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poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Rhapsodic was a fairly spicy Romantsy story. It was scary but threaded with sexual assault. The age difference between the characters was problematic for me. It wasn't just that there was one, but the age and circumstances of their first meeting gave me the ick. The mystery of the children and catatonic fae was scary, but I wasn't satisfied with the resolution. Perhaps the payoff is further down the series, but I won't get there. I don't like sexual victimization as a plot point, and it was really the only thing moving the story forward.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Confinement, Torture, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Dysphoria, Adult/minor relationship, and Infidelity
helminthy's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Very easy to read. The plot is interesting but the pacing made it clear that the characters were the focus. This would be fine if the character arcs were fleshed out, but they seem to change opinions and states in order to make the tone feel more broody.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Sexual content, Pedophilia, Death, Blood, Child abuse, and Murder
Minor: Torture and Alcoholism
readyforit's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
4.25⭐️1.5🌶️(I was promised spice with this series and honestly there were only a couple scenes and they weren’t super graphic)
This book is an urban romantasy set in our modern world but with an unknown other fae world. Callie is a human with siren powers who we learn has 322 debts to repay to The Bargainer (aka the fae king of the night realm aka aka rhysand 2.0). The story flips back and forth between Callie’s teenage years (about 7 years ago) when she made the bargains and present day, when The Bargainer has finally come to collect. Des is a possessive, obsessive, desperate man who would crawl home to her. I love how he’s only soft for her🥹 Callie is another one of those copy-paste badass FMC who is sassy and can fight and get shit done. You know her, you either love or hate her.
This book has a lot of similar elements to ACOTAR. If you hated how much world-building was in ACOTAR, you’ll probably enjoy this more since the world-building is minimal and woven into the flashbacks. I think it was a bit misleading of the author to write that the bargainer had “something else in mind” for Callie to repay her debts, which is honestly a really good premise for a spicy book, but didn’t deliver. Whoever rated it a 4/5🌶️ is out of their mind lmao.
I’ve read a lot of criticism about how des grooms Callie, and I think if that is a trigger for you, just skip this book. I don’t think des uses grooming techniques to form a relationship with Callie. I think they were two lonely people, one a human teenager and one the equivalent of a fae adolescent or young adult (idk he’s like 200 something), who formed a deep friendship that evolved into something more. He technically waited until she was 23 to come back to be with her and still gives her a choice. If every relationship between a human teenager and supernatural 100+ yo MMC is grooming then we also have to criticize twilight, the vampire diaries, ACOTAR, etc. It’s important to remember that this is 1. Fantasy and 2. Fiction.
Overall, I really liked the book but I don’t think I’ll reread unless the rest of the series really grips me. I felt like the first part of the book was very good and then the climax was a little lacking. I assume the villain will show back up later in the series.
I also listened to the audiobook and the narrator is pretty good! I would’ve liked it better if they hired a male narrator to do a duet for des’ lines but he doesn’t get a pov so I understand why they didn’t.
This book is an urban romantasy set in our modern world but with an unknown other fae world. Callie is a human with siren powers who we learn has 322 debts to repay to The Bargainer (aka the fae king of the night realm aka aka rhysand 2.0). The story flips back and forth between Callie’s teenage years (about 7 years ago) when she made the bargains and present day, when The Bargainer has finally come to collect. Des is a possessive, obsessive, desperate man who would crawl home to her. I love how he’s only soft for her🥹 Callie is another one of those copy-paste badass FMC who is sassy and can fight and get shit done. You know her, you either love or hate her.
This book has a lot of similar elements to ACOTAR. If you hated how much world-building was in ACOTAR, you’ll probably enjoy this more since the world-building is minimal and woven into the flashbacks. I think it was a bit misleading of the author to write that the bargainer had “something else in mind” for Callie to repay her debts, which is honestly a really good premise for a spicy book, but didn’t deliver. Whoever rated it a 4/5🌶️ is out of their mind lmao.
