Book Review: The Sirens by Emilia Hart

The Sirens is a paranormal fiction novel about women in different timelines, connected by both trauma and the sea.

In 1800, Irish sisters Eliza and Mary protect themselves against assault by a local villager and are arrested, then sent to Australia on a convict ship. The conditions are unbearable, but the sisters cling to each other, just as they did as children when their mother walked into the sea and never returned.

In 1999, teenage Jess is afflicted with a mysterious skin condition that she hides under her clothes. But she shows promise as an artist and falls under the spell of her art teacher, who shows interest in both her and her work.

In 2019, university student Lucy is humiliated after a photo she sent to a man is released on social media. When she sleepwalks into his dorm and is caught trying to choke him, she runs away to the coast, to the town where her older sister Jess has been living. But she arrives to find Jess gone and the town haunted by mystery: a series of men have disappeared into the ocean, a convict ship of women once sank nearby, and in 1982, a miraculous discovery of a newborn baby in a cave captured national attention.

The Sirens is a blend of historical fiction, family drama, the supernatural, and feminist themes. It is beautifully written and is both heartbreaking and inspiring. I loved the descriptions of Jess’s art and the seaside village of Comber Bay. The details around convict transportation by ship from Ireland to Australia felt authentic and suitably horrifying.

Personally, I would have liked the paranormal and magical elements to be a little more mysterious and left up to the reader’s imagination. The novel felt so grounded in reality that I found the supernatural detail toward the end a little too “out there.” But overall, this is an unforgettable novel about the strength and bonds between women.

Just like with Wayward, this is hard to review. If you enjoyed Weyward then you’ll like this and if not, then you want.

Fantasy meets historical fiction, but it left me wanting to have gone more one way or the other. Interesting range of characters, unexpected twists (although some I saw coming), beautiful settings, good plot points. Such an interesting idea that the main characters are focused with. There are basically two main storylines told from three POVs, but it doesn’t get confusing.

A dark, moody, mysterious, and entertaining book.

I did leave, as with her other book, feeling the anti-men agenda too strongly. I’m all for strong female characters, but I don’t feel that all men are either evil or stupid/dull/selfish.

I just do t think I was in the right reading mood when I picked this one up as I loved Weyward and expected to love this one as well. Unfortunately I just didn’t click and so I put this one aside for now and will likely go back and try at another time.

Thank you for the chance to read early

Hart's prose is lyrical and evocative, drawing readers into a world where the boundaries between reality and myth blur. The novel's exploration of female resilience and empowerment resonates deeply, offering a poignant commentary on the strength of women across generations. Highly recommend this novel. AMAZING

I had high hopes for this book because of how much I loved Weyward, but this one just fell flat. Lucy's character seemed to exist just to fill pages with meandering nothingness.

Thank you Net Galley and MacMillian audio for this ARC!

I honestly couldn't wait to read this because I loved Wayward so much. I actually happened to receive the ebook and audiobook for an immersive read and it was amazing. The audio narration was fantastic and kept me interested throughout the book.

The Sirens follows two sisters who have strong characters throughout the novel who navigate trauma and their lives with two separate POV'S. Lucy and Jess are amazing characters and kept me hooked. The only critique I have of this novel was it was a little slow to get going compared to Wayward so it took me a minute to really get in the swing of the plot. Overall it was a great and interesting read.

*Reposting the same review here for the same book-I did mention the audiobook as well as the ebook and how it made for a great immersive read.

This book will not be what you’re expecting. Or at least it wasn’t really what I expected. With the name I was expecting some really crazy mermaid antics. Added to the fact I loved “Weyward”, and this book had a lot to live up to.
With multiple timelines and POVs, it can get difficult to distinguish who is talking at times. I was pretty invested in Eliza and Mary but felt that their story felt unfinished at the end.
There is some beautiful descriptive writing. And a great look back at a horrible time in Australian history.
Overall 2.75/5 stars rounded up to 3.
I received an ARC of this title. All opinions are my own.

