I jumped into this story having no idea what to expect. I usually don't vibe with stories with heavy apocalyptic themes, especially ones that lean heavily on christian or related religious theology. But this story posed some very interesting questions about humanity that made this a very compelling read beyond the romance aspect.

The FMC (who is human) is kept as a prisoner by the MMC who is essentially an angel tasked with bringing about the end of humanity due to their wickedness. But the way this story conveys these themes relies very little on strained reimaginings of scripture and the apocalyptic christian worldview that I personally grew up with (and loathed). So it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable to read as I assumed it would be. The MMC, Pestilence, ended up being a very interesting character and I found myself a little bummed out by the end that I still had a lot of questions about his nature and his mission and his reasons for making the decisions he did. In the end though, this is an enemies to lovers tale with some heavy themes (mind the trigger warnings) that ended up taking me by surprise with how much I really enjoyed it.

A few trigger warnings to consider: death, violence, fire injury, sexual content, torture, animal abuse/death, illness with vivid descriptions of something akin to the black plague

Going into this book, I was expecting a spicy apocalyptic romp. What I was not expecting was a deeply moving, riveting, humorous, loving, sad, slow-burn, all-encompassing love story for the ages. Sara Burns draws the short stick from what remains of her firefighter crew to stay behind and attempt to take out Pestilence, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. After finding out the hard way that he is very much immortal, she is kept as his prisoner and the only one immune to his plague while everyone else around them perishes because "suffering is for the living." But, the more time they spend together, the more humanity she brings out in him and the more she starts to wonder if perhaps he is capable of mercy for the whole human race he despises so much.
Honestly, this book was just BEAUTIFUL. It was SO well written and you can tell because you can FEEL what its like when Pestilence is feeling things for the first time. The uncertainty, the doubt, the fear, the lust, the pain. Questioning why humans are the way they are. It makes you take a look inward and outward to the world around you and pray to whatever god you so choose that the apocalypse doesn't come any time soon because we'd all be screwed. And hopefully by a horseman named Pestilence ;)
Check out this book if you're into:
*Its the end of the world as we know it
*enemies to lovers
*Snarky FMC
*Broody MMC who learns to feel the feels
*Forced Proximity
*One horse
*He falls first

Pestilence is such a unique experience for readers. The writing captivates the reader through a story that is unlike any other. Because of the nature of the book, only two characters are primarily followed, with other minor characters throughout. However, Sarah and Pestilence are such dynamic characters that it is hard to notice the lack of other relationships. The way that each minor character also impacts their relationship is beautifully written. Pestilence's naivety is also entertaining as it leads to a lot of banter between the him and Sarah.

There were parts that I felt the pain or the happiness, which demonstrates the ability of the writing. Also the ending... I absolutely had to run and start the next one immediately.

This was not for me. I love a dark romance but I don’t always like the falling for the villain trope. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book is just shocking. Shockingly amazing. Real life unites with myth? Yes please. The female hero is first looks as gullable but then gains momentum. The male hero.. is beyond words. Writing was up-to-date yet elegant. I can read ten sequels at least (please?)

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
4/5⭐️
1.5/5🔥

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐖/𝐓𝐖:
MF/single FMC POV/HEA/dystopian/paranormal/enemies to lovers/slow burn/violence/death/plague/torture/gore

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰:
Book one of the Four Horsemen. Each book follows a different set of characters and can be read as a stand-alone but to get the most of the story it is suggested to read the books in order.

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:
The blurb does a phenomenal job of giving an over view of this book so there’s not much I can add to it with out giving anything away.

Sara was such a strong and resilient character and I loved her little quirky inner voice/dialogue. She was very entertaining. I would have loved getting Pestilence’s POV just because there was so much he was unfamiliar with and the feelings that were so new to him… I would have loved to know what he was thinking and learning.

I will say that while this was fairly fast paced plot wise, I was not expecting it to be such a slow burn, (like 80% in) and there’s not a thing wrong with that. I tend to enjoy a faster burn book, but this slow burn felt necessary. Watching their relationship change was really rewarding, for all they not only went through but what they put each other through also.

The world building and plot laid out in this book have me ready to binge the rest of this series! I look forward to seeing if this world may flourish… or if they will perish under the wrath the rest of the horsemen will bring.


𝐐𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:

There’s got to be some rule against ogling the guy you tried to murder.

“I cannot decide if you are a toxin or a tonic,” he says, lifting a hand to my cheek. “Only that you plague my thoughts and fill my veins.” Pestilence really could work on his compliments.

“This is not lust I feel, dear Sara. And I hope you are half as frightened of it as I am.”

He’s my oxygen and I haven’t been able to breathe for months.

I read this story initially in 2019 and while I gave it a 4 stars I never reviewed it. Then I requested various books through Net Galley recently and this was one of them so picked it up again as I did enjoy it and looked like it was being re-released again. Thank you to Bloom Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book.

Pestilence who starts out the series for the author, Laura Thalassa of the Four Horsemen will grab your heart. This book is about Pestilence who came to earth with the plague that can destroy the world. He runs into Sara Burns who's a mere human and she tries to kill him. As you can read from the back cover, she can't but something about her makes Pestilence keep her. I was hooked into their story.

