Member Reviews

It was hard to go through the first chapters. I wasn't really liking Pestilence and I hated how he treated Sara. It's by the middle of the book that an elderly couple does the twist.
They don't fear Pestilence or try to kill him. They receive him in their home and talk with him. They accept their deaths and forgive the Horseman for the burden he carries.
It's only then that I stop to think and realise that I was reading expecting something of Pestilence instead of trying to understand him. I needed an open mind. I couldn't expect compassion from an horseman of the apocalypse that knows nothing besides his cause .

And then ... The human kid shows how cruel we are

SPOILER ⚠️

I cried when they crucified him and set him on fire. I cried when he begged for them to not hurt Sara.... Cause in thar moment, he cracked.

this book has so many messages. The power of words, sacrifice, feelings... I would say it's a strong book and it's perfect on its own way. ❤️

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Enemies to lovers I think describes this succinctly. Poor Sarah is ready to sacrifice herself in order to kill Pestilence but it's such a shame that no one told her that he's immortal ! Oh he can suffer and really does but die not so much. What Pestilence can do though is take Sarah as his prisoner to punish and let her learn what it feels like to truly suffer. Too bad that Sarah isn't the sort to give up and it doesn't matter what gets thrown at her Sarah's compassion and resilience never falters.
This was a great start to this series with its complex hero , stubborn heroine and underlying message. We have wasted our resources so what would we do if the dreaded doomsday actually arrived ? This story had great pace with a romance that felt justified. You might start hating Pestilence but this author vindicates him and dare I suggest humanises him just a tad ? Definitely not an easy read at times but one I was eagerly turning the pages on.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

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This book was so far removed from my usual romcoms that I almost didn’t read it, but thank goodness I did! Once I started, I devoured it and I can’t wait to read about the other dastardly horsemen and their strong women. The world Ms Thalassa is creating is as exciting as it is troubling!

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Thalassa does it again. I can’t believe I haven’t read Pestilence before now 😅

I think my absolute favourite part of any of Thalassa’s works is the banter-rich, witty and clever heroines she creates. They don’t need saving and boy do they make the hero’s job hard! 😂 Sara is no different. She has a smart mouth, puts others first and has so much courage and heart.

I loved the character growth in this. Pestilence is everything he should’ve been.

There were a few cringeworthy and super what-the-f**k moments. There were also suuuuuuuuuper long humans-are-bad monologues, and poetry quotes every other page, but aside from that the story was exciting enough to have me turning each page.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the chance to review. Loving the new cover 🥳

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Normally I’m not a fan of the female main character falling for her male captor but something about this story had me. Maybe it’s the fact that Pestilence started to redeem himself and change in a way. I liked this enough to continue the series.

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A book about one of the four horseman was surprisingly spicy!

I know, I know this book is marketed as spicy but you have to give me a little bit of room for my skepticism when here. Pestilence doesn't really sound enticing but this book turned that idea on it's head.

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Pestilence is a post-apocalyptic fantasy romance series starter that breathes some life into the old Four Horseman of the Apocalypse myths. In the story, the Four Horsemen descend on earth to cleanse it of ungrateful and sinful humanity; they arrive in semi-human form with their magical powers...what could possibly go wrong, amirite? We fast forward five years and the US & Canada have been decimated by a strange disease brought on by Pestilence. Pockets of humanity live on the fringes of existence attempting to evade disease. Sara, our female lead is one such human that belongs to the resistance attempt to kill Pestilence....except she fails miserably. But rather than kill her, Pestilence brings her along for the ride. Without going much further into the plot, expect a slow burn, enemies to lovers romance with gritty details about death. This is my second time reading Pestilence and I love the additional edits; initial writing is a little rough around the edges, but I enjoyed the story and that's what counts. Character development and world building in this first installment is solid and we all know that's my jam, There are some great gut-wrenching, heart-string-pulling moments in Pestilence; Laura knows how to get us with the feels here.

For those concerned, be advised there are grisly depictions of death and post apocalyptic war.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced review copy of this book for a voluntary review.

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I'm obsessed. Pestilence is an enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance that actually does the enemies-to-lovers trope right.
Sara's living in a post-apocalyptic world where the four horsemen have come to wipe out humanity. When her community has the chance to take out Pestilence, the first horseman, Sara is picked for the almost certain death task. At first it looked like she succeeded, but she ended up just making him angry enough to take her prisoner to punish her. Over time they get to know each other and end up building a relationship together

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A good book for those looking to read a romance first and foremost.
One that starts out with the MCs as enemies, and slowly turns into something more as 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 build between them. Set in a dystopian/post apocalyptic world.

The story definitely made me 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭! At different points, I felt shocked & appalled, incredibly sad, angry, touched by Pestilence's strong love for Sara, anxious and then relieved. Many times I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. Sometimes Sara thoughts and actions had me wanting to throttle her! Thankfully, she improves as the story continues.