After enjoying Emilia Hart's last book, Weyward, I was excited to see The Sirens come across my NetGalley approvals. Fans of the former book will like the similar writing style - a mashup of present day and the past - with a dash of magical realism.

I really enjoyed the 1800s story of Mary and Eliza. This portion is the historical fiction element that describes the journey of women in Ireland sent via boat on a months long voyage to be sold off as wives or slaves in New South Wales (now Australia). Also, I adored the idea of using sirens. They are one of my favorite mythological characters.

Where this book fell short for me was with the present day story. At every turn, it seemed like an overreach to get the story to fit together. I may have been able to get over all of the murkiness in the plot if it came together at the end in a better way.

Bottom line: Parts had a lot of potential, but this one fell short for me.

The Sirens had all the ingredients for a compelling story — solid writing, rich historical detail, and even a twist. Sadly, it just didn’t land for me. I never felt pulled into the story and more importantly, I didn’t connect with the characters at all. It was one of those books that I kept waiting to feel something for, but the spark never came. Even when the twist dropped, I wasn’t invested enough for it to have any real impact. Honestly, if I hadn’t been listening to the audiobook, I’m not sure I would have made it to the end.

Thank to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for gifted copies. My thoughts are my own.

Emilia Hart delivers another female-centric novel with a supernatural twist, including the stories of two sisters - two hundred years apart, but connected by the sea. In 2019, Lucy finds herself running to a coastal town to visit her sister, Jess, after she had to urgently and unexpectedly leave college. When she arrives, she realizes that Jess is missing, only her diary and a plethora of secrets left in her place. In 1800, twin sisters Mary and Eliza find themselves on a convict ship from Ireland to New South Wales, changing and connecting with the sea along the way.

This book was intriguing - from the start I was curious about each of the sisters and how these two stories could possibly be connected. I enjoyed the intro which prepared us for the historical aspect and the connections between the fictional story and the actual history. I always enjoy when I can read some fiction but still learn something! Emilia Hart's writing really is beautiful - I felt like I could see myself in Cliff House and on the ship with each of the sisters, and I could vividly picture the sea and the cave. Very well done. There were parts that built upon themselves as the story unfolds with some twists, one in particular actually had me shocked!

I found some parts of this one a bit confusing and harder to connect with. The supernatural pieces, in particular the sirens (which is kind of the point), were a bit confusing and hard to keep track of. I think part of the challenge was having multiple characters, multiple timelines, and so many smaller storylines happening within the main plot, that it got distracting at times.

Overall, I thought it was a good read - maybe a bit slower to set up, but once the story got flowing I could not stop until I got to the end!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I had really enjoyed Weyward, also by Emily Hart, and looked forward to this one. The writing was once again beautiful and very descriptive, but this one did not pull me in and keep my interest as much. It took me awhile to get into it, although it did pick up the pace near the end, but I did not enjoy the mystery and conclusion as much as I had hoped to. I did see a beautiful edition of this novel at Barnes & Noble. Thank you St. Martin’s Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

I honestly won't go in depth in this review because there's not really much to say. I was very excited for this book, I had not seen anything about this book, I had just heard about the author so I was excited to read one of her arcs,

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It truthfully wasn't that bad, I just didn't find myself getting swept away into the story. There wasn't enough explanation as to how so many things happened between the past and the present, how the sisters' skin conditions truly worked, and a number of other things.

The plot idea was good, I just couldn't get past the number of questions I had that went unanswered. How did Lucy just never have to answer to the police? What happens to both Jess and Lucy at the end? Was there a significance to the one sister in the past being blind? There was too much for me to fully suspend my disbelief, so it just didn't really hit home for me. I liked it, just not enough to give it a higher rating. I still have yet to read Wayward by Emilia Hart, so I'm hoping that one is better than this.

