This book was wonderfully written. It was a tad predictable and I figured out what was going on about halfway through. But that didn’t make it a bad book. The supernatural element of this book was never actually explained, or if it was I missed it completely. It fit and it didn’t fit in this aspect and that’s my only complaint. The mystery of it all could have been explained without the supernatural aspect. But overall it was a good book.

The Sirens is written by Emilia Hart. Emilia wrote Weyward, a book I read and loved in 2023. This book, will share shelf space with Weyward and I will treasure it. It is a story told in three different timelines. In 1801 two Irish sisters, twins, are being deported to New South Wales, Australia for their crimes. They are boarding a ship that consists of all female prisoners (83) and 22 crewman. In 2019, Jess and Lucy are sisters - born 17 years apart. They both suffer from a skin condition that keeps them covering themselves. They both sleepwalk and feel themselves drawn to water even though water makes their condition worsen. Lucy, the younger sister, at the start of the story, awakens to find herself strangling a boy that shared an intimate photo of her on TikTok. Lucy flees her college campus to go visit her sister who lives more than 12 hours away in the seaside village. Lucy arrives and she sees Jess's paintings but Jess is not home, yet her car, house keys and phone are there. Lucy begins looking around the place for information and she finds her sisters journal from 1998. Lucy is hungry for information about her big sister and begins reading the journal and realizes that her sister had difficulties too - and she is more worried about her than ever. Lucy finally breaks down and tells her parents where she is and that Jess is missing. In the 19th century the sisters, Eliza and Mary, suffer during the voyage as there isn't much food, and they are treated poorly, and the constant fear of the water. Both, Jess and Lucy dream of the sisters. I found this to be a strong feminist story of myth and rage. It's beautifully written, and I loved the characters. This is my 99th advanced reader copy - although it is an audio arc - and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The narration by Barrie Kreinik is stellar. I would listen to her read her grocery list. Thank you to #NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for my advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you loved Weyward, you will adore this book. Folklore inspired book about the the strength of female bonds intertwining two provocative timelines . I’ve sat staring at the wall since finishing this book an hour ago. This is a book I won’t forget any time soon.

I loved the concept of this story, I just wish that Hart had leaned in more on the legend and fantasy aspect of it. I generally enjoy stories with a dual timeline that manages to connect, but this one felt awfully separate throughout. I think this one just missed the mark for me. It was good, and I could see someone who was more invested in the historical element really loving it, but I kind of wanted more "Sirens."

4.5⭐️ The voices, the sea, the songs. The strength of women across time.

I loved the way that this wrapped up. It felt very complete.

The narrator did an amazing job at bringing life to these women.

I absolutely loved Weyward, so when I heard Emilia Hart had another book coming out, I was so excited!

Unfortunately this story didn't do it for me like the other. I felt there was quite a bit of contradictory morals (especially in the epilogue) and too many "come on girls, use your brains" moments. I did love the origin story of Eliza and Mary, and wish the book would've been centered around them and their lives instead of the dual timeline that this book was. I also wish the "reality" of sirens came to light much much earlier.

Overall, this book was between a 3 and 4 star read through most of it. The epilogue lost me and ultimately has me giving this 3 stars.

If you’re like me and loved Weyward by Emilia Hart, then you absolutely need to check out her upcoming release, The Sirens!

The Sirens features several elements that I loved about Weyward, including strong female characters, alternating timelines, a complex story, and an excellent narrator for the audiobook. Although the stories have some similarities, there are also some vast differences. The characters in The Sirens face their own unique challenges and there are some elements of the plot that completely surprised me. I found myself once again immersed in Hart’s story and I grew to love these characters. Hart is quickly becoming an auto-buy author for me!

First, I want to say I LOVED Hart's first novel Weyward; so when the opportunity came to read her second novel, The Sirens, I was over the moon happy! This book definitely falls in line with her themes of strong female protagonists and feminism, but with a magical realism that is reminiscent of Homer’s Odyssey. The parallel stories between sisters showcase a range of emotions, family secrets and strong bonds. The historical narrative of the women convicts who were transported from Ireland to New South Wales gave the story a unique perspective, one I hope to investigate further. I also did appreciate the emotional ebb and flow of the story, as well as wonderful narration by Barrie Kreinik. However, the first 1/3 of the book was so slow moving for me that I didn’t think I would finish it. During this time, I was losing interest in the characters and the unfolding plot. In addition, I understand Hart wanted to make the reader feel Lucy’s anxiety and urgency to find Jess, but there were times I wanted to give up based upon the repetitive nation of her spiraling.
With that said, once I hit the halfway mark my interest piqued and the unfolding tale took me for a ride I didn’t expect.


