Dark. Forbidden. Alluring.
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When unexpectedly life as we know it changes, when one of the apocalypsis horsemen comes to earth and unleashes sickness to all people. Sarah Burns takes a risk trying to end this horsemen madness but Pestilence will have other things on hand for her.
The concept is great. The worldbuilding and characters too creating a fantastic enemies to lovers - forbidden -paranormal romance.
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Special thanks to Bloom Books, Author and Netgalley for giving me this ARCS. My opinions are on my own.

Laura Thalassa strikes again after her wildly successful Bargainer series. This new series promises to be every bit as addictive.

The world was struck by the four horsemen a time ago, and then the world was never the same. Now, it's time for their return, and Pestilence is the first to make a reappearance, riding through cities and spreading a painful, deathly plague.

Our heroine, Sara, is eager to bring the plague and all of the pain to an end, but in the process, she quickly becomes acquainted with Pestilence, who is only eager to see her suffer. At least, that's how it all starts out.

There are multiple battle scenes, and the plague is described in detail. If you are triggered by gore, violence, assault, or death, this story may not be for you. 'Pestilence' is a slow burn with a happily ever after, with scenes of intimacy written in moderate detail.

This series is SO EPIC!! Very dark, pretty messed up - but omg so so great. Even second time around reading. Pestilence made me rage, feel so sad for him, hopeful, swoon, and lastly proud of his growth. Our FMC was so much fun to read about.

It was post apocalyptic - hence the series title, so a lot of it was pretty brutal. But my goodness - this series is so unique and the most fun to read!! Pestilence started the series with a bang. Go binge this series today!

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa is one of those books that has been on my radar for a while and now that I finally read it, I’m wondering why I didn’t start it sooner.

Five years ago, The Horseman arrived and started the end of the world. After their disastrous arrival though, no one has seen them for years. Until now, when Pestilence is riding and spreading the plague wherever he goes. Sara Burns is a firefighter who is one of the last people left in her town because she helped evacuate everyone else first. She and her fellow firefighters draw matches to decide which one of them will stay behind and try to kill Pestilence. Sara is the one, so she stays and when Pestilence rides into view, she shoots him and then burns him alive. Except, he can’t die and now he’s pissed off. Instead of killing her there and then, he decides to keep her alive and take her with him to prolong her suffering. But the longer they ride together, the more a bond grows between the two of them. But how can they ever be together, when Pestilence is there to end all of humanity?

Now let me just say, this was a dark, bleak book. Of course, it’s about the end of the world and we follow around Pestilence and we see him spread his plague. Yes, we do see him grow to care about Sara and find his humanity throughout the story. But it’s still a rough ride because we also see him infect entire families including children and letting Sara take care of them while they die a painful death. So be warned, it’s a deeply unsettling read and also an intriguing exploration into what mankind is capable of, both the horrors and the kindness.

And yet, I got into the romance, even if I thought at first it would be too dark for me. But Laura Thalassa does a good job at writing Pestilence as a divine being set to destroy mankind, but also someone who is feeling all of it for the first time, someone who does not enjoy what he does but does so because it is his task, and someone who is learning that humanity has some good in them yet. And as such, I could feel Sara’s connection with him as well, I ate up their banter and I ended up rooting for these two just as much as wondering how I could ever root for them. But I did. The romance is very slow-burn and I thought it was built up well.

I sped through this story in a matter of 2-3 days, as I was obsessed with reading on and finding out what would happen next. That said, it does get a little repetitive near the end and I think it could have been a little shorter to avoid some of that repetitiveness. I also felt like I still had so many questions at the end, but then those will probably be explained in the next few books. Which I’m definitely reading soon because I can’t wait to find out what’ll happen with War, Famine and Death.

Overall, I definitely recommend this book if you’re looking for a dark, post-apocalyptic paranormal romance series with a spunky, fierce heroine and a dark and powerful ‘villain’. The story can be quite bleak, but there is hope and love and humor in there too. And steaminess, let’s not forget the steaminess. I’m intrigued and will definitely continue the series.

This was my first book by Laura Thalassa and I'm completely hooked. I had to read the rest of the series before being able to go on with my life.

