I’m taking part in the blog tour. Post will be live 29th September here http://thebarefooteddandelion.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

When Marine Biologist Elias Courtney is cleaning up. What is the worst oil spill in California History, he stumbles up on the unthinkable. A beautiful young woman is washed up on the desecrated beach. She is tangled in the black seaweed. She is still alive, but won’t survive for long without any help. Why would someone jump in disgusting black oily water? Without air? As Elias Courtney will find out, she has been living her entire life underwater. Actually, this is the first time she is on land.

Seanne, Millisine and Lorelei have travelled a long way. Thanks to the oil spill the girls have been separated. The sirens have to struggle to stay alive while navigating in the human realm. They have to find each other to start their “Earthquest”, which is the main reason they’re on land in the first place. They have to find a cure to those wo are sick or dying at their home. Normally their people never get sick, until recently…
Will the girls be able to find a cure in time?


The first thing you’ll notice, when starting this book, is the level of detail it uses for descriptions. Because it is high, like really high. And normally, the books I read don’t go in that level of detail, so I definitely had to get used to that. This also slowed down my reading process big time, and it felt like I barely made any progress each time I read it. But this does make it a book you have to sit down for and pay full attention to, because if you don’t you’re going to miss out. Big time.

All three sirens, or mermaids (in this book it is like they are both the same mythical creatures, which they actually aren’t, and was a bit of a downside) were all very different regarding their character. Which was very pleasant, since this book changes between their POV’s. So it was very easy to know which character’s POV you were reading.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I had some major struggles, like getting in to the book itself (tiny disclaimer: I was getting into a reading slump even before I started the book, but I kinda ignored it). I had quite some struggle reading it, even though I did enjoy what I was reading at that moment. The last 50 pages were highly fast paced, for which I was very glad. Because I struggled so much with getting into the story, the book felt just huge, wordy and somewhat boring after a while, which sucked. But once again, I was getting into a bit of a slump even before I read it, so I guess that played a major thing in the end!
But thanks to the end (and the plottwist) I am planning to keeping an eye out for the sequel. Because it got me excited!

Overall, I would recommend this book if you’re into mermaid/siren books and can handle detailed descriptions!



I ended up giving it 3,5 out of 5 stars.

Our three protagonists are Lorelei, Seanne and Millisine who are sent on a mission on land to find out what is the cause of the diseases that are spreading in their world.

They are three very courageous mermaids and each one with a talent to themselves, but at some point on their voyage, not far from the coast, meet a puddle of oil polluting the water. Not knowing what it is, they end up in, and from here their journey divides.

Seanne is found by college students from whom, as soon as she wakes up she can immediately escape. But she clashes with the police who, after an attack by the girl, bring her to a psychiatric hospital where she stays many days.

Lorelei is found by an internationally renowned model working for Vogue and her little girl, Ashley, the only one to know that the girl is a mermaid. Lorelei is brought home and hosted as if she were one of the family, though Kimberly's husband does not like the presence of the siren at all.
Millisine is found on the beach, covered with oil, by a marine biologist, a young man named Elias Courtney. He initially wants to bring her to the hospital, but realizes that doing so she would be brought to a psychiatric hospital for the things the girl said at their first meeting, so he takes her home where he gives her a bed to rest and shows his private collection of sea animals, making the girl feel at home. Here, too, he make her listen to his music, which is very private for him, it's a thing he never shown anybody.

Girls re-unite at an event to which, apparently, all three participate with their saviors.

Everything changes, however, when Edward Titan, the villain of the story, comes into the scene, with which the real adventure of the three sirens begins.

The description of the book intrigued me. I do not think I have ever read a book that was about mermaids. I found the plot was great, however the writing style was not something that I liked. I noticed that the author is also a writer for scripts for screen, I think that maybe the short narrative chapters could be because of the usual writing style that the author is use to. The description and world could use with some bulking to make it more fantasy and less as a fast read.
However I would like to know where the series is headed, and hopefully the style of writing can be increased as all authors grow with practice and feedback.

