The Bargainer Series Book 1: Rhapsodic by Laura Thalassa

The Bargainer Book 1

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.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25820414-rhapsodic

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My Review: 5/5 Stars

Seven years ago Callie called the feared Bargainer to make a deal. A while he was lenient and helped her out, Callie couldn't help but be drawn to him. Thus began the IOUs for each favor she called. For after her first deal all she wants to do is see him again...and again...and again. Until one day he leaves for good. But now, years later, the Bargainer is back and he is looking to collect his IOUs. All 300+ of them... Callie isn't sure what he wants but she also isn't sure if her heart can take it. Her teenage heart she fell him for him years ago and when he left her heart shattered and she closed herself off. But there is something different about him now. He isn't holding back. As she tries to figure out their relationship, something else is going on in the Otherworld. Fae warrior women are disappearing only to be brought back in glass caskets, asleep, and with a child in their arms. There is an evil in the Otherworld, but the question is who is it? And what does he want? This story was actually super intriguing. This world has a ton of supernaturals. Callie herself is a siren, the Bargainer is a Fae King, and there are a few other supernaturals you meet. The lore is half of what pulled me in. The other half is all Callie and the Bargainer aka Des. Their history and romance and their relationship were great. The story flips from present day to the past and how they met up to when Des has to leave. The book has tough themes but strong characters. I picked it up and couldn't put it down. And this is just the beginning. I'm looking forward to book two and the rest of the series.