Pestilence is a true enemies to lovers story about one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Pestilence, and Sara a mere mortal. They meet when Sara is short strawed into killing him. Only, he's immortal and cannot stay dead. He comes back with vengeance and is determined to keep Sara around to make her suffer for making him suffer.

Glossing over the fact that the suffering thing is a really flimsy excuse for the forced companionship as they ride around North America while Pestilence goes about killing everyone, I thought the book, the setting, the plot, and everything else was really interesting. In all honestly, I was a bit skeptical with how the story started because it was basically:
Pestilence: (insert I angy meme)
Sara: Omg he's so hot.

I truly enjoyed that this was an actual enemies to lovers trope and not a I-hate-him-because-he-didn't-say-hi-to-me-that-one-time-but-actually-I-just-have-a-crush-on-him, or some other immature, angsty variation. Sara is actually torn about her proximity and budding relationship with Pestilence, as is he. She is really repulsed with his purpose to kill off humankind, and even leaves him because of it.

This book is 5 stars for me just solely based on the fact that it's a real enemies to lovers novel AND it doesn't have the ridiculous miscommunication conflict that almost every romance novel thinks is a requirement.

I haven't read many romance novels, but I think this might just kickstart my new hyperfixation with this genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wow! This book was a rollercoaster for sure but in a good way. At first I didn’t think I would love this book but it slowly changed my opinion. I loved Sara as a main character, she was so strong and even if she couldn’t catch a break she still firm in her beliefs while also being flexible. She was such a great character and the perfect pair for Pestilence the Conqueror. Pestilence was also a great character, at first I thought he was an idiot but as I slowly got to learn more about him I loved him more and more. I don’t think he will be my favorite horseman but he sure is a strong contender. I loved how much he loved Sara and how no matter what Sara told him he was still true to his feelings and knew what they were. Their story was dark but true and that made it so much better. They went through so much together and still choose to love each other even if everything was against them. I also loved the dystopian aspect of the book (since dystopian is one of my favorite genre’s). I am really so exited to read War’s story and seeing how it unfolds. I absolutely recommend this book and I thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for this e-Arc.

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa was one of those cases where I liked the story but didn't love it entirely. This book has been pretty hyped in the bookish community on social media so when I saw the whole series is being re-released in August with pretty new covers I really wanted to give it a go and requested it on NetGalley. I'm glad I got approved so I could find out what all the fuss was about and I could definitely see why so many people enjoyed it. I did too but there were some little flaws for me.

This story featured Sara Burns and Pestilence, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. When Pestilence comes through Sara's town, she shoots him in the hopes of saving the world. Except he can't die. In retaliation Pestilence takes Sara as his prisoner and wants to make her suffer. As they go through towns and cities spreading the Fever as the plague is known, they both start to develop feeling for each other. Can Sara convince Pestilence that humanity is worth taking mercy on or will she have to watch humanity die before her very eyes?

I very much enjoyed the apocalyptic setting of this story and how Sara was a firefighter before the four horsemen of the apocalypse came to earth. She had a very protective and caring way about her and towards other people, which is why it was hard to even shoot Pestilence although she knew it was to try and save humanity. I also enjoyed reading about Pestilence. I liked how he was totally clueless about certain human things like kissing for example but also ruthless when it came to spreading his plague to end humanity, which he didn't enjoy but it's what he had to do.

That said, I didn't entirely love the romance. I enjoyed it partly, don't get me wrong, I'm always up for a good forbidden romance but I wish it had been a bit more of a slowburn. The romance started and moved a bit too fast for the circumstances that both characters found themselves in. Maybe I'm looking a bit too deeply into it all but Pestilence is the cause of many of people dying and I just thought Sara was a bit too focused on how hot he was all the while with humanity dying around her. I think I missed some depth there. Also, the story could be quite repetitive with them moving from town to town with a lot of the same things happening.

The next book is going to be about the horseman of War and I must say I'm intriguing so I will definitely be reading it. I'm curious to see how and if the romance is going to differ from Pestilence. Watch this space for that review.

Shout-out to Trixie Skillz, Pestilence's noble steed and true main character of the book! 🐎

I know going into a lot of paranormal/supernatural romance books that I need to suspend my belief ever so slightly and just enjoy the ride...but even still.