While I was definitely vested in how these two would turn out because there just didn't seem a fitting end for them, this book was also much deeper and made you think about humankind and decisions you'd make in an apocalyptic type society. The chapters presented new issues not only with them but with the world as they went through it. It's a slow burn that heats up at moments and I really felt connected to the circumstances of each character. I don't want to share more than this but I definitely recommend it as a romance with a deeper storyline.

I get falling for the villain trope, but this was too much Stockholm syndrome for me. Dude physically dragged and almost killed you and is killing the world and still! 👀 No, just no. This trope is just not for me, but might be for others.

Yeah I liked this book but I didn't really mesh with the characters at all. I'm probably not even going to finish this series. Apparently she's re-releasing these books under a new publisher. ok.

DNF

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Laura Thalassa’s Pestilence has been on my TBR for a while & initially the story was pretty mesmerizing, if gruesome.

When I say gruesome I mean gruesome. The protagonists meet when she’s trying to kill him, a horseman of the apocalypse. Then he tries to make her suffer.

So it was pretty dark & I knew that.

Still, I was engaged & really enjoyed the smartass heroine who seemed like someone I could meet IRL.

But then the hero just goes too far for me, & skip if you don’t want to know…




he busts into a house where there are kids, and stays there, ensuring that they will die of the plague.

Those passages are horrible to read & for me, it was so unsettling that I couldn’t see a way for him to be redeemed.

I know a lot of people really like these books & I like the author’s writing style. While I knew this was going to be dark, this book ultimately goes in a direction I can’t get past so I am not finishing.

This book was so hard to get through. The beginning started off so well, but then tanked.. The dialogue was bad,, terrible MC’s, no plot, no chemistry.. The premise and idea of this book was so promising. The author could have done so much with her idea, but this was not it.

The 4 Horseman of the apocalypse ushering the world into a dystopian society. But all it was was the female MC Sara lusting after the evil horseman Pestilence, because he was just so HOT! I mean forget that he’s riding around causing a plague that kills everyone and possibly her own family, but he’s just too beautiful! Pestilence isn’t any better and falls obsessively in “love” with her. Then there was the world itself. All the world’s great innovations ceased to be yet there was cold beer in the refrigerator, running water, a working TV, etc. Then there was the sexual content…I just couldn’t, skipped all of that cuz it was just not for me. The characters just did the same thing over and over again.

I really wanted to like this, but I just did not.

To begin, thank you to NetGalley and SourceBooks Bloom Books for allowing me to read an ARC of Pestilence.

Okay, WOW did I have a roller coaster of emotions with this book, so I will keep the summary short. Our main POV, Sara, draws the short straw and stays behind to attempt to kill Pestilence, one of the four horsemen who has awoken on earth and spread his plague as he travels around the world on his horse. After her attempt to kill him fails, he takes her prisoner, giving them both a first-hand look at the lives each of them lives, each of them fighting the attraction they have to one another, and learning what it all means.

Okay, to be perfectly honest, I may have started to read but certainly would have DNF'd this book had I not received it as an ARC. That being said, I am honestly SO glad I kept reading. I had SUCH an interesting relationship and journey with this book. It really pushed me to examine how I felt about the characters and where those feelings were coming from, and how that related to other books and characters I have read in the past. Minor spoilers ahead.

I immediately began to struggle because from the start, despite the fact that Pestilence was walking around killing humanity, Sara is all, woh look how hot he is, which while is valid, I am someone whose looks are a small part of my attraction to people, personality makes up a huge portion of it (yes, even in books), so I really struggled to relate to how she could experience both genuine hate for an individual doing objectively horrible things to people all over the world while also experiencing immediate attraction to him. For me, that is not how it would happen, I neeeed that glimpse of humanity and compassion, so from the get-go, it challenged me to read through the perspective of someone who attraction works differently for. What gave me the biggest internal debate and struggle though, was the growth of their relationship, but I say this in a genuinely positive way. This book made me really take the time to examine the idea of morally grey characters and what it was about characters in past books that I had found myself having endless compassion for despite the things that they have done, and what was making it harder for me (for a long time) with Pestilence. I read a lot of fantasy, so I am no stranger to the morally grey, handsome love interest. I spent a lot of time while I was reading this book reflecting on why I was feeling such a strong feeling of annoyance at Sara's attraction and leniency to Pestilence after the things he did to her while she was his prisoner and the things he was doing to humanity, in comparison to other characters I have loved like Dara from the Daevabad Trilogy, Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows duology, Hades from a Touch of Darkness, amongst others. I really had to push myself to not measure the horseman against human morals, and remind myself that he simply was not and it is understandable for that type of emotional growth to take time. I loved the experience of how I did genuinely get to a point where I was rooting for his empathy and compassion and learning to continue to grow. I also spent a lot of time really considering the violent actions the humans were taking against Pestilence (including at one point Sara) and the morality behind those choices and how they can be justified. I feel like I could go on and on about everything that swirled through my head while reading this book, but honestly, I don't think it would make sense outside of my brain. So in summary, I LOVED how much this fantastical romance with a member of the four horsemen of the apocalypse made me spend time thinking about past books and characters and morals and humanity, like what an amazing thing for a book to do!

