SAFE READ RECOMMENDATION SAFE READ RECOMMENDATION SAFE READ RECOMMENDATION I don't know about the sequelsHENRY CAVILL AS DESMOND, THE BARGAINER
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SAFE READ RECOMMENDATION SAFE READ RECOMMENDATION SAFE READ RECOMMENDATION I don't know about the sequels but this one is safe of OW AND I haven't found anything that suggests OW in sequels, I'll keep looking Thank you everyone who recommended this book to me and my dear Shari for the safety info. I would've never given this book a chance without the feedback of my trusted friends.
Update and Review 02-24-2019 I wrote a longer review to recommend this brilliant book and lost it! All I can say for now is that this book is safe: meaning no cheating, no ow (sexual activity with other woman) and (view spoiler)[the heroine doesn't wait for hero during the long separation (hide spoiler)] while the older, more experienced hero sleeps around. In fact, it looks as though he was the one who (view spoiler)[ remained celibate while she was "catching up". (hide spoiler)] Nothing graphic with (view spoiler)[ OM (other man) my dear safety gang friends, (hide spoiler)] but in case OM activity after meeting is your trigger, I recommend reading the Amazon sample first. You'll find all the OM activity in the first pages and it's never graphic, (view spoiler)[nothing with OM happens after those initial pages. (hide spoiler)] If you don't like OM and the sample doesn't turn you off you'll be good to go, the rest of the book is really good. Outstanding, beautiful.
I'll add really quickly that I WISH THERE WERE MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS ONE. If you read my review of SPEAK or if you have come across my rants against the way authors feature rape in their "romance" books you'll know that CONSENT IS A HUGE DEAL FOR ME. I'm tired of seeing rape culture messages all over Goodreads when I come here to have fun. I want to thank Laura Thalassa for writing a RELATABLE abuse victim WHO reacts realistic to her experience, someone who doesn't get cured when the "magic" penis gets into action and who isn't defined by what happened to her in her childhood. There are so many times when authors add rape just for the sake of drama and then the victim moves on as though nothing happened and that's unrealistic not to mention dangerous message.
There's also the "hero" is the/a rapist or the rapist is "a good person in other aspects" or "she moved on from the experience". Victims react in many different forms, rapists heroes have nothing to do in books labelled as romance and NO YOU NEVER FORGET WHAT HAPPENED, BUT MANY OF US DON'T GET DEFINED BY THE EXPERIENCE. I though Thalassa handled a triggering subject in a beautiful way, it's never central, it's not there for the sake of creating drama, and it never appears in a way that makes me think it's just there for sympathy.
In this era of "rapists" heroes against which many of my safety gang friends have written angry rants , what Thalassa did makes me love this book more. She did it so BEAUTIFULLY in this first book, that I'm afraid of reading the sequels but I know I will get down to them eventually, maybe right before War (second book of the four horseman series, which is coming out this year) is available.
Desmond is adorable. He reminds me of Rhys at his best which was books 1 and 2 of Court of Thorns series, the character was ruined FOR ME afterwards but he'll always have a place in my heart. Desmond is equally adorable, maybe better because even though Callie is a strong woman he never gets overpowered by her. Callie is a siren with the power to bend men to her will and as a bargainer Desmond pushes the boundaries of what's acceptable and not. If that's not your thing perhaps this book won't be for you but overall, as far as this book goes for me the power balance between those two worked perfectly. He might be older but she's smart and stubborn. I love heroines that aren't doormats.
[image] Desmond (view spoiler)[ fell in love with h when she was a teenager, but he didn't entertain sexual taughts about her until she was old enough unlike many "romances" lately and he left her for all the right reasons. (hide spoiler)] I love that about him. He's also a morally ambiguous King and I can't have enough of morally ambiguous rulers.
So I'm recommending this first book of what seems to be a safe series to all my friends. I'm tired of rapists heroes and unsafe romace, but I haven't read the sequels so I don't know how this will play later so take my enthusiastic recommendations with a grain of salt. I still believe this is a great book, for me this was better than Thalassa's pestilence although most of my friends seem to like Pestilence more.
By the way. If you want to try a first month of a Kindle unlimited suscription which is free Thalassa's books are the perfect choice. You don't need to own a kindle. You only need an amazon account and you can always read in your mobile PC or tablet.
END OF REVIEW
=========================================== ***UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2ND 2018 BRISBANE TIME*** SAFETY WARNINGS
Although I'm away most of the time I caught Shari Kay's review while browsing reviews and I couldn't ignore it. I'm very busy and can't post as much as before, but I know many of my friends and followers don't like (view spoiler)[ OM (other man) activity of any kind (hide spoiler)] although apparently some of my safety gang pals love when (view spoiler)[ heroine isn't a virgin and she's the one who doesn't remain celibate during separation while hero remains faithful (hide spoiler)] so if that's what you're into by all means put the book higher on your TBR list. I'm only writing to give you all this info and then I'll return to my hiatus.
