Rhapsodic

I ended up liking this much more than I thought I would.
The book starts off very cliche for the genre, with a tough-but-soft woman who just happens to have a supernatural ability and uses it in her career as a private PI. She has a token black best friend (whose dialogue feels more than a bit racist) and is dating a werewolf who is also in (supernatural) law enforcement.
When I first added the book my to-read list, I don't think I realised that it was more in the romance genre than general fantasy (and it's definitely not YA though was in a ‘similar to' rec of one). There is a fair bit of graphic sex (including a vagina being referred to as her “core” several times) and curse words but the story itself was actually very interesting and I ended up really liking a few of the characters. The writing feels very fanfiction-y and I found a few misspellings or words missing in my copy, so I'm not sure how well-edited this is or if I ended up with an ARC and the final product is a bit different.
Overall, I ended up really entertained by it. If you like dark fantasy with a side of adult situations, check out this series.

I now can see the ACOTAR vibes this book has, but it goes beyond that! Callie is a siren, and even at 23 has gone through so much hardships that Thalassa executes perfectly. The flashbacks are written so well, and that paired with Callie's relationship with Desmund is stuff to dream of. At times, I wanted the relationship (as great as it was) to take the back seat as other things happened (it's the focus of the book I would say), though the plot progresses smoothly and includes mystery, fantasy, and exploration of poignant themes as well. Number 2 has made it onto my tbr.

I really liked this book. Literally finished in a day.

I did miss some things in this book, like some extra characters. I know Des his life is pretty private, but I would have loved to see some side characters from his side. From Callie we've got temper and Eli, but it was basically just Des and Callie.

The book also really reminds me of ACOTAR. I love ACOTAR. excited to see where the other books go.

this was so shitty but i had such a fun time reading it

4.5
phenomanal

I liked the Night King alot, it reminded me of Court of Thorns and Roses with Sirens and more supernatural.

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Rhapsodic

Imagine being fifteen and standing over the corpse of a man you just killed. It doesn't matter that Calypso did it out of self-defense. Every way she sees it, her life is ruined. But then an idea comes to her. One that is as dangerous as it is tempting. If she cuts a deal with the Bargainer, she'll owe him a favor but he'll clean up the mess. Taking the chance she calls the Bargainer. And as she frees herself from one problem, she starts down a path leaden with more. And each time she calls the Bargainer, she gains another favor owed. Until the day the Bargainer comes to collect. Whatever he wants as a favor, she won't be able to say no.

As a character, the Bargainer is the right mix of darkness and hero to make him attractive. He is still a rather controlling man which does not garner my attention, but his other traits made him more tolerable. Calypso on the other hand is a conflicted character, who both appreciates and hates her abilities as a siren. She stood her ground in most situations and while she wasn't always successful, she did everything within her power to try.

Rhapsodic is a paranormal romance, so the focus is going to be on relationship development over plot. But I thought it had a good underlying story, I just wish there had been a bit more time spent on certain scenes. Each conflict resolved itself rather quickly but did end on an action-heavy note. Being immersed in each moment I wanted to see it create a longer-lasting emotional pull. The overall resolution to these conflicts would have felt more satisfying this way. I also thought it would be a good moment for characters to show how much they cared for each other through actions as well as the dialogue within the story.

Now let's talk about resolution. While the overarching plot and mystery resolved itself, it was another abrupt end. In the final battle, I would have loved to see more back and forth to allow the Bargainer time to shine and show off his abilities. I also wanted to see more discussion and story surrounding the fallout from the main conflict. However, even though there was an abrupt end to it all Laura Thalassa did leave behind an enticing hook. Calypso has some interesting developments that are left wide open to develop in the next book.

Will I read the next book? That is up in the air at the moment. I do want to know how Calypso is going to recover from her ordeals in Rhapsodic. And I'd like to see some secondary characters come back to learn more about them. While I am not a romance reader, I did appreciate the magic and supernatural elements of this book. If you enjoy stories that focus on romance accented with fantasy this is the book for you.

i absolutely devoured this book. Rhapsodic filled that ACOTAR shaped hole in my heart <3

Ugh I'm so bummed this wasn't a new favourite. I really thought it was going to love it!

I liked the story enough but I felt there was no real depth to it, I didn't feel any connection to the characters, the flashbacks just felt unnecessary and some of the reveals were a bit underwhelming.

Sad I didn't love this one.

I was skeptical but man did I enjoy this book. I devoured it in 2 days. That says something for sure. And it is just the beginning? Lord help me

"You ask us to wake,When we want you to sleep,Secrets are meant,For one soul to keep."

This book was a fun read. It was not especially good, magical or original, but I enjoyed reading it. Why do I only give it two stars, you might ask. Even though the story has real potential and the character are interesting, there were a few elements that stopped me from giving this book a higher score.

Sometimes the author crossed the line between sassy and vulgar language. I will not go into detail here, but let's just say I would've been happy with a bit more nuance🙄I mean, I like reading a bit of smut, but it needs to be written well for it not to make me cringe. One other thing that really bothered me, is the way Temper and Callie talk to each other. I've never heard friends call each other 'bitch' so many times, and I'm not here for it. Why would you even say that to a friend? I don't get it.

"And mountains may rise and fall, and the sun might wither away, and the sea claim the land and swallow the sky. But you will always be mine. And the stars might fall from the heavens, and night might cloak the earth, but until the darkness dies, I will always be yours."

The Bargainer might just be a long lost Illyrian cousin of Sarah J. Maas's bat boys, with his shadows, huge wingspan and possessive growling. A siren as main character is a great idea, a strong woman with magical abilities who learns that sharing your sorrows is not always a bad thing. Callypso would make the worst roommate, leaving sand all over the house, but I liked her. Her relationship with the Bargainer is a bit confusing at times, but they do fit together. But then, with only 30 pages to go, I had to laugh so hard at Callies stupidity. After her abduction, she's been trapped in a prison cave with other women for over 2 chapters, and it takes her all that time to figure out who the villain is. How? How is it possible for her to take that long to connect the dots??😂 I thought she knew immediately who was behind the abductions, but no, the author made it sound like a clever discovery. If there's one thing I'm allergic to in books, it's making logical thinking sound like the brilliant ideas of a mastermind. It's the main reason why I'm never touching another book by Dan Brown again. So for me, to experience this so close to finishing the book, it was a bit disappointing. I don't think I'm going to read the second book in this series, mainly because I feel like I can already predict what's going to happen.

But don't let my review keep you from reading this book yourself! It was just not what I hoped, but that might be different for somebody else 😊 if this is on your TBR, you should give it a go👍🏼

Spoilers below...




I could not connect at all with the romance and this book was 100% romance. Basically no plot at all. Let's talk about our resident bad boy, Desmond Flynn. This dude is all kinds of gross. First of all, he is out here flirting with our main character when she is underage. Like this dude, who is who knows how old, literally kissed a 16-year-old. What the actual fuck? How is no one addressing the biggest problem of this book is beyond me. So yeah, a BIG no from me. The only reason why this is not a one-star is that I feel like the world was interesting but lacked proper world-building.

Okay okay okay!! Normally not a big review writer, but there were a few unique firsts for me in this book I wanted to mention!

Kinda in love with the chills and creeps this gave me