Rhapsodic

Book one in the darkly hypnotic Bargainer series! The King of the Night always collects his debts... 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 Bargainer 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.

The finale to the darkly hypnotic Bargainer series! There are worse things than death. Things that lurk in the shadows and slip into your dreams. Things that have no business existing. Things that once slept... but have now awoken. For Callypso Lillis, the fae magic that now runs through her veins is equal parts curse and good fortune. For the very thing that bonds her to Desmond Flynn, the King of the Night, also makes her vulnerable to the Thief of Souls, a man who wants to break the world... and Callie along with it. But it's not just the Thief whose shadow looms over the Otherworld. Des's father is back from the dead, and he wants revenge on the son who sent him to the grave in the first place. Des and Callie must figure out how to stop both men, and time is running out. Because there are forces at play working to tear the lovers apart once and for all... and unfortunately for them, death is no longer the worst thing to fear.

Rhapsody, n, (1542) 1: a portion of an epic poem adapted for recitation 2 archaic: a miscellaneous collection 3 a (1): a highly emotional utterance (2): a highly emotional literary work (3): effusively rapturous or extravagant discourse b: Rapture, Ecstasy 4: a musical composition of irregular form having an improvisatory character. Elizabeth Haydon is a major new force in fantasy. Equipped with a quick wit, Haydon has a sharp ear for dialogue, panache with characters, and that essential ability to transport her readers into her own fantastical world-a world so real you can hear the sweet music of Rhapsody's aubade and smell the smoldering forges within the Cauldron. Rhapsody is a woman, a Singer of some talent, who is swept up into events of world-shattering import. On the run from an old romantic interest who won't take no for an answer, Rhapsody literally bumps into a couple of shady characters: half-breeds who come to her rescue in the nick of time. Only the rescue turns into an abduction, and Rhapsody soon finds herself dragged along on an epic voyage, one that spans centuries and ranges across a wonder-filled fantasy world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Prequal to the darkly hypnotic Bargainer series! In the beginning, there was darkness. Before he met Callie, before he became the Bargainer, there was Desmond Flynn, the bastard son of a scribe. A boy born to a weak mother, cursed with little magic, and destined to marry a slave. But fate had something else in mind. Till darkness dies. From the barren caves of Arestys to the palace of Somnia to the streets of earth, this is how Desmond Flynn, a fairy who began with nothing, became the Emperor of Evening Stars.

Book two in the darkly hypnotic Bargainer series! All your debts must be repaid... Siren and soulmate to the King of Night, Callypso Lillis survived the clutches of Karnon, the mad king, and his twisted prison. But the nightmare isn't over. Callie wears the physical reminders of her time as a captive, and mounting evidence suggests the Thief of Souls is still out there. When a fae celebration thrusts Callie and her mate, Desmond Flynn, into the Kingdom of Flora, they take their investigation with them. But under the bright lights and striking blooms of the realm, they find there are more immediate issues to deal with. No place is more uniquely savage than the great fae halls, and no amount of bargains can save Callie from royal intrigues. Fairies play dangerous games. Some want love, some want vengeance, some want flesh, and some want things too unspeakable to utter. One thing is for sure: no one is who they appear to be. Not even Des, who only grows more enigmatic with every passing secret. But the Kingdom of Flora has its own secrets, from bleeding trees to branded slaves and missing guards. Something is stirring in the land of all that grows, and if Callie isn't careful, it will claim everything and everyone she loves - and her along with it.

A young music prodigy goes missing from a hotel room that was the site of an infamous murder-suicide fifteen years earlier, renewing trauma for a bridesmaid who witnessed the first crime and rallying an eccentric cast of characters during a snowstorm that traps everyone on the grounds.

“Mitchell James Kaplan [brings] his impressive knowledge of history, composition, and the heart’s whims to bear on this shining rendition of Swift and Gershwin’s star-crossed love.” —Therese Anne Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Z and A Good Neighborhood “A lilting, jazzy ballad as catchy as a Gershwin tune…Rhapsody will have you humming, toe-tapping, and singing along with every turn of the page.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network and The Huntress One evening in 1924, Katharine “Kay” Swift—the restless but loyal society wife of wealthy banker James Warburg and a serious pianist who longs for recognition—attends a concert. The piece: Rhapsody in Blue. The composer: a brilliant, elusive young musical genius named George Gershwin. Kay is transfixed, helpless to resist the magnetic pull of George’s talent, charm, and swagger. Their ten-year love affair, complicated by her conflicted loyalty to her husband and the twists and turns of her own musical career, ends only with George’s death from a brain tumor at the age of thirty-eight. Set in Jazz Age New York City, this stunning work of fiction, for fans of The Paris Wife and Loving Frank, explores the timeless bond between two brilliant, strong-willed artists. George Gershwin left behind not just a body of work unmatched in popular musical history, but a woman who loved him with all her heart, knowing all the while that he belonged not to her, but to the world.

"First published in the UK in 2018 by Carlton Books Limited"--Page facing title page.