. He suddenly shows up, intending to collect his favors, because he has a problem. People in the fairy realm are disappearing. Some of them, the women who are warriors come back in a stasis, neither alive nor dead, with children who are strange. He needs Callie’s siren ability to compel answers.

All of this is very good. I wanted this story.

The problem is the other story happening here. Des meets Callie when she calls for a bargain right after she has killed her step-father. She is 15, almost 16. Apparently, 16 is the age of majority in the supernatural world. BUT, it’s still this world and she’s still a teenager and I have no idea how old the KING OF NIGHT might happen to be. So the whole story is intercut with flashbacks to Des hanging out in Callie’s dorm room (he got her enrolled in a boarding school far away from her step-father’s dead body). Of course Callie is going to have a crush on the good looking adult man who saved her. More problematic is the age indeterminate adult (fairy) man who is clearly pining for the teenage girl.

I wish there had been much more mystery solving. I wish Callie had been aged up. She’s only 23 or 24 when the current story takes place and I just felt so tired. I don’t know if I’m going to read the rest of this series. But Laura Thelassa is clearly an accomplished writer, so I’ll check out her other books.

CW: history of child sexual assault by caregiver, infanticide discussed, creepy threatening children, and a mystery involving: rape, abduction, involuntary impregnation, and quasi-murder.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Bloom Books and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

The best parts of this book are the flashbacks, I think. The majority of the book I feel like we’ve jumped in halfway, so it feels like you’re playing catch-up, which is why the flashback scenes (perhaps where the actual love story is) is more enjoyable. But at the same time, I don’t think this world is fully built out yet, as I can’t quite place where the characters are in any given scene. And with each new character or creature described, I’m surprised. While the bones of this story have promise, at the end of the day it reads like a watt pad story. Not bad, but not good enough for me to want to read book 2 and 3

One of my fav books ever, I love Desmond and Callie so much and I love their story. This new cover is also so gorgeous, although I preferred the previous one tbh.

3.5/5 Stars

3/5 Spice

TW : Sexual Assault, Sexual Abuse, Abuse
(Check for more Triggers, these are just the major ones that came to mind right when writing my review)

Thank you to Bloom Books and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has been on my radar for a while so when I saw it on Netgalley I grabbed it. I can’t even remember the last book I had this mixed of feelings for because I truly can’t decide if I liked or am just indifferent about this book. I personally didn’t find the main relationship icky but I can understand how some would see that, I am not going to dive into that really in this though since I didn’t personally mind it. Some have also brought up that Laura Thalassa doesn’t do great poc rep and I am white so I can’t say anything about that but please read reviews on her POC rep from BIPOC creators before deciding to read the books. Also there was more than one Harry Potter reference in this book and in the year 2022 I thought we had moved past this especially as this is getting republished so it was the perfect time to remove the references and change them to be something else that isn’t from a person who is problematic in more ways that I have time to count. On to the rest of the review now.

This book follows Callypso, who is a siren and she makes a deal with the Bargainer after she kills her abusive stepfather to make sure it can’t be traced back to her. She continues eventually making deals and racks up 322 IOU’s to the Barginer that can be used in any way he pleases. Seven years after the Bargainer leaves fully, he comes back to collect payment. The Bargainer is the Fairy King of the Night Kingdom and female fae warriors are going missing only to be returned in a glass casket and clutching a baby. These women are all not alive but not dead and the babies are not normal children but instead crave blood and act weird. The Bargainer asks Callie to help him but their past feelings for eachother can’t seem to go away fully.

I enjoyed a lot of this book including seeing how Callypso and the Bargainer started their “friendship,” their growing romance in the main timeline, and the fantasy elements. I wanted to see more of the fantasy elements because we didn’t see fully how the magic system works or if it is just endless power which I hope is expanded in the rest of the series. The romance while it has a questionable start is really cute, it’s typical fae romance of possessive man (not in a bad way I just couldn’t think of another phrase) but Callie isn’t weak, she can glamor people into doing whatever she says except for Fairies since they aren’t the same as humans and other supernatural beings.

The biggest thing that bothers me is that the villain is kidnapping, immobilizing, and assaulting women and then is sending them back to their home court in glass coffins with a baby. As of this book there wasn’t a good explained reason for why the villain was doing this and I get it probably is explained eventually but I just hate that this was the choice instead of the fact it’s a fantasy world you could have just used magic instead of assault. Especially since the FMC is a victim of sexual abuse and then she has to help and deal with the fact women are coming back assaulted with children of their abuser and families are having to care for these babies that aren’t normal and deal with the fact the mother of said baby is stuck in a stasis in a glass coffin after she was assaulted. It just felt like there could have been a different option for the villain's master plan that wasn’t this.

I can’t decide if I will continue the series because I am interested in it and it left off in a spot where I see potential but also if the following books are also going to use assault in this way, I can’t justify reading them just because I am curious. Temporarily though, looking past the icky I did enjoy this book a lot and it is the type of fantasy I love. If this book didn’t have the SA part for the villain’s plot line, I would love this book and it would easily be 4 or 4.5 stars but I can’t see past that.

I received all 4 of the new kindle release arcs from NG. I have loved these books since they came out and will always re-read them any chance I get. I'm not usually into fae stories but for some reason this series has a hold on me. I will always recommend for anyone looking for a decent dark romance read. ♡

I read this book a few years ago so this one said revised but for me it was the same book. No drastic changes.

Enjoyable book with a one of a kind story unlike any I have ever read. I don’t have any issues with Callie falling for the Bargainer at sixteen. If we were all old when we fell in love what would be the point. He does the right thing and waits for her.

What did I like? I happen to love dark Fae books and the bargainer might be my favorite of them all. Callie is a strong female character and quite the match for the Fae king. I read this book a few years ago but it was just as exciting the second time around.

Would I recommend or buy? I’ve bought several versions of this book. My favorite version has been the set sold by the arcane society. I recommend this series to anyone who loves dark Fae romance!

I liked the concept of this book, but the fact that the fmc was a child when she met the mmc was a bit off-putting for me. Other than that, I thought that the story was fine; not the best thing I've read, definitely not the worst. It's a pretty solid three stars for me

I really loved the concept of this book, and by all rights it should have been right up my alley. I just couldn't get over the fact that the heroine was a child when she met the love interest. Also her best friend is a caricature of the "sassy black friend" and that really rubbed me the wrong way. I won't be continuing with this series.

Absolutely fantastic! This story gripped me right away. I thought the flashback scenes were just the right length and were seamlessly embedded with the present day story line. The dynamic between Des and Callie was so compelling and the overarching plot line intrigued me from the start was well. Cannot wait to read the next one!

I’ve had this series is my TBR for the last two years but when I saw it was getting traditionally published I knew it was my time to read it.

I’ve been craving a good fantasy romance for a while and this was perfect! I love the plot and storyline, I loved the characters and I had the best time reading it.

I can’t wait to read book 2!

A good start to a dark romance trilogy, although this book is not without issues. I found a few race things... iffy, and the love interest is a bit icky in terms of possessiveness.