The book itself is such a quick, easy read which is always nice, I tanked through the entire thing in one sitting. Was this a good book? well.. it safe to say it had it's issues. Was it an enjoyable time? no thoughts, just vibes.

As the title suggests, the is about the coming of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the first focus being on Pestilence. How can a person make Pestilence sexy? Just make him a hot dude I guess. We follow our FMC Sara a 21year old firefighter, who in the face of the world ending and everyone being taken out by the plague that Persistence causes, decides to try and kill him...she fails and as a result becomes his prisoner.

Now, Pestilence makes her life hell, is AWFUL to her and basically murders lovely old people, children, ENTIRE CITIES in front of her...but it's cool he has pretty hair and a nice butt. All the healthy additives for a loving relationship - Insta love is not it for me

If you want a super easy read (LOW on spice) with very questionable stockholm-esque relationship this is the one for you, it just wasn't for me.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

This book was one of my favourites the first time I read it, and reading it a second time was no exception to how much I enjoyed it! Pestilence was by far the best book in the series, with his character growth and Sara with how strong she becomes by the end!

The entire series was unique in itself, making this read so easy and so fun! Laura does an incredible job at making the story and characters likeable. This book hooked me right from the beginning and it continues to make me smile with every time I read it.

Definitely a series you don't want to miss out on!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

You know it's true love when he cuffs you to his horse and drags you city to city as he kills the population. I ate this book up, it was everything I wanted in a fantasy book, Four horseman romance? GOOD. Enemies-to slow friendship-to Lovers? GOOD. The tension, the way the plot comes so smoothly, and THE TENSION, its the "we shouldn't do this" type vibe and they proceed to do the thing they shouldn't do. I love the characters; you feel for them and understand their views. But doesn't matter what they think, because when it comes to someone they care about, they forget the intense hatred between them and do everything to make sure they are safe. its "Touch him/her or die"

I need the next 3 books, I can't live without it now.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Laura Thalassa is THE QUEEN OF FANTASY ROMANCE!!!!

Pestilence is the first book in the Four Horsemen series, and wow did it leave me speechless and wanting more. The way this world was created was unbelievable, it felt like I was watching this story unfold with my eyes instead of reading it. The characters were so well developed it felt like I was looking through their eyes.

Pestilence is a horseman of the apocalypse and not everyone’s favorite person, he’s mine though lol. Sara is a strong heroine, which is what I loved the most. These two had me on the edge of my seat, I wanted more, I NEEDED MORE!!!

I screamed, laughed, swooned, EVERYTHING! I loved this book beyond words and I cannot wait to read the best book in this series.

“Love has a funny way of rearranging priorities.”

Pestilence reminded me so much of Thor from Marvel. Like the way he acted and talked I just couldn't stop picturing it. To be honest, it made this book five times more entertaining. But Pestilence is so sweet and honestly like such an innocent, kind person? I mean, besides giving people a horrible death by plague... but you get what I mean.

“Last night I could not decide which you were—a tonic or a toxin,” he says. “Today I’ve discovered you’re both.”

I think my biggest problem with this was the writing. I don't know about you guys, but one of my biggest pet peeves is bringing in more modern language and slang. I know this is set in the modern world (albeit an apocalyptic one) but still. I'm sorry, but I really don't want to hear talk about how "savage" something is among other choice words used. It is so cringey and that is the most innocent of what is used (I'll spare you the rest). If you like to read fantasy to escape the modern world and go somewhere else, yea that doesn't happen here.

“I came to conquer this land and its people, but instead, one of its people conquered me.”

Overall, this was a fun read. It's fairly short (I read it in a few hours) but it does have a slower plot than you think it would. However, that didn't take away from the story at all. This was definitely something different and I am excited to start War to see where this series leads next!

Thank you NetGalley for letting me snag this arc! 5 years after the four horsemen are spotted Pestilence resurfaces to bring about the messianic plague. Sara gets the short end of the stick to stay behind and carry out a plan to kill him. Unfortunately the plan is derailed and she becomes his prisoner. Watching them both go back in forth in what is right and wrong was a roller coaster! I thoroughly enjoyed this and can not wait to read war!

I absolutely devoured Pestilence, and do plan on continuing the series, but the storyline is a bit repetitive, and I didn't love Pestilence as much as I thought I would.