I want to thank NetGalley and Gruh Entertainment, Inc. for providing me with a review copy to read and review. I was drawn in by the cover and the subject matter of mermaids. I love a good mermaid tale.
Mermaid/Siren books are always fun for me to read. They bring back my childhood memories of watching Disney's The Little Mermaid, which had some similarities to The Siren Chronicles. We've got Mermaids coming to land, not knowing what to do, and trying to navigate human life. We also had some danger and evil, which made for some fun.
This author, Douglas J. Sloan, has written for a lot of TV Shows, a heavy emphasis on kids' shows, which I can see. I think this book would have worked really well as a show. The way it was written was good, but maybe a tad flat. I think being able to see what was happening would have had more impact, more oomph, than just reading it.
I wish the characters would have felt more real to me. They all felt very flat. Maybe it was because there were three Mermaids to follow. Maybe they would have felt more real on screen. I also thought the other Mermaids weren't very fair to Seanne, always making out like she was the bad one, the mean one. In my opinion, Seanne had a harder time then the other two. Did I like Seanne all the time? No, but the other Mermaids should have cut her some slack.
A reason this book didn't grip me was that I didn't feel the intensity of the Quest the three Sirens were sent on. They didn't even know what their Quest was, which was just odd.
I did think the ending was interesting. The villain and his lackeys added a bit of spice. It didn't wrap up at the end, it just raised many more questions, questions that I am curious about.
All in all, I thought this book was all right. I'm happy that I got the chance to review it, and be on a Blog Tour for it. Thanks again to NetGalley and Gruh Entertainment, Inc. I say, if you really like mermaids, give it a shot!
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5
Darling it's better Under Da Sea!

I love mermaids, and I've been holding out hope for an amazing mermaid story. Unfortunately this book didn't deliver.

The characters in this book felt two dimensional. I actually found I didn't care much what happened to them. Maybe if this was written in 1st person rather than 3rd person it would have helped me to feel more connection to them?

Also we were constantly told how smart/beautiful/amazing the sirens are, but I would have rather been shown. Ditto with the world building - supposedly the mermaid kingdom is highly advanced technologically, but again, we are told this, and I wanted to be shown.

Overall this was a disappointing read. A younger reader might enjoy this more than me.

Goodreads Synopsis:
While leading the clean up of the worst oil spill in California history, Marine Biologist Elias Courtney stumbles upon the unthinkable. The beautiful young woman, washed up on the desecrated beach, tangled in the black seaweed, is still alive, but barely. What would possess someone to enter these black poisonous waters, the cause of so many innocent creatures’ demise?!! For that matter, how IS she still alive? How long has she been under the water? As Courtney would soon find out -- her entire life. In fact, this was the young mermaid’s first time on land.

Lorelei with companions, Seanne and Millisine, has travelled a long way to walk these scarred shores. Now separated by the horrific oily mess that only humans could have caused, the three sirens must struggle to stay alive as they attempt to navigate this strange new world. They must reunite and begin the “Earthquest” that is their reason for being on land. Their underwater home is sick, dying off at an alarming rate. And whatever is causing the near extinction of the last remaining mermaid colony, clearly originated from exactly where they find themselves.

Edward Titan had waited decades for this moment. All three have arrived, hopeful and innocent, completely unsuspecting. Soon the ocean’s strongest, smartest and most intuitive sirens will find themselves up against years of festering anger and hatred. Titan’s retribution will be swift and brutal. And it will mean the end of an entire civilization. The Sirens’ Song will soon be no more.

THE SIREN CHRONICLES: BOOK ONE, is the exciting first installment in a series of SIRENS books that will follow these miraculous young heroines across the globe, both above and beneath the ocean. As they try desperately to stave off a psychotic creature bent on destroying the planet, they discover new species, battle old enemies and face challenges they never could have imagined.

