The Sirens is an interesting novel that builds off the history of the convict ships that sent criminals to Australia, including Irish women, and with a touch of magical realism, brings it into the modern day. Lucy is a university student in Australia, who suffers from Aquagenic urticaria, a real disease that is kind of an allergy to water, who is taken advantage of by a fellow student, and flees to find her older sister, but her sister is missing. Lucy's search for her sister leads her to both of their pasts. It was interesting to learn more about the convict ships, and the modern story was well written too.

After loving Emilia Hart's first book, Weyward, and considering it one of my favorite books of 2023, I couldn't get my hands on The Sirens fast enough, especially after seeing the beautiful cover art! I was so excited to read this one, but I was left disappointed. I never felt connected to any of the characters in either timeline and mostly felt confused about what was going on. Did the girls have a skin condition, or were they some other kind of creatures? What should have been a big reveal about the characters felt like letdown. I just couldn't make myself care about what was going on. I think there were some interesting ideas, but perhaps more time was needed to refine these ideas and develp the characters in a way to make the reader care about what was happening. Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the DRC of The Sirens! All opinions in this review are my own.

I loved Weyward and Emilia Hart shows her strength once again in The Sirens! I love how Hart weaves timelines together to create the mystery and the mystical call of the ocean! My only complaint is that Mary and Eliza's chapters felt repetitive at times which slowed down Jess's and Lucy's stories. Overall, The Sirens is an excellent summer read about the strength of women and the pull of the ocean!

A past and present story with supernatural elements. The story follows Lucy, who finds herself in a perilous situation while she is sleepwalking one night. She knows the impact of her actions threaten to ruin her future, so she runs to her sister as she believes she won’t be understood or believed. When she arrives, she finds her sister isn’t home, but her artwork is and those paintings are haunting. The story switches between the present and the journey of female prisoners from England to Australia. As both stories unfold, we see connections between the women of the past and Lucy and her sister Jess.. It’s a slow build to a harrowing climax. Enjoyed the read.

📒📒📒 / 5
thank you to netgalley and st. martin's press for early access to the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

quick thoughts:
⭐️ 3/5
🫥 woman tries to find her missing sister
🪄 magical realism, historical fiction, mystery
✍🏼 multiple POVs, short chapters
🧜🏼‍♀️ elements of mythical sea creatures
🤷🏻‍♀️ might recommend to fans of this author

i really enjoyed WEYWARD by this author, and mermaids and the ocean are kinda my thing, so i was super excited for this one. however, it fell kind of flat for me. i was enjoying the story until we were introduced to Mary and the other women aboard the ship. i felt these chapters slowed the pacing way down and didn't add too much to the story. i found myself wanting to skim over those chapter to get back to present day to find out what happened to Lucy's sister. i feel i would've loved this story more if there was more to the mythical creatures

Beautiful Cover!
If you like books with family secrets, mysterious disappearances and supernatural fantasy elements then you might enjoy this one. Without spoiling anything, I enjoyed reading this one, but the ending did leave me wanting a little more information about what happens next.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an e-arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book felt so fresh and interesting to me. Sometimes there is a lot going on and it’s hard to keep up and keep track but overall I enjoyed this story! I love a good mermaid story and this was a pretty good one!

This read like a Mystery book with a magical element. There is a reveal at the end that I knew from the very early on in the book . It kind of altered my experience of the book because it felt like I already knew what was going to happen. The writing was still amazing and the setting was very atmospheric . I enjoyed the book but I feel that if that element had not been so obvious my attention would have been better kept.. I also listened to the audiobook and I felt that it was very well done. I still think its worth the read..

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

4 stars!

I really liked the way the two timelines intersected and thought the way history + magical realism were combined was thoughtful and well done. I wasn't expecting there to be so many twists and surprises at the end, and it really made things exciting. Characters were also complex and their flaws/personalities felt realistic. I'll definitely be going back and reading Weyward next!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a DRC in exchange for my honest review.

🌶️ HOT TAKE: Technically a triple timeline—the diary entries of this book detract from the atmosphere, but provide just enough suspense to keep you reading.

🧶 THE SUMMARY:
An atmospheric novel about two sets of sisters linked by their connection to a small town off the coast of Australia: two convicts aboard a ship transporting them to a new colony and estranged sisters who share a rare skin disease that plagued their childhoods.

💁🏻‍♀️ MY THOUGHTS:
🔸 Dual timeline books are so difficult to pull off because one storyline always ends up being more compelling than the other, and this book was no exception. Although I personally felt that both sides lacked character development, I was more interested in the modern timeline, likely due to its’ framing as a mystery. I agree with many others that it was hard to care about these characters at all, and this wasn't a short book.

🔸 I went into this book expecting it to lean more fantasy than it ultimately ended up being. I appreciated the historical elements—I didn’t know much about the Australian colonies in the 1800 before reading and haven’t read many books set in Australia in general. The descriptions in this book are very atmospheric and it would have been stronger to lean into that instead of opting to tell half of the story in diary entries.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and @netgalley for the ARC, provided in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book. When I finally sat down to read this one, I quickly realized that this book wasn’t right for me at the present time. After reading 15% of the book, I didn’t feel any connection to our main character and was confused by the jump in timelines. While I loved this authors previous book, I have decided to no finish this book at this time. If I decide to come back at a later date I will update my review.