So all and all, if you are someone who feels like you would negatively judge this book and the characters in it, I genuinely recommend pushing through those judgments and taking the time to embrace all of the ideas that these characters and their love push you to consider! It was an unexpected and very welcome experience reading this book.

Another great book by one of my favorite authors her world building and ten connection she builds between you and the main characters are impeccable. I can’t wait to see where she takes the rest of the series.

This book explores morality a lot and the things we are willing to look past in the name of love. There’s a lot of hate, fear and anger from the citizens throughout this novel but there’s a lot of compassion as well. It really looks at both ends of the spectrum and some of the stuff in between. I truly loved Rob and Beth’s characters who had a brief appearance in the book, a sweet old couple who adored each other. But moving onto the main love story, Sara and Pestilence are not an obvious match - especially considering how they met. It was interesting to see Sara’s battle with her guilt and morals while she slowly fell in love with the being determined to destroy everyone in the world. Alongside that, watching Pestilence discover humanity, not as a witness but as a part of it, was completely adorable and I’m obsessed with his attempts to understand his emotions, food, language and intimacy. It’s easy to see how Sara got drawn in by him. Their relationship was definitely unconventional and almost never smooth but I loved every second of it and what it says about love and choices. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Pestilence is based on an unusual premise. The four horsemen of the apocalypse have arrived and Pestilence is the first to begin affecting humanity, spreading plague wherever he goes. In an attempt to stop him, firefighter Sara attempts to kill him, only to learn that it is impossible when he takes her prisoner. Over time, she begins to find the humanity in him even as she begins to teach him that not all of humanity is evil and deserving of horrible death.

I won't lie, during romantic scenes it is disturbing to have Sara call Pestilence by his name. But overall this was an easy read and I plan to read the rest of the series.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book.
I am not a religious person so the theme had potential for me to dislike before I even started but I really enjoyed it.
Sara and Pestilence both were flawed and at first you didn't think they would both also have redeeming qualities. I enjoyed Sara's quick mouth and refusal to believe that Pestilence could be more than what he was designed to to be. Watching Pestilence learn and grow into "human" thoughts, feelings and desires was quite unexpected. You could see and feel all the strangeness he was experiencing and I couldn't help but sympathize with how strange everything was to him and the fear that came with it.
It isn't a story of good and evil, right and wrong but of mercy and acceptance. True enemies to lovers and fate.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily

So Pestilence, one of the four horseman of the apocolypse, is going round giving people horrendoes boils and the plague. What better way to end it than to kill him, easy right?

I loved the dual ascpect of the slow burn romance alongside the apololyptic/dystopian feel and the world building. Enemies to lovers is one my favourite tropes and I loved it so much in this as at the start it was genuine hate. The forced proximity of Sara being Pestilence's prisoner and him slowly seeing some of the true meaning of humanity through her and that building into something between them was so good.

My only gripe was the ending was a bit quick with things and it felt it was part of the grovelling and not through realising humanity was worth it, but still has a HEA and I loved the epilogue and hint of the next books to come!

Thoroughly enjoyed it, loved that I'd not really read anything with this theme before and can't wait to continue reading this series to see how it plays out!

I enjoyed reading this and got through it pretty quickly, but it kind of felt like it was missing something.

I did like Pestilence and his character arc, but I had a hard time believing that Sara was really that *different* then anyone else. Sure she was compassionate, but I would envision someone to make such a change in him to be someone more.

I am Canadian and live on the west coast so I did love the nod to my home province and enjoyed how I know all the areas they traveled through.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloom Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ok, I was not expecting this to be such an emotional read. I cried like a baby multiple times reading this book. One particular scene just gutted me. I'm shocked with how much this book played on my emotions. The author did a fantastic job of making you really feel for these characters. And my emotions went from one spectrum to another. To make me hate a character, then love them, then feel sorry for them, then love them even more...I'm just blown away by that.

Pestilence is one of my favorite types of heroes. He's indestructible, fierce and determined. He also didn't know human emotions. To see him slowly learn what it's like to feel was fascinating to see unfold. And then his fierce protection of Sara...oh man, that had me.

Sara was just as fascinating to me. You could see the struggle she went through with her feelings of Pestilence. And rightly so. He's threatening everyone she loves. He's the enemy. Until he isn't. That struggle had me riveted.

This is one of those books where I feel anything I say in my review can not do it justice. There are 3 other books in this series and I can't wait to read them. I'm also bracing myself for more of these torturous emotions.

I'm usually not a fan of immortal beings or deities as love interests (unless the heroine is on the same level as the H), just because they are described as so ancient, and beyond human comprehension. I have a hard time believing that a man that old and powerful would ever care about some random girl, who's quite frankly not even that special.

Overall, I found myself sadly disappointed by this book because so many people were giving it high ratings and I really wanted to enjoy it too. I can't help but feel that they read a different book than I did, as seems to be the case for a lot of these YA/NA new releases lately.