Photo credits: LMoonlight Edited by Vaishali Title: Rhapsodic Author: Laura Thalassa Series: (The Bargainer #1) Genre: Fantasy, New Adult, Paranormal romance Publisher: Lavabrook Publishing Group Year of Publication: 2016 Version: Paperback ISBN: 9781541130852 R E V I E W... I picked up ‘Rhapsodic’ by Laura Thalassa after I finished up ‘ACOWAR’ by Sarah J. Maas, still mourning the world and the people I left behind, anxious to read more of starlit skies, lords of the night, wicked fairies, secrets, and hard-won love…and I got something special I think when I was finished with this too.
Abuse survivor, Callypso Lillis is a supernatural siren - everything about her is made to attract men, skew their desires, rip away their will and send them to their deaths – but her glamouring kind is also historically known for the misfortunes of bad luck – the siren’s curse, and if anybody has known bad luck it’s Callie, her past the precise example of the calamity of her life…because over seven years ago, after many tormented years of afflicting victimisation, Callie found her hands coloured in the blood of her persecutor. Left in the gory aftermath with little option, Callie sells her disturbed soul to the one man, most scandalous and sinister, known for his deals and costly repayments, Desmond Flynn…The Bargainer – notoriously devilish and who has only ever bent his own rules for Callie. Desmond Flynn is a man forged from secrets and collects them like coins. Saving Callie from a world of trouble, he packs her off to Peel Academy, the Isle of Man’s esteemed boarding school for supernaturals. “Tell me, little siren, are you getting a taste for secrets?” “I don’t make the rules, cherub, I just bend them.” ‘Having the Bargainer’s full attention is like catching a tiger’s eye. All you wanted to do was pet the creature, but as soon as it turns its gaze on you, you realise it’s simply going to tear you apart.’ From a powerless past to a powerful present, In the present day, Callie is an indomitable PI, working alongside her best friend Temper in Los Angeles. Though Callie’s line of work is everything law-breaker, her strong sense of morality acquits the vulnerable, and convicts the sordid, setting justice into motion, intent on never allowing her victimised past to become someone else’s present. Callie is a ballbuster, strong, autonomous, and everything her teenage self wasn’t, with her sassy, vivacious friend always a phone call away. Using her siren's powers to glamour her targets, Callie holds the faculty – her debauched siren however, is virtuoso in all things sin, and all things deadly, indulging in the finer things of bloodthirst, bloodshed, violence and sex. ‘The truth is I’m a connoisseur of addictions, and this is one of my favourites.’ Callie is now in the position where she holds all the cards, that is until she receives the jolt of her life, arriving home to her beach house one night to find the one man she never thought she’d see again, but also the one man who caused her a world of pain, who now holds the cards. Never fully formed after her heart was shunned by Des who was once everything to Callie, nobody after him ever came close what Des became to her. Losing herself in her new life in Los Angeles, seven years later though, Callie is far from content and more than lonely. She has unpaid debts, running around her wrist and up her arm, each bead a favour she owes the disreputable deal-maker Desmond Flynn. “Hello Desmond Flynn.” “I didn’t realise you wanted to spill secrets tonight, Callypso Lillis.” ‘I traded my life for a love that was nothing more than shadows and smokescreens.’ An extensive, permanent bracelet flows around Callie’s wrist, just as perpetual as the aggravating wound Des left in her when he fled her life for good. A reminder of the man of night who claimed her past, torched her heart, and is now here to claim her present… indefinitely . And he’s here to cash in her debts, and she owes him…a lot. An armful of debt, 322 beads snaking around her arm means 322 favours she owes the wickedly unlawful Des. From there on out, Callie is lodged in the baragainer’s game, bound to him just as each onyx bead is bound to her wrist. “Truth or dare?” “Truth.” “Did you say dare?” “You sirens always do know how to spice things up.” ‘Fate’s too cruel to ever give you more than a taste of what you want. I’m afraid this is my taste. Callie has spent the oncoming years fixing what Des broke and though years have passed, as soon as a poignant piece of her past arrives, evoking all kind of nostalgia in her, Callie is thrown right back into those vulnerable moments of bitter-sweet past. Stalking into her life, a riotous embodiment of what was, Callie can’t afford for her present to crumble just like her past because there is only one person who can break Callie’s walls, because he was the one who put them there in the first place. A man who has always been the crux of paradox and the root of riddles, Callie is still befuddled by Des’s actions, after years of hiding, especially when he opens her up to parts of his life. But despite Des’s deals in secrecy, there is nothing like a good one to set the man running. “How did you feel, leaving me?” I ask. He holds my gaze. “Like my soul was ripped in two.” “Still holding out on me,” I say. “Still holding out for you,” he corrects. 