Apparently (view spoiler)[ Couple falls in love when she's just a teen and he's several years older. Then he leaves and she sleeps around. By the time when the hero returns h is sexually active with OM and she dumps OM immediatly because he turns obssessive. All those years she was in love with H so for her it was only a sexual thing? (hide spoiler)]
OM doesn't turn me off as much as OW as long as the sex scenes with OM aren't graphic. I hate imaging h with OM when I'm rooting for the couple to get together, but I remember that some safety gang pals love when h doesn't wait for H. For me the romance is ruined, but I'll still read as I got the book on my Kindle and I love Thalassa's writing style. If there's a graphic scene with OM please let me know so I'll skip it.
BTW the last book of this series is overdue, I'll need spoilers and safety info on that one. If the ending is anything as Allegiant I'll skip the entire series.
***UPDATE OCTOBER 5TH 2017 BRISBANE TIME***
BACK TO REGULAR PRICE. But still free for Kindle unlimited users.
You don't need to own a kindle to be Kindle unlimited user. You only need an amazon account, which is easy to get.
Previous updates
*****FREEBIE ALERT****** *****FREEBIE ALERT****** *****FREEBIE ALERT****** Update 10-04-17 Brisbane time Still free. LIMITED TIME FREEBIE. If I were you I'd download this book ASAP. Laura Thalassa is an extremely talented New adult Scifi-Fantasy writer and fans of the A court of thorns series have loved this one as far as I know.
FREEBIE ALERT This one is a perman-free for kindle unlimted users but for anyone who doesn't have kindle unlimited you can download free. RIGHT NOW! 10-03-2017 Don't miss your chance!
I got my copy! I'd rather own a book than borrow. AUSSIE READERS INCLUDED!!
Either way you don't need to have a kindle, just an amazon account which is free and easy to get and then you can download and read it FOR FREE. I really like this author and my sources tell me that you get an ACOMAF vibe. Including the sex scenes! This is very new adult as far as I know, but I'm a sucker for New adult fiction that isn't contemporary.
Review to come but overall great read. Safe romance too which is always a plus. Update May 1st 2019. Just because Goodreads messed up with my original review....more
Update 07/22/19 I finished the sequel of this book some hours ago and I have to tell you that I was seriously underating this series. I'm upping my ratUpdate 07/22/19 I finished the sequel of this book some hours ago and I have to tell you that I was seriously underating this series. I'm upping my rating to 5 stars beacuse book 2, War has some issues, but it's another safe book that in no way ruins the good things built in Pestilence. If you like me hate cheating heroes and OW after meeting I highly recommend this series.
I also want to point out that Goodreads is a site to express our opinions about books and to discover new books. Any member of our community trying to prevent you
a) from expressing your honest opinion, whether positive or negative about this or any other book b) from discovering this author's books because they would prefer if you paid more attention to the New adult fantasy (marketed as YA) of the big publishing houses.
is someone that if I were you, I would block.
I'm tired of seeing campaings pro/anti books based on their content (Twilight? Fifty shades? Carve the mark? Damsel? Black witch, Pittacus Lore books?) or stupid parameters like indie vs. Traditionally published, Harper vs Simon and Shuster, Amazon books vs. Penguin books etc.
Let the material speak for itself and readers decide by themselves
Nobody has the right to tell the readers DON'T FALL FOR THE COVER OF THIS BOOK, THIS BOOK IS PROBLEMATIC, THIS BOOK IS THIS OR THAT, THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK OFFENDED MY FRIEND. in other words, many people in goodreads always tell you don't read this book. There's good and terrible edited books in the traditional published world. Lately bad edited books from the big publishers are a frequent occurency. There's Good and terrible edited books in the indies world. As a reader what we want is good stories and who publishes those stories is beside the point. The fact that some times content offends a group is something that I'm free to ignore or not. But don't act like if I enjoy Twilight or Fifty shades or tHE SELECTION, or Carve the Mark or Pestilence there's something wrong with me and don't try to force me into your triggers. I have triggers of my own, thank you very much.
So please don't use our Goodread platform to prevent people to read books they might enjoy. Trash the book all you want in your review if you want to. But don't use your review to try to prevent a book reaching its target audience. In the case of Thalassa and Sarah J. Maas books the target audience is the 17 and older readers. That's not what goodreads is for. I have specific triggers (cheating, rape, Other woman) and I love reading reviews that give me information about those triggers but I would never use my negative reviews to prevent people who might like a book better than me, to read it because its message offends me. That's immature. I have no time for immature readers so I'm starting to unfriend and block readers according to what I perceive are misleading reviews.
