This was truly not for me and I am so sad about it.

I see people still rating this book highly with the claim that it's trashy and fun, and despite the writing being poor it's still a fun time, but I find these reviews almost frustrating.
I read a lot of romance, and on the same line that we need to normalise romance as a legitimate genre, I think boosting book like this with poor writing could even harm the romance reader and author community by further pandering to those who make the argument that romance 'isn't proper writing and requires no effort'.

The author has made some horrendous innacurate statements into what an apocalypse looks like, claiming that despite all technology being demolished and phonelines being gone, that TV still works? And yet shes saying most places don't have electricity? Seems like the author didn't want to be bothered actually sticking to an apocalyse setting - and couldn't be bothered doing any research as to what this means - so conveniently every bit of tech the protagonist comes across works. Hospitals are still functioning and yet cars don't work? Like what? If tech doesnt work - like vehicles - then how is it possible that the protagnist has access to most normal foods? Is food still being produced? But how can it even be driven to supermarkets? Most food s imported, so how is this possible if theres no planes? IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.

Next - the actual physical writing is just not good. The protagonist is being held captive by one of the biblical four horsemen set on killing everyone on planet earth including herself and all her family and friends. And yet our protagnist says things like "ugh, hes such a hot asshole" and "aren't I in a shit-sandwich" and "he's so hot but oh yeah I forgot he wants to kill everyone on earth, and he will literallay kill me once he's finished torturing me". She uses slang that feels wholly innapropriate in the sitaution the protagonist is in: "I legit.....". So many "ughs" written on page. Come on. This is poor and lazy,

Need I even go into the actual critique of the plot? I DNF'd - so whats the point - but a redemption arc for a guy set on killing the entire population - kidnappimg the protagnist - dragging her by her wrists behind his horse for days - shooting her with arrows - forcing her to be naked in front of him - forcing her to watch him be naked - forcing her to watch people die. I don't care if he's being manipulated into doing any of this - he's a fucking murder who enjoyed torturing the protagonist. Why do we have to have a love interest be the most morally corrupt person under the sun for people to be like "oohhh hes dark and misunderstood and sexy" NO. I get 'dark romance' as a genre , and I like it - but a gang lord being a love interst is very different to someone set on killing everyone on earth who enjoys torturing people. You wouldn't write a book romantisicing Ted Bundy or any other serial killer - OH WAIT- yes there are jack the ripper dark romances out there. Wow. It's truly no wonder the romance genre gets so much shit. I get that you want a morally grey love interest but taking insperation from historical murderers who targetted young women? How truly feminist.

Pestilence is one of my absolute favorite reads. Is gruesome, tragic, and a very enjoyable "falling in love" story at the same time.

It opens with the female main character, Sara, ready to shoot down the first Horseman of the Apocalypse, Pestilence. Unfortunately, it doesn't pan out as she hopes, and she ends up being Pestilence's captive.

The way he treats from the beginning is fairly brutal, but with the subject matter being what it is, the reader should really expect the world and the characters to be harsh.

Because of the initial way Pestilence treats Sara, Pestilence killing humankind wherever he rides without prejudice, and the violence from humans trying to survive in this dystopian future setting, it's definitely not for everyone. It can be very dark.

But if you're okay with a darker love story, Pestilence is a fantastic read.

Pestilence is one of my favorite books of all time so when I saw it pop up with the new cover, I NEEDED IT! I loved it even more this time around. I can’t even get any coherent thoughts together to write a review.. it was just too good. Buy it!!

It's a 4.5 but I'm gonna give it a 5 because that 0.5 left is just me not getting that "this-is-the-one" feeling but it also doesn't have anything wrong with it.

I cried a lot with this book, don't even ask me why. It's just all the situations that Sara goes through, they got me.

I don't even think I was expecting any of the stuff I read, and it was better than what I could've expected.

I loved this book! I would recommend for 17+. The story is intriguing and a little dark. I can’t wait to read the other books in this series. I’ve read the authors other books and this one did not disappoint.