I’ve read a lot of criticism about how des grooms Callie, and I think if that is a trigger for you, just skip this book. I don’t think des uses grooming techniques to form a relationship with Callie. I think they were two lonely people, one a human teenager and one the equivalent of a fae adolescent or young adult (idk he’s like 200 something), who formed a deep friendship that evolved into something more. He technically waited until she was 23 to come back to be with her and still gives her a choice. If every relationship between a human teenager and supernatural 100+ yo MMC is grooming then we also have to criticize twilight, the vampire diaries, ACOTAR, etc. It’s important to remember that this is 1. Fantasy and 2. Fiction.
Overall, I really liked the book but I don’t think I’ll reread unless the rest of the series really grips me. I felt like the first part of the book was very good and then the climax was a little lacking. I assume the villain will show back up later in the series.
I also listened to the audiobook and the narrator is pretty good! I would’ve liked it better if they hired a male narrator to do a duet for des’ lines but he doesn’t get a pov so I understand why they didn’t.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, and Rape
Rape and CSA is mentioned but in the past and nondescriptnovaxnovels's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Move over Rysand, I’m a Des girlie now.
HOLY COW. I did not expect this book to blow me away!! From the very first line of the book I was super invested. I looooved the nods to SJM. It gave ACOTAR vibes without feeling like a copycat moment. Sure, there were some similarities, but I kinda loved it? The only reason I’m not doing 5 stars is because I found the 16-year-old bits of the story to be a bit … creepy. (SPOILERS) - he falls first, KNOWS they’re soulmates when she’s 16. Yeah he doesn’t act on it then, but the feeling that he would have just gave me a bit of a bad vibe. BUT, I am willing to absolutely blow past that because of how much I adored the plot. The mystery and the general spooky factor = happy reader. Not to mention that absolute perfection that was the longing, the tension, the DESIRE. I MELTED (The Harry potter movies. Need I say more???)
Also, I hope it was intentional but the little Gatsby reference just made my heart soar.
I absolutely can’t wait to start the next book and see where it all goes.
Trigger warnings: mentions of sexual assault and rape (past and present, not directly depicted on page but strong descriptions and emotional relivings)
HOLY COW. I did not expect this book to blow me away!! From the very first line of the book I was super invested. I looooved the nods to SJM. It gave ACOTAR vibes without feeling like a copycat moment. Sure, there were some similarities, but I kinda loved it? The only reason I’m not doing 5 stars is because I found the 16-year-old bits of the story to be a bit … creepy. (SPOILERS) - he falls first, KNOWS they’re soulmates when she’s 16. Yeah he doesn’t act on it then, but the feeling that he would have just gave me a bit of a bad vibe. BUT, I am willing to absolutely blow past that because of how much I adored the plot. The mystery and the general spooky factor = happy reader. Not to mention that absolute perfection that was the longing, the tension, the DESIRE. I MELTED (The Harry potter movies. Need I say more???)
Also, I hope it was intentional but the little Gatsby reference just made my heart soar.
I absolutely can’t wait to start the next book and see where it all goes.
Trigger warnings: mentions of sexual assault and rape (past and present, not directly depicted on page but strong descriptions and emotional relivings)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
chaptermaggot's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Rape, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
avialaeleigh's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Also the surprise soulmates thing was a nice touch. Did not see that one coming. I also like that we get that bad boy, broken girl trope as well as strangers to friends to enemies to lovers thing that they have going on.
Also the banter, really great made me laugh a lot and pause my audiobook to really make sure that I heard the narrator correctly. Both of them have some great one liners. And there were also moments that I was truly sad and also those that I wanted to hit them both upside the head cause they were both being idiots.
I'm really interested in seeing where the rest of this series goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, and Sexual content
tkatt20's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Yeah so I have thoughts about this book. First off I want to apologize to the girls in my book club for recommending this as our book for this month, I promise I have better taste in books than this. With that being said, let's get into the many reasons why I didn't like this book. Full warning, this will not be a nice review.
To start off, the pacing was horrendous. A good 75% of this book is fluffy filler of the main characters agonizing over one another with not an ounce of communication in sight. The other 25% had the potential for some plot with a good storyline, but was so overshadowed by the googly eyes between the two. Like if we had spent a little more time on world development and filling out the characters this could have been a solid romantasy novel, I mean the idea is there, the execution not so much.