Thank you to Drew Kilman, Macmillan Audio, NetGalley & Emilia Hart for this advanced audiobook.

The Sirens is a completely predictable book where at every turn the reader knows what is going to happen before our main characters; in a way that made me frustrated with the narrators for being so ignorant to what was in front of them. Only two scenes at the every end were somewhat surprising to me, however even they had glimmers of being something I had anticipated. I don't want to be too harsh on this title since it's wasn't entirely bad, in fact I did enjoy watching everything unfold. Yet, it wasn't doing much that I hadn't seen before. If this had come out 5-10 years earlier I think it would have been more impactful, yet it's now a predictable story in an over-saturated market of similar themes, that didn't do anything new. I wish it had leaned more into the vengeful mermaid angle, and less repetitive where's my sister side of things. It just felt as if the interesting bits were cut short while the boring bits were expounded on.

THE SIRENS
Review
3 ⭐️ Release date : April 1 2025
Two timelines each folowing a set of sisters connected by the call of the sea.
Lucy wakes in present time with her hands around the throat of her boyfriend- confused and scared she flees to her sister Jess’ cottage in a small town on the Australian coast. Her sister Jess is no where to be found, looking for clues to her whereabouts Lucy begins to read her sister’s childhood diary. Rumors of missing men , a baby found in a cave , and sailors hearing voices on the seas are embedded in the towns history. Jess’ diary from the 90s tells of her lonely life in a rural town while being plagued by a strange skin condition that causes her to be allergic to water . The timeline from the 1800s follows twin sisters Mary and Eliza on a convict ship from their home in Ireland heading for Australia . The girls have a fear of water since their mother drowned when they were young . The girls begin to feel the ocean calling, their bodies changing. Family secrets , strange dreams, this reads like historical fiction with some magical aspects to it . I listened to the Audio version and found the narrator Barrie Kreinik to be exceptional. I did find it slightly hard to keep engaged with this story, at times I became very lost and found it hard to understand what was happening , this could be an issue going from print to narration. I had a hard time with the characters and felt they could have been developed more before the story unraveled to help connect with them. The story was very slow going which I don’t mind if there is a lot of descriptive imagery , but I found this had less descriptive imagery and was more interior monologue and had a crime reporting feel to it. I was really hoping for more fantasy and magic woven throughout .
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an advance release copy of this audiobook for my honest review

Thank you to Emilia Hart (author), Barrie Kreinik (narrator), Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for this advanced listener copy of "The Sirens: A Novel" for an honest review.

I feel incredibly sad to be writing this review. Up until the epilogue I was masterfully entranced by this book and certain it was going to get four stars from me. I was so deeply moved by this tale of four women (and several dozen more at the tertiary levels around the main four characters), about their empowerment, struggles, and triumphs. How this story was about reclaiming the lives of women who had been cheated on or abused (including rape and child abuse).

But all of that ended on a dime in the epilogue, where the main male character of the present-day story--the father of the sisters in question--cheats on his wife, which she's grieving the loss of her latest pregnancy. He's told, by our mysterious supernatural character (who he is doing the said cheating with), the creature(s) who have been punishing other men for THIS SAME SIN, that he's excused because "he's one of the good ones."

And just no. Everything I loved about this book crumbled on that.

---

Audio:

Kreinik's narration is gorgeous, moody, and so perfectly differentiated between the characters. I very much hope to hear her work in future audiobooks from Macmillian Audio

I wanted to like Hart's new book since Weyward was such a lovely, inventive surprise, but I found that the things that had worked in Weyward, like the differing perspectives, didn't work well in this book though I can't quite put my finger on why. While Hart's writing remains good, I found myself waiting for something to happen and wishing that I liked the characters or understood their motivations more. I did enjoy the narrator's voice throughout, though at times it felt a bit dark. I'm interested in recommending this book to patrons that I recommended Weyward to so that I can talk with others about the differences and hear their opinions. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the early listen in exchange for my honest opinion. 2.5 stars

2.5, I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is phenomenal in this book. However, I struggled through this story. We move between timelines and character POVs, which can be really jostling at times. There is an interesting mix of mystery, history and fantasy, but it doesn’t work all the time. The plot moves slowly and is based on a lot of introspection of the main characters. The lore of the sirens in the most interesting part, but overall, this didn’t work for me. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. I did the audio and the narration was excellent. I loved the dual timelines and the different points of view. The story revolves around four women, their friendships, sisterhood, and family secrets. I did feel like the beginning was a little slow but after I got past the first eight chapters it started to pick up for me. This was a well-written book.