If you like me are a reader who pays for your own books and are tired of the same old same old of the fantasy and romance genres I suggest you to ignore the haters and give the Four Horsemen a chance. Or at the very least Rhapsodic. A book in my opinion, much better than all the New adult fantasy (which is currently marketed as YA ) by publishers like Wensday books and Bloomsburry. Distrust anyone who tells you Thalassa isn't an author worth reading.
One last thing. Many people who trash this book are big supporters of the big publishing houses and dont' want you to discover that some indies (key word being some)are publishing great stories that you're missing out. Just because some top Goodreads reviewers and Booktubers don't pay for their books (or want to get a publishing contract with traditional publishers) and NEED TO SUPPORT the traditional pulsihers doesn't mean the rest of us, that all we want is a good story to read, should follow their advice. I'm here to discover books, and I don't care the publisher behind it as long as I enjoy the story. And Thalassa's stories are some of the most original ones I've read in a long time. And to top it all safe!!! It's so difficult to find safe books nowadays so if you like me hate cheating, sad endings and OW after meeting don't let anyone keep you away from Thalassa's books.
ORIGINAL REVIEW NOTES FOR SAFETY GANG:
No Cheating, No Other Woman No Other Men, plus Virgin hero!
More info on safety below
Jason Lewis as Pest!
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Thank you Laura Thalassa for writing this beautiful enemies to lovers book. And their love conquered everything! I'm so happy LOVE was such an important part of their redemption! Additional thanks to you Laura Thalassa for trusting your talent and hard work SO MUCH as to avoid falling into the pattern of false/deceiving /misleading advertising. That speaks volumes of your quality as both: as a human being and a writer.A good book doesn't need false advertising, word of mouth and a good story will make the book a bestseller. This one is currently number one on several Amazon Lists.
I almost gave Pestilence a 5 Stars rating on honest advertisement. I might up my rating when I finished the entire series because I've been saying all along that False marketing has become my personal trigger and it's so refreshing to find a new adult book marketed as such!
When a "fantasy" book has characters who are older than 19 YO and feature explicit sex scenes there shouldn't be: a) False advertisement shoved through Goodreads on underage readers throats using Listopia and the Goodreads choice awards to give the impression that said book is a Young adult book
b) Campaigns to vote up and protect from erasing certain books in what is in my opinion big publishers' self-promotional lists aimed to promote new releases to underage readers (meaning YA 2017, YA 2018, YA 2019 lists in goodreads) Distrust those lists my friends! Plenty of books there are New adult and heavy on sex!
c) Censorship and campaigns against the few honest reviewers who mention explicit sex scenes in books marketed towards underage readers. (Note to goodreads employees and editors, please stop trying to hide the information we readers need to make informed decisions before reading a book.)
So in spite of the current state of the Goodreads community regarding false advertising (they will probably hide/censor this review) I'll be honest in this review disregarding the consequences (Note: Thalassa isn't pretending her book is Young adult, she has been very upfront and HONEST about the genre of her book and I commend her for that.) : Pestilence isn't a Young adult book, it's a New adult as the MC's are all older than 18 and there are explicit sex scenes. Plus there are some graphic scenes of torture and a massive epidemic. However, that's the brilliance of this book: Not many authors can weave brutality and romance the way Thalassa does. She did it before in her Fallen world series (one of my favorite New adult dystopias) and she did it again with pestilence. I'm impressed with Thalassa's writing ability.
Is this book perfect? Is this book for everybody? Honestly, no, but what book is? As I said, if violence and sex are your triggers perhaps you should skip it (you'd be missing out, but hey, we like what we like). The hero, Pestilence, is very stubborn about (view spoiler)[his mission of wiping out the human race, and he won't change his mind until almost the very end of the book, so a huge amount of human lives will be lost. However, the author makes a great job making you understand why he does this and you don't hate him. (hide spoiler)] I personally think that Thalassa could have made the violence of her post-apolyptic world way worse, but she didn't. She knew where to draw the line to make her book a very enjoyable experience and not one that will keep your bile rising up. I thought the combination of horror and romance was beautifully done.
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So Pestilence starts 5 Years after The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse appeared on Earth. Pest is the first one to start their mission of wiping out the human race from Earth, and he takes his mission seriously. The internet has failed and some people aren't sure of what's going on. Several people have tried to kill Pestilence, but he's immortal. Sara doesn't know this and when her own attempt to kill Pest fails she'll become her prisoner. Cool isn't it? And let me tell you something. Pest is really sadistic at the beginning. He seems to have been observing for years how low our kind can scoop (Hitler? Rwanda? Bosnia? Sandy Hook?) and he'll hurt Sara physically so much that at one point you'll be wondering: Is this really a romance? To be honest I almost DNF at certain point. I can't stand a hero torturing the heroine and then root for her tofall in love with him. That's not romantic, but hang in there my dear romance-loving friends. Later in the book we'll be able to see why Pestilence is the way he is, and why he isn't the bad guy.
