The Bargainer Series by Laura Thalassa Book Review
Overall Rating: ****
Romance: *****
Reading Rate: *****
I blew through this entire series in about 3.5-4 days and then immediately started searching for anything else by Laura Thalassa that I could get my hands on.
To start this is definitely an adult book with quite a bit of smut and language. The main character “Calli” is a Siren, and I love how dark her character is. I feel a lot of stories start with this pure broken female lead and while she certainly had her demons, she was also a bit of one herself. I cant even with the Bargainer… just “sigh”… he is terrible and I love it!
The first book toggles back and forth from Calli’s present day interactions with Des the Bargainer and her teenage interactions with him. I was a little concerned with the age dynamic early on in the books thinking it was about to go down a road I was not comfortable with, but stick with it and I feel things were pretty quickly cleared up.
There are three books and a novella in the series:
- Rhapsodic (The Bargainer) (Volume 1)
- A Strange Hymn
- Dark Harmony
- Emperor of the Evening Starts (2.5/Novella)
I really wanted to give this series 5 stars because I enjoyed it so much, but it is not a story for everyone and does have the cliche romance element. If you were a fan of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, I think you would really enjoy this series as well.
Rhapsodic Synopsis:
Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear. Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects. But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more. For the Bargainer, it’s more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken. If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one.
Have you read this series? Tell me what you think in the comments below.
– Megan
Lovabull Books 