Still overall really good though!

The book was a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed it, I liked the concept of it happening in a today society with a bit of fantasy.

4.25 stars
This was such an interesting read - the whole concept of one of the four horsemen, coming to end humankind only for him to fall in love? Yeah I was really interested to see how this romance would play out between Pestilence and Sara. I loved Sara’s character and how despite her growing feelings towards Pestilence, she was still firm in her convictions around saving humanity and that there were still redeemable qualities that would merit mercy. And I also enjoyed seeing the growth of Pestilence’s character as he learned more about humanity spending all his time with Sara. Their romance was great. The only thing was the storyline - some parts felt slow or maybe weren’t really needed for the whole book to make sense. It made for me pushing through certain sections instead of really being enticed by the plot. But overall, definitely enjoyed, and I’m ready to see what happens in War. Definitely beware of triggers, there were some very descriptive and graphic scenes that were included in this book!

3.5 stars
Hmmm... I am hooked enough to read the next book in the series but this book was alright. There wasn't much in depth world building and the main character Sara is questionable LOL. I did not really find her as a funny humorous character 😭 but her relationship with Pestilence was interesting! Hehehe the part that I did enjoy was how Pestilence tells his feelings to Sara like the way he said it made me smile to big HAHAHA

Disclaimer: I DNF at 15%.

I'm currently on a romance kick and was intrigued by the idea of the four horseman of the apocalypses being the romantic interests. Haters to Lovers and misunderstood baddie are tropes that I enjoy and I figured this would be perfect. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of the authors writing style. Some of the unnecessary information that was added was jarring and created a disjointed scene that pulled me out of the story that I had barely gotten into. The comment about "who refrigerates bread?" was odd considering that's not an uncommon practice as bread keeps well in cooler environments and adding that to the sentence doesn't add anything to the scene. The statement about how electricity doesn't work but running water does is okay but then she follows up the thought with "the why beats the hell out of me, I'm not complaining" which frankly seems like lazy writing when there was no need for an in-depth explanation in the first place.

What killed the story before it even got started was the lack of understanding of the capabilities of a human and how far training to be a firefighter would help in a situation. You cannot get shot in the lower back and the shoulder with arrows and continue to run behind a horse after they're pulled out. Your lungs and abdomen are at risk of getting punctured, bones can be chipped, since he pulled the arrow out there's also the risk of infection and bleeding out but the main character just keeps jogging behind a horse because she has the endurance <i> because she's a fire fighter?</i> The same woman who questioned whether or not she could jump out of a second story window? Getting dragged behind a horse is also not something you're probably going to get up and jog from either.

I get that Pestilence is a romance book but it's too separated from reason for me to be able to buy into the world and the inner monologue of the main character wasn't something that I enjoyed. Her quips tend to take away from the scenario instead of adding anything to it.

i think overall this book was pretty good. i like how we got to see a lot of development with pestilence and the way his views changed about humanity. i also really liked how the reason for that was through his interactions with sara. this book was very easy to read and also had some very humorous scenes!

however, i didn’t like how inconsistent sara was. i also didn’t like how fast she became attracted to him. and unfortunately this book definitely was a stockholm syndrome relationship which i’m not a big fan of at all.

i think this book was good but definitely had parts that could’ve been better and once again i just personally don’t like stockholm syndrome relationships but it was still very entertaining and funny.

I have such mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I devoured it. I enjoyed the writing style and the way that Laura Thalassa told this story. However, I also found this love story to be pretty horrifying.

This is a dark and sad story. I cried a few times while reading (at some of the people Pestilence was killing). I just could not get on board with forgiving Pestilence for killing millions. I saw some other people say that he had this big redemption at the end, but I was disappointed by it. So he decides not to kill millions more people, but doesn't make up for what he has already done.

I was so frustrated with Pestilence.... he is killing humans in horrible ways but he thinks that they are despicable for trying to hurt him in return? Maybe I'm a bad person because I'd be trying to fight back too, maybe not to the extend that some go but what did he want them to do, just give up?

There also were basically no other characters except for the FMC and MMC. And little to no plot, it was mainly the same thing over and over (riding a horse, stopping for the night, and seeing people die).

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for providing an eARC of this book.