My Review:
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

Sirens are intelligent, strong, and beautiful beyond human comprehension. Seanne, the most beautiful of the three, has a fin that changes colour with her moods, and is a fierce warrior. She's also very passionate about her homeland. Lorelei, although plain looking in comparison of Seanne, has a beautiful singing voice and writes captivating songs she's a perfectly pitched soprano. Millisine, the youngest of the three by almost a year, but also the most brilliant.

The story follows the three mermaids as the world around them crumbles due to an oil spill among other things. It also follows Dr. Elias Courtney, an environmentalist cleaning up the spill. His life has been pretty normal up until the day he came home from university one day and found that his father had shot his mother six times.

The thing is, the mermaids got separated on their way to the surface to start their quest on dry land. Lorelie finding refuge with a mother and daughter duo who live with an abusive husband, Seanne getting first picked up by a frat house and then arrested by the cops, finding herself in a mental hospital, and Millisine living with Dr. Elias Courtney in his home. They don't actually get to start their journey together until about 70% of the way through the book.

I really enjoyed reading it, and from the beginning I was hooked. Not many books are about mermaids lately, and the few I have read seemed childish but not this one, I've never read anything like this. Although just the beginning of their quest, I definitely want to check out part two. The characters are all different but they seem realistic personality wise, despite them being mythical creatures of the sea. The story is exciting and the world although like our own is a nice change of pace. Definitely check it out if you get the chance!

Here's a link to buy the book on amazon.

https://www.amazon.ca/Siren-Chronicles-Book-1-ebook/dp/B072YTFWMW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504298649&sr=8-1&keywords=douglas+j.+sloan

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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This was everything I expected it would be and more! This book was such a great read and Douglas J. Sloan's writing is fantastic. I fell in love with the characters, plot, and world of The Siren Chronicles.

Thank you netgalley for this arc for an honest review.

I really love the cover of this book and the story idea is great as well. A lot of the writing did flow, but it was also completely drowned in excessive adjectives. Everything was "brilliant", "exquisite", "delicate", there was always something tagged to every person, place, or thing. This got to the point that it was distracting. It's definitely more of a middlegrade book than a YA, would probably do well with very young readers.

The Siren Chronicles Book 1 by Douglas J. Sloan

I absolutely loved this book! I can't wait to see what happens in the next one! Fast paced and of course it's about 3 completely different sirens! I couldn't put it down! I can't wait to see what trouble the trio gets their selfs into in the next book!

NetGalley Review

This book, by far, failed to even reach my expectations.

Firstly, I had the impression that I was reading a young adult series, not a middle grade or children's book. The vocabulary was juvenile and weak. It was more tell than show. The writing could've been much stronger if the sentences weren't so dry and choppy.

Secondly, the characters fell flat. Besides a few physical descriptions, we don't really know that much about them. The story was told in the third person, which is where I think the author went wrong. Third person is great and all, but it just did not work in the characters favor with this book.

Overall, I disliked this book. However, I would recommend it to a much younger audience.

This book had so much potential! A plot that could be worked on more, funny undertones that had me chuckling, an adventure that could use more tension and a lot more developing.

Overall, this book was an erratic, sporadic, frustrating mess. I would constantly be asking myself “what is happening!?” and “what is the purpose of this!?” The first several chapters were poorly detailed and did not give me an idea to what the plot was, a clear setting or relatable characters. I felt as if I was thrown into the story with no lifeboat, no direction or sense. There was no character development. The introduction to the plotline occurred 77% into the book, which left me majority of the time assuming what was going on. There were numerous times within the story that many things were not convincing and so wholly unbelievable. I can’t count the number of times I rolled my eyes throughout this book.

There was so much going on that I found it extremely hard to pinpoint the relevance to many things that happened, to several characters who were introduced and the overall idea of the book.

Not a lost cause but does need a lot of work.