Super different than what I usually read! It wasn’t my favorite, but I did finish the book and was interested to see how it ended!

3.5 rounded up

Emilia Hart is a true talent. She is a gorgeous writer of truly creative stories. Her debut, Weyward, was one of my favorite books of 2023 and if you haven't read this incredible novel, you should!

Hart's newest, The Sirens, is much of what would be expected: ingenious story, tales woven together through time, and fantastical elements. As a mystery, this story is slightly more subdued and predictable. And if you compare The Sirens to Weyward, I think you come away with a story that is a little less compelling and rich. But all in all, this story is dark, moody, and pretty entertaining.

Thank you to #netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the free review copy.

Emilia Hart is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. Her combining of history, myth, feminism, and complicated families make for such a rich read. I was not sure about this at first, I sometimes struggle with a really young protagonist, but the character development was so good that I bought in right away. I also liked that even though I figured out one major twist fairly early, I really had no idea about the final piece of the puzzle right up to the end. There was so much to this mystery, and to this family that it kept me fascinated right up to the end. I also thought the history of women in Australia was so interesting. This will make a great book club pick.

I was really taken with the idea of this story, and it was very intriguing though I had a few problems while reading it. The jumping between all the different characters made it very difficult to really connect with any one character. I definitely saw the one plot twist coming quite quickly, but I really enjoyed the historical side of things with Mary and Eliza. I think there were just too many changing stories that made it hard to really grasp my attention.

Sirens tells the story of sisters from the past and the present. The story centers around Lucy who finds herself in trouble after she attacks a young man in his sleep. She is confused and wants her sister, Jess. She drives to her house but Jess has disappeared, leaving her phone and keys behind. Lucy begins to unravel Jess’s secrets when she finds her diary. When she sleeps she dreams of other sisters from another time. Mary and Eliza were on a convict ship from Ireland that wrecked near the coast by Jess’s home in the 1800’s. The past and present collide as Lucy discovers the connections between them.

This was a good story, I liked the format and the way the story was told. I loved the historical aspect and focus on the the strength of sisterhood.
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3,5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review .

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5 stars, rounded up

Thank you for this ARC! I was so excited to receive it, and really tried to finish this one by its pub day. I blame Mary and Eliza for not making it in time.

I really liked this book. It was an enjoyable read. The writing was descriptive and atmospheric. The house was (almost, not quite) a character. The thing is, I was still disappointed because all of the elements were there for me to love it - but I didn’t. Magical realism? I love that. Plenty of mystery that never bordered on scary? Yes please. Dual timelines with multiple viewpoints? Usually my jam. In The Sirens however, everything was not quite as satisfying as I wanted them to be. The breadcrumbs for the mysteries in the story were quite large, so I had two of the big ones figured out very early on (did not have the one left entirely for the epilogue solved - which was actually sort of annoying that it was left until the very end, but not as annoying as leaving it unresolved I guess). And the Mary/Eliza timeline from the past was a struggle for me since nothing really ever happened. I kept falling asleep when I’d hit their chapters. It was really only useful for propelling the Lucy storyline, until the very end when… stuff happened that we already knew was going to happen. Oh well. The magical realism was solid, but it’s hard to go wrong with mermaids.

Would I recommend this book? Sure. Mermaids are always fun. Will I remember to recommend it a year from now? Unfortunately, probably not unless someone asks for something specific from it which triggers my memory.

I was so excited to receive an ARC after reading Weyward by this author, which I absolutely loved. Unfortunately The Sirens left a lot to be desired and was mostly an unenjoyable experience for me.

I found the plot to be slow and tedious, with such heavy foreshadowing that all of the plot devices and twists were painfully obvious. Many of the themes were superficial and lacking cohesion—ultimately creating a dull and anticlimactic ending. The epilogue in particular felt out of left field and changed my entire opinion of the book (negatively).

Overall, I would recommend skipping this one unless you’re like, really into mermaids or something?

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.