The ending was a bit anticlimactic with the MCs being reunited and all being well. I didn't like how Pestilence would always be immortal and Sara would always be human. Their love had a time limit, one that would run out as Sara aged.

I'm interested in reading the next book, and have added it to my TBR list.
Please click on the link to read my extensive Goodreads' review.

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I was so excited to see that this series is getting new covers and I can't wait to buy them for my shelves. I read this years ago when it first released, but was excited to read again under this new cover. This is such a unique paranormal romance. It is a bit taboo but I adore Laura Thalassa's writing!

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This book is a post apocalyptic four horsemen story. If you like Stockholm syndrome fantasy books then this book could be for you!
Personally I struggled to get on board with this romance as I found it hard to believe she liked him when all he had going for him was his looks but maybe the prisoner story would appeal to others more.
This book was recommended to me by a friend for being unhinged and funny and she was right, its one of those books you enjoy and can read quickly but don't actually think is particularly amazing.

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“For all your righteousness,” I say over my shoulder, “you really are a heartless bastard.”

I laughed.
I cried.
I loved.
I lost.


Good god this book made me feel every emotion under the sun, but I’m not sure how I feel now.

Pestilence is setting out what he was made to do. Sara is just another human fighting for her people.

“If I am such a monster,” Pestilence finally says, “then what does that make you, who have willingly fallen into my arms?”

“A fool,” I say, “but that’s nothing new.”

Can she make him see her way? Or will she be doomed to live her life suffering while her race dies?


My only complaint is that there’s a certain point in the book where her feelings become Stockholm ish and not necessarily love ish. However, the ending and reasoning and defining that is done by the author makes up for it in the end.


“It’s yours,” he says bitterly. “I may have laid claim to the world, but I’ve lost you, the only thing I ever really wanted.”

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This is a great paranormal, apocalyptic story with a bit of romance. The plot is solid and the bit of spice adds to the story but isn't in your face.

Sara Burns is a firefighter. She helps people but Pestilence, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, is traveling the world spreading the fever. Millions are dying. As he comes toward Sara's Canadian town, every evacuates but her. She has a mission: kill Pestilence.

What follows is the tale of an immortal being and his human prisoner. Eventually they become more than capturer and prisoner. Pestilence has his eyes opened in more ways than one. Sara's journey is unexpected but can she still stop him from killing every human in the world?

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review this book.

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I realize that to you, reader, there won't feel like any real connection or parallels but at the time of writing this/receiving this ARC (hello from April), I've only just finished another indie-oldie-but-repackaged-as-trad title (also by Bloom/Sourcebooks!) and this makes for yet another on my existing TBR that I've been able to tackle this year because of the irresistibility of the Read Now option on NetGalley. And bonus, this was actually on one of my backlist TBR challenge lists specifically for 2023, unlike the other, so it's really a whole bunch of winning.

Sadly said winning doesn't really carry-over into the experience of the book but I guess we can't win them all.

So, listen, obviously no one made me read this, no one is to blame for all my disbelief over this, and there's definitely been weirder books I've not only read but enjoyed. But this one was a hard sell. And a human falling in love with the literal manifestation of plague is only half of that hard sell.

Mostly because.. Pestilence was kind of vanilla? Dull? I guess the goal was to make him somewhat of an innocent, a bystander in his task with no real motivation or hate beyond some general contempt for humanity but nothing personal (until it was), and we get to see him actually experience something of humanity throughout his time traveling from city to city (and breaking into a house each night.. yes, it's as repetitive as it sounds) with his captive, Sara. Who, sadly, was also pretty dull when she wasn't leaning into her quirks, I mean, the parts that made up her persona. Also here's where I express my frustration about her age because I would've believed in a somewhat hardened, but still compassionate, poetry-spouting firefighter who was in her thirties but.. twenty-one? Spare me.

Additionally, I'm sorry, but she should've been a whole hell of a lot more scared in the initial days. But no, there was some immediate checking out the plague-bringing-angelic-looking-hottie and very little sense in her brain. Though I'm rather impressed how long it took for them to, to quote the book, bone down. You'd think it was all the dead and decaying bodies surrounding them all the time but no, that was not an obstacle at all. Gross.

What I desperately wished for was a little more consideration towards hygiene. And though we had a surplus of bath scenes, where was the tooth brushing (also, yuck, they made out after she puked and I really thought Thalassa was going to try and get away with that but she did eventually acknowledge it.. but that was it. just a "guess he doesn't care" omg woman YOU should care). Where was the concern about her period whilst on the road for weeks and weeks? I think I've been spoiled by this because it's become so much more common to see these inclusions in post-apocalyptic and fantasy stories these days and so I really felt the lack here. It felt so purposely ignored, as if by not acknowledging it we might all just forget about these things. Which, sure, it's supposed to be romance, and a fantasy one at that, maybe I'm the only one distracted by the fact that she's likely foul of breath. Maybe that's why I wasn't into the steamies. But seriously, one offhand comment about stashing some toothpaste in a bag, or finding a tampon, would've solved all my problems.