3.5 stars

I Loved Weyward and was very excited for this read.

The combination of magical realism and historical fiction was so well done. I loved how all the stories were connected. Jess and Lucy were my favourite characters, where Mary & Eliza were my favourite story.

I do feel that the ending was slightly rushed or could've played out a bit differently for appeals sake.

The Sirens had a haunting atmosphere, lyrical prose, and a mystery that promised depth and emotional resonance. Emilia Hart’s writing style is immersive, and the setting—salty, windswept, and isolated—created a vivid sense of place that had me fully engaged through the first half of the novel.

However, as the story unfolded, my enthusiasm waned. While the setup was strong, I was disappointed by how predictable the major twists turned out to be—I guessed most of them early on. The fantasy element, which I had expected to be more prominent, was minimal and heavily telegraphed. It felt more symbolic than substantive and may not satisfy readers hoping for a stronger speculative thread.

The last 30–40% of the book dragged considerably. The pacing slowed, and the plot became repetitive without offering new emotional insight or narrative complexity. I also found myself disconnected from the flashback storyline, which started as a potentially interesting parallel but ultimately felt disjointed and less compelling than the present-day arc.

Ultimately, this wasn’t the book I expected. While it succeeds in mood and atmosphere, the predictability of the plot, the underwhelming use of fantasy, and the pacing issues in the final third made it a more frustrating read than I anticipated. I also couldn't bring myself to really love any of the characters and overall the book felt very depressing. I do think fans of slow, introspective literary fiction with light folklore elements may still appreciate it—but those expecting a rich fantasy mystery might come away disappointed.

The Sirens definitely sucked me in right away and I had trouble putting it down. I'm a big fan of dual timeline novels and love to try to figure out how they relate to each other. The final puzzle piece isn't revealed until the very end in this one but I still had questions as to exactly how everything happened. Perhaps that was intentional on the author's part? Maybe I read the ending too fast in my quest to figure everything out? Highly recommend this one, especially if you enjoyed her other novel, Weyward.

A beautifully haunting novel that weaves history, myth, and contemporary themes into a deeply immersive narrative. I loved the mystical which was blended with reality seamlessly. An enchanting novel.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book wasn’t for me, I found it confusing and hard to connect with the characters. There are a lot of heavy themes so definitely read the trigger warnings.

Emilia Hart's The Sirens is a haunting and atmospheric novel that weaves together the lives of women across different centuries, all bound by the sea and mysterious transformations. The story is divided into three timelines:

2019: Lucy, a journalism student, wakes up from a vivid nightmare to find herself with her hands around her ex-lover's throat. Horrified, she flees to her sister Jess's house on the Australian coast, only to find Jess missing. As Lucy waits for her return, she uncovers strange rumors about the town and its history of missing men.

1999: Jess, a lonely sixteen-year-old diagnosed with a rare allergy to water, finds solace in her art. Her young art teacher takes an interest in her, seeing a power in her drawings that no one else does.

1800s: Twin sisters Mary and Eliza are torn from their home in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship bound for Australia. As they journey across the ocean, they begin to notice unexplainable changes in their bodies and feel a mysterious connection to the sea.

Hart masterfully explores themes of sisterhood, resilience, and the call of the sea across these timelines. The novel delves into the complexities of female relationships and the transformative power of water, both as a destroyer and creator. The writing is lyrical and immersive, drawing readers into the haunting atmosphere of Comber Bay and the convict ship's journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm conflicted on this book, and it's most likely because I really wanted to love it. But I'd like to praise the descriptive language, which was lovely, truly. But my main issue was the fact I didn't feel connected to the characters, even with that lovely writing. I think the book had a lot of potential, and it's evident Emilia Hart can write very well, but I think our character's needed some heart and more depth, and the story needed to get moving a little quicker.

An interesting intertwining of fiction and lore.

Emilia Hart has a gentle and distinctly feminine way of weaving a tale. I am not familiar with her previous book, but in Sirens, the voices of the narrators are veiled with the sense of sharing cultural folklore, almost with a fairytale essence. The characters are rich and complex, and it is effortless to empathize with their plights.

While a bit fantastical, I thoroughly enjoyed the landscape Hart created, and felt both a stranger and at home with the Australian backdrops she describes. Definitely an interesting read.

I received an ARC of The Sirens in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity.

I was really excited to receive this ARC because Weyward is one of my all time favorite books! Well The Sirens did not disappoint. It was equally as beautiful in its writing and character building as Weyward was. I'll be honest, some parts were a little predictable, but I still thought it was fantastic! I also learned some history about Australia which was an added bonus. I predicted one of the twists but the second one I didn't see coming at all. I love a story that keeps me on my toes!