The Sirens has cemented Emilia Hart as an autobuy author for me. The way she writes, the topics she covers, and the heartbreak she puts me through always leave me wanting more. When I read Wayward, I could not get it out of my head. I know The Sirens is going to be the same way. This is a story that will stay with me for a long time. This story conveys the strength that women are often forced to undertake. The world is and has been an unkind place for many women and the characters of this story must face this truth for themselves and those they hold dear. The Sirens is not a feel good story and it will often leave you feeling uncomfortable and disgusted. The Sirens is, however, an important story. It is one about pain, misfortunate, family, and the terrors that many women have had to face.

I will start by saying that I have not read Weyward, which is another of Emilia Hart’s books, but have heard so many good things about it. I went into this one expecting to love it. The premise sounded really interesting and I was looking forward to trying out this author, and while the writing was beautiful, this book was a struggle for me. I ended up DNFing this one at about 35%. There just wasn’t really anything here that held my interest. I kept listening to the audiobook in the hopes that it would draw me in, but it just started to feel like a slough to pick it back up. The characters were not compelling to me and it felt like nothing was happening. It was a lot of thoughts and feelings, which were beautifully written, but ultimately just felt superficial to me. I will say that there is something here. I did not hate it, but it was ultimately underwhelming for me. The audiobook I think is the way to go with this one. I did love the narrator, and that kept me listening longer than I think I would have otherwise.

I think this will be a huge hit, especially knowing how well loved her debut was last year. I was drawn to this title because I have a borderline problematic obsession with mysterious sea being plot lines. The book delivered for me there, but for me it did feel like something was missing. I was admittedly not taken with Weyward (even with that perfect cover!), so maybe this author isn’t a perfect fit for me. Again, I do think people who liked the authors first novel will eat this up. Great mix of magic and real world relationships.

Lucy wakes up to her ex struggling as she has her hands around his throat. She was upset after he shared a private picture that ended up going viral on social media. She was met with worries from the University about what it would do for the boyfriend’s life, claiming it was an accident and he didn’t mean for it to end up on social media. Her worries led to her dreams and sleepwalking took her anger out for her. In fear of the repercussions for her actions, she goes to New South Wales, where her sister lives, to sort through her options.

When she arrives, her sister is no where to be found. She decides to wait, and starts digging into the towns strange secrets- missing people, an abandoned baby. She is having dreams making her sleepwalk that have only grown worse with her move. Her dreams involved two women trying to survive on a ship as her sleepwalking increases.

Lucy finds little from Jess’s neighbors, but does find a diary that makes her question Jess’s skin condition and illness and wonder what secrets their parents have been keeping.

Aside from Lucy’s present day story, a story from long ago is told about two sisters on a ship being sent to an island of criminals. They fight to survive, but start notice changes in their bodies during the ship ride as the sea seems to call to them.

The book does an excellent job of connecting these past and present events. I found myself researching what is try about the island and Australia’s history which was so interesting. Clearly a lot of research went into this work. I love the fantasy element here, female empowerment themes, and self-discovery character growth.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. Release date 4/1/2025.

Tw: sexual assault, rape, grooming, pregnancy, murder

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early audiobook.

I'm going to say this is a 3.5 for me and that if I had to choose between the two books, I definitely liked Weyward better.

I think this had the very similar idea of different generations going through horrific things and what they've had to go through, how they dealt with them. What didn't work for me is that I feel as though I have more questions about certain things I wanted answered and didn't get that. Now, I did listen to it, so I could have missed things I wouldn't have physically reading, but I don't think I did.

A lot of things just weren't explained enough, but it was still a good read.

I was initially interested in reading “The Sirens” by Emilia Hart because it was such a beautiful cover! To be (embarrassingly) honest, I had NO IDEA what this book was about when I started listening 🙈

This was nothing like what I assumed - based on the title and the cover, I thought this was going to be a fantasy, maybe romantasy, but I was wrong. It’s actually a little mix of mystery, historical fiction, and magical realism!

I really enjoyed the unfolding of the story in this book and appreciated the multiple POVs. I think the mystery was well developed and that all loose ends were resolved.

I should note that some of the content may not be for everybody, but it’s not graphic, just mentions it or refers to it, so be sure to check before reading.

The main thing I had a challenge with is that the pacing of the book was a little slow for my personal taste. I’m glad I listened to the audiobook as I’m not sure I would have finished it otherwise. And the narrator was great! Their tone and inflection really brought the characters to life.

Finally, I want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Overall Rating | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️