Speaking of characters, these characters were so cliché. I mean, a broody fae king who's hundreds of years old and rules the "dark" side of the fae relm and a 23ish year old girl (also 16 through half of it but ill talk about that later) with magical powers and a tortured past. I think we've read this before, no? We had the makings for such a badass main lead but did we get that? No. Instead we got a girl who's so codependent on the mmc she couldn't have any other successful relationships for 7 YEARS while he was gone. Which by the way, they met when she was 16 where she took one look at him and become obsessed and he didn't have enough will power and morality to tell her how inappropriate it was, and actually fed into her obsession with him by teasing and making suggestive comments to her for the next year as we're told by the far too many flashbacks. If that doesn't smell like grooming I don't know what does.
By the time I got to the end I was so over everything I actually laughed at the speed of which the fmc actually put together the clues and found out who the villain is. For being a PI she certainly doesn't pick up on much and that so just so disappointing. Dont act like a strong female lead if youre just going to lay there and play damsel in distress. The ending was so sloppy and thrown together I felt like I blinked and it was all resolved. Im sure that there are more answers in the later books but im not even sure I care to keep reading im so disappointing by this. It gets 2 stars for the very few things I did like in this book, I mean it wasn't the worst I've read, but I'm just so frustrated by everything that I can't even come up with something I like right now.
Also, I have also decided that I can't do Urban Fantasy because if I read another half baked Harry Potter reference I'm going to scream.
To start off, the pacing was horrendous. A good 75% of this book is fluffy filler of the main characters agonizing over one another with not an ounce of communication in sight. The other 25% had the potential for some plot with a good storyline, but was so overshadowed by the googly eyes between the two. Like if we had spent a little more time on world development and filling out the characters this could have been a solid romantasy novel, I mean the idea is there, the execution not so much.
Speaking of characters, these characters were so cliché. I mean, a broody fae king who's hundreds of years old and rules the "dark" side of the fae relm and a 23ish year old girl (also 16 through half of it but ill talk about that later) with magical powers and a tortured past. I think we've read this before, no? We had the makings for such a badass main lead but did we get that? No. Instead we got a girl who's so codependent on the mmc she couldn't have any other successful relationships for 7 YEARS while he was gone. Which by the way, they met when she was 16 where she took one look at him and become obsessed and he didn't have enough will power and morality to tell her how inappropriate it was, and actually fed into her obsession with him by teasing and making suggestive comments to her for the next year as we're told by the far too many flashbacks. If that doesn't smell like grooming I don't know what does.
By the time I got to the end I was so over everything I actually laughed at the speed of which the fmc actually put together the clues and found out who the villain is. For being a PI she certainly doesn't pick up on much and that so just so disappointing. Dont act like a strong female lead if youre just going to lay there and play damsel in distress. The ending was so sloppy and thrown together I felt like I blinked and it was all resolved. Im sure that there are more answers in the later books but im not even sure I care to keep reading im so disappointing by this. It gets 2 stars for the very few things I did like in this book, I mean it wasn't the worst I've read, but I'm just so frustrated by everything that I can't even come up with something I like right now.
Also, I have also decided that I can't do Urban Fantasy because if I read another half baked Harry Potter reference I'm going to scream.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Gore, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
samdreckman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Slavery, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Rape, Cursing, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Body horror, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
anastasia_jackson's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I got his in a blind date book grab, so I had no expectations beyond it containing the tropes I was told: fantasy romance, sirens and fae, and paranormal romance. All in all, there wasn’t that much world building and the plot is more of reconnecting rather than her helping the bargainer.
Having said that, it absolutely delivers. I loved the romance between Callie and the bargainer, loved the characters, and the spicier scenes were all hot. Some of them more in the reading-over-experience way, but still enjoyable.
Having said that, it absolutely delivers. I loved the romance between Callie and the bargainer, loved the characters, and the spicier scenes were all hot. Some of them more in the reading-over-experience way, but still enjoyable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Trafficking, Death of parent, Stalking, and Child abuse
heyaubrae's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent
Sexual assault is only talked about, never in detail