'Rhapsodic' is set in two timelines: The Past: -15-year-old Callie desperately seeking anything but loneliness, she finds herself foolishly making more deals with her saviour, purchasing his presence, craving contact and the solace she finds in him, becoming infatuated with him in the process, and Des only indulges her fantasies. Callie finds herself trusting a man she has no place trusting, a dangerously guileful man she barely knows, a part of her attracting the destruction that she herself is. So very vulnerable, her emotions are tied to Des, dependent on him for her own emotional stability. The present: 23-year-old Callie, sworn to never be anyone’s victim, not the man who mistreated her or even the man who fractured her, using illicit means to serve justice to the unethical and debased of society. “Let’s get out of here. You hungry? Dinner’s on me.” “Dinner’s on you?” I say instead. “Now that sounds interesting…” He flashes me a wicked smile, his eyes twinkling. “Cherub, I may make a fairy out of you yet.” There is such stark different from past Callie to present Callie, going from victimised survivor to a formidable survivor. With the narrative of the past meshed with the narrative of the present, the reader slowly and effectively understands their history as it disambiguates, eliciting ‘Right, I understand now’ moments and ‘that makes a lot of sense’ moments. As the present culminates, and the past recedes, to that tragic twilight where everything shifted between them and set their separation into motion. ‘Hell couldn’t give me a more wicked man; heaven couldn’t give me a more perfect moment.’ “Want to know a secret?” “People like him were born to fear people like us.” 'Rhapsodic' is about the elaboration, scope and path of Des and Callie’s tale; where it takes them after reuniting, re-discovering, how much can be forgiven and how much can be repaid. They have such a poignant, touching relationship, lovely and soft, an honest and humorous friendship, from their visits to Douglas café, watching iconic movies, collecting trinkets around the world from their escapades together, Callie being the subject of Des’s art, tough love, gentle affection, Des colouring and pacifying the darkest parts of her, holding her through her traumatic tears, holding her through the night, and being everything to Callie that she never had, giving her a reason to go on…and nothing has made me want to try macarons more. I absolutely love them! ‘Des, my friend. Des, my mystery.’ “Yes. That’s what I want to see. Your anger, your fight.” His tone softens. “I’m not asking you to never feel sad, Callie, I’m asking you to fight. Always fight. You can do that, can’t you?” But Des is more than just a discrete, chicanery man, he is here because he covets something more. Everything comes at a price with the bargainer: even his love. Des’s ambition for being here reaches past Callie’s liabilities. Something is going on in Des’s homeland, – the otherworld - a mystery that not even the King of secrets can decipher. Fae warriors are missing by the hundreds, and are returned in a catatonic state with aberrant infants clutched to their chests…and Des wants Callie’s help. Finding herself in the capitol of the Night Kingdom – the land of sleep and small death , Callie is both riveted and horrified by the world she has only ever heard terrible things about and its dwellers…fairies. Followed by phantom shadows and hunted even in her dreams, Callie realises that she is the newest target ‘Wake from your slumber, Rise from your sleep, Tell me your secrets, They’re mine to keep.’ ‘You ask us to wake, When we want you to sleep, Secrets are meant, For one soul to keep.’ ‘Rhapsodic’ has the foundations of a great story, though I do think some elements could have been more refined with a little more editing, including some spelling errors I noticed while reading. Nevertheless, and 'neverthemore', an ensnaring, beautiful story with a buoyant atmosphere while clutching notes of the eerie. Dark and spicy elements, corrupt deeds, raunchy scenes and unsettling mystery, this read is zestful, sweet, thawing and romantic. I was invested the whole way, mostly for the main hero and heroine and it was an amazing read, addictive and heartfelt. This novel is about Desmond Flynn, Lord of the Night , and Callypso Lillis (who has one of the greatest names I have ever come across…ever) lady of the sea , two people wrenched apart and have been calling to each other through the seven years that tore them to pieces. I gave this books 4 stars - C O N T E N T W A R N I N G: The main protagonist is a rape victim so there is content that can be triggering. Sex scenes and swearing. --------------------------------------- M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read --------------------------------------- _________________________________________________ R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● 'The Emperor of Evening Stars' by Laura Thalassa ● 'Dark Harmony' by Laura Thalassa __________________________________________________ I love interacting with fellow readers, reviewers, bloggers and writers. Hearing about reader opinion is the fuel to my reader appetite, so get in touch and comment below! SHARE ON FACEBOOK L E A V E A C O M M E N T A N D L E T' S T A L K A B O U T |
VaishaliBorn in the UK Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
2019 Reading Challenge
Vaishali • [Vicarious Living] has
read 15 books toward
her goal of
30 books.
hide
2020 Reading Challenge
Vaishali • [Vicarious Living] has
read 1 book toward
her goal of
20 books.
hide
2021 Reading Challenge
Vaishali • [V.L. Book Reviews] has
read 1 book toward
her goal of
10 books.
hide
2022 Reading Challenge
Vaishali • [V.L. Book Reviews] has
read 0 books toward
her goal of
5 books.
hide
2023 Reading Challenge
Vaishali • [V.L. Book Reviews] has
read 0 books toward
her goal of
5 books.
hide
DisclaimerAll images of book covers on this site belong to the authors and publishers of the books.
|