After a journey all over post-apocalyptic North America (think Angelfall) and several close encounters with death, a crucial point comes for Pestilence and Sara when they meet Rob and Ruth, an elderly couple. Rob and Ruth know what kind of death awaits to the ones who come close to Pestilence, yet they are religious, wise people. They realize Pest isn't a bad man, they know he's not doing what he does for fun and they above all notice the kind of feelings that are brewing inside him. He's already in love with Sara and it shows! So they'll welcome death with open arms after a long life of shared love and shared hardships. Honestly, I couldn't love this couple more. From their encounter with these two something changes in both, Sara and Pest and they'll start their own path through redemption. Through love, with love, because love. I thought that was beautiful!
Religion is managed well IMHO. Nothing is offensive or contradictory to the beliefs of the Abrahamic creeds: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Have you read City of bones or Angelfall? Both are insanely popular books that IMHO have a more risky, potentially offensive approach to religion. Jace the hero of City of Bones says that although he is a nephilim and has been blessed by the Angel Raziel he hasn't seen anything that makes him believe in God, he's convinced that even if God existed (and he doesn't bet on it) we are on our own. Archangel Raphael the hero of the Angelfall series is an atheist and he isn't even convinced God created him. Does this sound risky and potentially offensive to bible readers? It isn't, considering both books are insanely popular. In comparison Pestilence handles the religious talk in a more neutral way IMHO. According to Pestilence God exists, but Pest is convinced God is beyond religions so all religions deserve respect. I personally loved the way religion was handled here. It discusses religion in a non-religious way. Brilliant!
Two minor issues I had with this book: The ending and not enough grovel (view spoiler)[Hero trapped h when she tries to break up with him. I gave it a pass because he doesn't have experience with human relationships and she was very sick at the time, not trapping her could have lead to her death. I only wish he had groveled! and the cliffhanger ending. We got a HEA, but the Epilogue is 5 years after the final chapter and it opens a Pandora box. Our H and h are happy, but for how long? (hide spoiler)]
This book deserves all the praise is getting and I'm recommending this to my friends who loved New adult dystopian books.
SAFETY INFO (view spoiler)[No OW, No OM activity Bareback sex, but he's a virgin H tortures h at the beginning of the book. Not enough groveling NO CHEATING Some graphic violence (hide spoiler)]
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Pre reading thoughts Beautiful cover?
[image] No fake advertising? This is New adult paranormal/fantasy advertised as such. Amazing blurb? A talented New adult author who as far as I remember never writes cheating heroes or heroines? Enemies to lover trope? Edgy like The Fallen world series? Based on Apocalypsis mythology? Standalone?
I'm tired of people ripping this book to pieces and secretely devouring it. I don't believe you for a second that you didn't enjoy it if you happened I'm tired of people ripping this book to pieces and secretely devouring it. I don't believe you for a second that you didn't enjoy it if you happened to have ratings and long rants about the following books.
Accept it! Stephanie Meyer kept you reading her very long books! And you are only complaining about stalking tendencies because YOU know this is fiction.
I DON'T WANT A GUY WATCHING ME SLEEP. In real life that's creepy.
BELLA COULD HAVE GOTTEN HERSELF KILLED MULTIPLES TIMES IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR EDWARD's STALKER tendencies. Again in real life I don't want to date a stalker. In a fictional realm some things are necessary to keep the woman a vampire loves alive and the readers turning the pages.
AND IF STEPHANIE MEYER IS SUCH A BAD WRITER BY ALL MEANS GO AND WRITE A BETTER BOOK. Good luck with that!Let's see how many agents push for your book.
Now don't you like junk food? Do you really only eat select cuisine? Admit it! You put crazy stuff in your McDonalds french fries and then claim is the most delicious thing ever! Not every meal has to be a delicattessen and not every read has to become the next War and peace. You just don't read the book.
I find the people who says I'm stupid because I ADORE TWILIGHT to be snobbish, arrogant and insufferable.
I like twilight and I'm proud I like twilight. Plenty of people wouldn't read or write if it hadn't been for twilight. The publishing industry would have lost money if girls like me hadn't started reading book like twilight. Millions of women around the world got to love twilight and they're not stupid, they just don't share your taste in books.
6 STARS TO A SIMPLE HOUSEWIFE WHO TOOK THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY BY STORM.
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