I absolute love the story of Pestilence and Sara. This is the good reliable enemies to lovers trope and they do hate each other. Their relationship grows and changes as the book progresses and Pestilence sees that humanity isn't so bad after all. I also love when books take place near me, so hitting up Iowa along the way gave me my little (scary) dose of being able to relate.

Adult content ⚠ check triggers ⚠
Spice ~ good, very good 😏
~ unbelievable 😦 I still can't believe what I read 😵
Don't misunderstand, this is an evil hero with one goal, genocide... but Sara, a firefighter, goes on a journey of falling back in love with humanity and accept its flaws.
The side characters were as rich as the main. I cried 😭 I did! And I loved it!

~ What a ride... literately. The big question is, does Laura Thalassa makes you believe in his redemption and love? Yes! And my brain hurts 😵

World ~ An post-apocalyptic contemporary world where airplanes and internet have failed to work

Lows ~ none, moving forward to read War

"𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒–𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑛," ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠. "𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ."

𝓬𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓶𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓲𝓬, 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓮

The first installment of Thalassa's 𝔽𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℍ𝕠𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟 series confronts us with Pestilence, the relenting godly threat, determined to wipe the lands from human sin. At least, until he crosses paths with Sara Burns, an ex-firefighter determined to save her dying world by ending the heavenly-send creature. But soon she is at his mercy, and Pestilence is reluctant to give it.

The first book of the series features the fewest, but most intense deaths, luring out compassion with every tragedy Sara must endure while in Pestilence's company. Full of tragedy, melancholy, desperation, but also compassion, intimacy, longing and deep connectedness and a big-ass whip of hurt, this book sucks you in to MAKE. YOU. CRY. Like a baby at that.

From the three installments of the series this was by far the most emotional, with War being the fiercest and Famine the funniest and most empathetic, although all three books carry an underlying emotional intimacy which in itself is hard to put into words and satisfying to let yourself fall into, repeatedly.

So, this series is (strangely enough) my comfort read. The plot, the setting, the pacing is all excellent.

The world is ending. The Horsemen came and destroyed our technology, putting an end to man’s dominance. As quickly as they came, they vanished. And now 5 years later, Pestilence the Conqueror has awoken and begun his deadly trek, killing all in his path. His path leads him to Whistler, where firefighter Sara Burns draws the literal short straw of staying behind to take him out. And she definitely tries. After failing to kill him Pestilence takes her as his prisoner, determined to make her suffer.

This book is an excellent beginning to the series. The writing is descriptive, but not uncomfortable. And it’s does give a window into how bleak the horsemen times are. People have rebuilt and moved on to an extent, but remnants of the past are still around. The plot is interesting and the characters of Pestilence and Sara work well of each other. They basically carry the story, as side characters don’t stick around.

Pestilence, while at first isn’t at all likeable, does grow and learn as the book goes on. I’ve never been able to fault him for his task. Grisly as it is, it’s simply what he was created to do. Watching him learn and start taking an interest in things other than his task was great to read. Sara is brave and understands a sense of duty. Shes also super sarcastic and talkative. She’s an excellent foil for Pestilence. Reading the relationship develop between the two of them was fun, even if it seemed a bit unrealistic.

I find this to be a true enemies to lovers story. Pestilence, in my estimation, is a morally grey character. He’s not a villain or a hero. He’s simply here to carry out his heavenly task, come what may. It can be a bit uncomfortable in the beginning, as Sara and Pestilence do not get off to an auspicious start, but keep going. It’ll get much better as conversations and compromises take place.

If you are uncomfortable with death in relatively high quantities then steer clear of this series. It is not for the faint of heart. The books all feature different heroines and different locations and time periods. They are relatively formulaic, however there’s enough differentiation to make them interesting.

Thanks to netgalley and Bloom Books for providing me with an eARC of the newly published edition in exchange for my honest review!

I read this beauty last year and absolutely became obsessed with it and the series! Laura Thalassa is one of my favorite authors as well as an auto buy author for me.

If you like dark, gritty, urban paranormal fantasy esq books you will want to check this series out!