Rant aside, the highlight of this read for me, beyond the uniqueness of the concept (I mean, I at least assume it's unique, I don't think I've seen this done before), were some of the discussions about religion, morality, and humanity; all of which I hope we get more of, as we (hopefully) learn more about the horsemen with each new arrival. And, well, watching Pestilence experience foods -- the early scenes where he just grabs weird combinations of condiments for her, assuming they were meals, were pretty funny. Less cute, but still of interest, was also the level of gore; Pestilence gets smoked quite a few times and the way he comes back.. well. I won't spoil it but it isn't sexy. But I liked that. Makes me interested to see how gnarly the next book will be because, well. War.

But also, with Pestilence being something of a (burnt) marshmallow, what will that make the rest of them? More like their namesakes or somehow contradictory? I'd also like to take this opportunity to request some older heroines. But now that I'm in it, even if it wasn't a win, I'm curious to read on.

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I read this when it was first published but have now got a copy to keep and it has been renewed.
With the hindsight of reading the whole series this first book is a very poignant read and my perspective of Pestilence has changed from the first reading.
It is an extremely emotional book with all the twists and turns of the result of the arrival of the first of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
It is still a favourite read for me and I still felt the pull as I did originally so now need to reread the rest of those complex Horsemen

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To be honest, I was not sure what to expect when it came to a romance with one of the four horseman of the apocalypse but I was not disappointed.

Thank you so much for an opportunity to read and review this story.

Our story takes place during the start of the apocalypse, the four horseman arrived and the world’s way of life was destroyed. While, they disappeared for five years, Pestilence arrived to start his “ task” and when a brave young woman attempts to kill him , she has no idea where her story will go next or if she will survive to tell the tale.

I liked the romance between the Pestilence and Sara ,however I am not going to pretend like there were not a hundred red flags to ignore in order to enjoy it. The pace and build of their relationship is also gradual and I liked that aspect as well. Watching them learn and grow to understand each other.

I like the way death was talked about. There were a lot of different feelings and opinions. Some good and some bad but all valid opinions. I liked how the author went about discussing religion as well and the background of Pestilence and his brothers, also the concept and idea of “ God”. I am not religious myself but just like any mythology , interesting stories can be made from it.

Overall I would not say this is a relaxing read, for a pretty spicy romance novel, it touches on a lot of really tough topics. It is also very depressing. Pestilence spreads plague so there is a lot of death and mourning. Also many scenes of violent vengeance. With that said, there was a lot of enjoyable and beautiful scenes mixed in. Definitely worth reading if you are looking for your next fantasy romance.

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I loved this book so much. It was such an incredible journey. I will 100 reccomend this book to anyone who reads dark romance with a touch of pain. Thank you so much for this arc

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Pestilence was an interesting and different read. It's an enemies-to-lovers romance with a heavy dark side that may not appeal to all readers, but I have no triggers and will read anything, so nothing in the content bothered me personally, although it was a bit of a tearjerker at times! Sara as a character felt a touch juvenile for her stated age on occasion, but other than that she was a refreshingly blunt narrator with a distinct voice, and the prose was easy, quick reading. This first book left me wondering how the other horsemen will be, especially Death, who made an intriguing cameo in this volume, so I potentially would read on in the series if the opportunity to do so arises. I would give this book 3.5 stars.

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Ok um I didn't expect to enjoy this book so much, it was a lot of slow burn fun reading it. Based on the past crimes of Pestilence, I pretty much expected to hate him throughout, but the author has done such a compelling and good job of writing Sara's journey towards understanding and forgiving him, whilst also using her love to bring out his humanity and save the world (whatever is left anyway :'( ). I loved their banter, and the narration was written so well. I am very much looking forward to reading book 2!

--- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

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5 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was so addicting and I was fully immersed in the world of The Four Horsemen.

I devoured this! Pestilence was the first book I’ve read by Laura Thalassa and it certainly won’t be the last. The writing was so enthralling and the pacing felt pretty even throughout the story. She managed to make an alternate version of our own world feel so foreign and intimidating.

This book ended up being darker than I thought it would be, but it was a welcome surprise. Fair warning, it gets pretty dark and quite graphic right from the start and the relationship between Sara and Pestilence is very much an uphill battle. You will probably hate everyone and everything before you end up loving them, but that just makes the payoff all the better!

Sara has got to be one of my favorite FMCs. She’s strong, determined, funny, and sarcastic. She’s the perfect foil to Pestilence, who is very much a fish out of water when it comes to humans. He’s stoic and committed to his duty that he sees as the appropriate punishment for the misdeeds of humanity.

Along their journey, the two experience the extreme ends of good and bad at the hands of humans and must lean on one another for support. As their personalities clash less and less, our protagonists realize that the feelings simmering between them might not be hate. Is one woman enough to stop a horseman of the apocalypse? Is love a justifiable reason to forsake a divine order?

The ending of this book brings everything full circle and leaves it open for the next book, War. I am so excited to meet our new main characters and see what happens next!

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