Hello, my friends! š· I am back with a new book review, today we’ll talk about the second book of the Bargainer series by Laura Thalassa. I hope you enjoy the review!
4 ās for a very decent second book! This review may include some spoilers for those who haven’t read the first book so be aware before you start reading the post. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with how well this book was. It is not unusual for fantasy books to have at least one “meh” book in the series and it is usually the second one, while it wasn’t as exciting as the first one, it was still amazing and I believe it deserved four amazing stars!
The book starts right after where it left, Callypso learned that she is Desmond’s -THE COOLEST FAE KING, I am sorry Rhys- soulmate and they have the connection she yearned for so long only that she doesn’t really feel it right away. She survived the hands of the mad king, however, now she looks a bit different. She is someone proud of her human side, but now that she has wings and claws, she doesn’t feel like a human. After Desmond’s attack on Fauna kingdom and taking her away, she finally starts living with him, knowing that she would look quite odd in the human world. Desmond does everything in his capabilities to save her from those intrusive thoughts and it takes a big part in the book as well. Him trying to prove that she is no less human now, him trying to prove how beautiful she is and how powerful she is. The chemistry between them is now more visible and steamy, knowing that the man she loved for the past few years is actually her soulmate. I truly appreciated how healthy their interactions were, they reminded me of Feyre and Rhys in many ways. Desmond respects her and treats her like a queen, she annoys him but appreciates his love towards her in every possible way. We need that kind of romance more often, mainly because these portrayals actually help a lot to break the rule of “toxic, alpha male gets the good girl”. Of course, him being respectful and caring doesn’t make him less of an ass or a sinister being, but he is the Bargainer and this actually runs in his blood, so it is better to accept him as he is.
The plot goes well throughout the second book as well, they still do not have any explanations about the sleeping knights and though we did get some answers about the threat of the creepy blood-sucking kids in the first book, everything now actually starts revealing little by little. They are invited to the Kingdom of Flora, where you would think that everything is all bright and flowers everywhere. While the flower part is true, the Kingdom of Flora is far from being nice and innocent. The snake queen -she is not a snake but acts like one yay- and his creepy AS HELL GREEN HUSBAND decides to make things harder for our couple and… well, they are being fae. Fae people play dangerous games and often these games are not fair for both sides. The darkness in each character was perfectly delicious. Knowing that every character had something to hide- including Desmond (man of secrets ha) and Callypso being the only interesting looking human there… the tension was amazing. Bleeding trees, lost soldiers, pregnant sleeping knights and blood-drinking kids calling Callypso non-stop. Everything gave the book a darker edge, which I liked quite a lot. The plot was unrevealed at the end, but we do know what is going to come in the third book and it is nice to know the enemy. We do not know their capabilities yet- however, we do know that it is someone from the past, who wants Callypso for something. Something dark. Something that can actually endanger both worlds.
The steam was higher than in the first book and I ain’t going to be upset about it. I love Desmond way too much to be actually sad about anything to be fair. I like how secretive he was, sometimes it annoys the hell out of you but thinking that it is his nature, we cannot really comment there. The side characters, the freaking Green Man, the poisonous queen, their friends and everything… I cannot wait to read the third book. Even though it has been a couple of months since I read the book, I still remember each detail and I will surely finish the third one this year as well!
Did you read the first book? What did you think of it?
I’ll see you in my next review! š
Luster of Books 