The world is ending, no seriously! Like the four horsemen have risen and each with have their turn at destroying the world that has become too corrupt to save. The first to come to our world is Pestilence, he spreads disease wherever he travels. None are safe from his touch. Until he meets her!

Literally gets his ass handed to him, but in his defense he wasn’t expecting a trap! As revenge he decides to keep her as his prisoner. The palpable hatred and angst is magnificent. Ugh I loved these two so much! Y’all there is so much emotion in this book if you don’t cry I don’t know what’s happened in your life to not make you feel things but for me I was a giant blubbering baby!

Read this book! Yes the horsemen are here but it is up to each badass and unique lady to show them the world is worth saving!

So glad I found this series and Laura, I cannot wait for whatever she does next.

3/5 🌶️

I was absolutely blown away by how much I loved this book. This is one of the first bully romances I have read and watching Pestilence literally drag her around was a bit hard at times.... But watching them fall in love was E V E R Y T H I N G.

The entire series premise of The Four Horseman was brilliantly done. It's such a fascinating story line and Laura did an amazing job of bringing it to life through the pages. I loved watching Sara try and get him to change his mind about his fate. I kept waiting for him to cave, but Laura kept reminding us that these "men" are not actually men, but angels who are héĺĺbént on bringing death and destruction to Earth.

The ending was so, so good. I absolutely love these two together and what they became. And the foreshadowing into book two was eerie feeling, just so perfect. I can't wait for War.

2/5 stars! This was one of those books that I'd heard about on Tiktok and from other readers, so I was excited to check it out for myself. Unfortunately, I just don't see what the fuss is about. The concept of the horsemen of the apocalypse finding love was intriguing, but the story fell flat. I didn't particularly like Pestilence as a character. Sara was more likable but their chemistry didn't feel particularly believable. I found the pacing to be slow and had to force myself to continue at points. Overall, just not enjoyable for me.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

New cover, but same awesome book inside. I stumbled across this in the promo run up to book 2 of the Four Horsemen, and once I started, I didn’t put it down. No sleep that night, and no regrets. This should have been gross, right? Pestilence. But no. Pestilence and Sara are hot, which sounds weird but it’s true. Other reviewers are talking about torture porn. I get it. The intensity is real in this book and we’re talking about plague, and Sara tries to save humanity from this horseman, and he’s kind of unkillable, so if that sounds like something you wouldn’t like, pass on this. But you’ll be missing out on an epic (love) story. Even secondary characters grab you. Since these are new covers, not yet-to-be-written, you will not have to wait for Laura to write the rest of the series. Be prepared to ignore everything else in your life and surrender to this series. Sex and violence feature large in this one, fair warning to the sensitive, but if you’re ok with that kind of reading, definitely give this a shot.

Hooking, thrilling and unique. I was obsessed from the start, it is such a unique context in romance that I couldn’t help but love. Now in 2023 I recommend this series if you like HBO’s The Last of Us but make it romance.

This book is so amazing, the entire series is just beautifully written and brilliant. This book was my first from Laura Thalassa, but she sucked me in with her griping characters and driving story line. I love those she turned what is a usually sullen subject into a story with heat, passion, and romance. I cannot believe I was SWOONING for Pestilence at the end of this book! But that’s what Laura does, she’s incredible. This book is a must read!

WOW. This was nothing to what I expected and yet everything! It hit hard a lot of times especially during today’s COVID crisis so I cried A LOT when she kept witnessing death - which did NOT discriminate in age. EVERYONE died - but those children’s deaths were more tragic.

Pestilence’s character was a little subdued for my liking - I mean he’s one of the Four Horsemen! Yes he was still a strong developed character but there was just a hint more I wanted from him. Especially during his struggles as he develops his humanity and a conscience. BUT spice factor was there and it definitely made up for it.

The romance was such a slow burn! I hate slow burns BUT it was an important factor here as the story focuses more on the fact that WE destroyed the planet and our consequences for it. I can’t help but continue to compare the COVID crisis to how this is a splitting image of it.

Definitely intrigued with the next horseman to debut into the world!