Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

60 reviews

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. 

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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 against another edition

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

4.0

4⭐️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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Confinement

Rape and CSA is mentioned but in the past and nondescript

kassidyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Murder, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Blood

ali_sun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Slavery, Violence, and Vomit

verk's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Torture, and Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Pregnancy, Child abuse, and Vomit

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

This is a really great romantacy read. Funny and witty with just enough angst to not make it too frilly. I like that we kind of flop back and forth from present and past times so we see how Des and Callie met and used to be but also how they are now and everything. 

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, and Sexual content

hannahmcguireauthor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book! I fell in love with the characters and couldn't put it down! The world was rich in character, and the plot was well balanced between internal and external conflicts for the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Pregnancy, and Slavery

evebecktaylor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It’s a brilliant book, really good premise for the fantasy plot, however she’s 16 when they meet and it’s very codependent, which I understand given her history but it just toes the wrong side of the line for me. The book is set 7 years later so nothing bad happens when she’s under age but it’s still felt a little predatory for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Rape, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

maddierandolph's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Gore, Vomit, and Addiction

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

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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