This was different than anything I’ve ever read before and I loved it! I was at the edge of my seat for all of it to come together and to understand the chain of events. And when it did - it did not disappoint! I mean wow. The book was so atmospheric. I felt that the feminist themes in the book were well-written. I need to read “Weyward” soon because her writing is so addictive. I simply couldn’t put this down. The twists! I didn’t see it coming. The mystery and secrets had me hooked. A must read if you’re a fan of magical realism and stories of sisterhood.

I bounced between the audio and physical book. And I really enjoyed the audio. Especially the singing scenes. I was captivated and thought the narration was great.

4.5 stars!

"The Sirens" is a story of two sisters, Lucy and Jess, separated by hundreds of years but connected in mysterious ways. In 2019, Lucy wakes up to find herself in her ex-lover's room with her hands around his throat. Horrified, she seeks out her sister Jess for help, only to discover that Jess is missing. While waiting for her sister's return, Lucy uncovers strange rumors about Jess's town, including tales of missing men and voices on the waves. Meanwhile, in 1800, sisters Mary and Eliza are forced onto a convict ship bound for Australia, experiencing strange changes in their bodies along the way.

I have to admit, this book was a bit out of my usual thriller-filled comfort zone. But hey, trying new things is what keeps life interesting, right? And let me tell you, diving into some magical realism, historical fiction, and a sprinkle of fantasy was definitely worth it!

The cover of the book caught my eye, and I couldn't resist getting my hands on the audiobook version. I mean, who doesn't love a good accent and some singing thrown in? The narrator did an amazing job of bringing the story to life, keeping me hooked from start to finish. The way they portrayed different characters and emotions was spot on - I was engrossed the whole time!

The main character was so likable and well-developed, and her big secret reveal had me gasping. Even though this genre isn't my usual go-to, I found myself completely drawn into the story. The setting was just as I imagined, and the way the plot jumped between timelines kept me on my toes. For my first foray into fantasy, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised!

If you're into stories of women's resilience, sisterhood, and tales of the sea, this book is must-read. Trust me, it'll warm your heart and open your mind to something new. So, add it to your TBR list and prepare to be swept away on a magical adventure. Well done, indeed!

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and St. Martin's Press, for the digital ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Wow. Emilia Hart has done it again. I loved Weyward so when I saw that Emilia Hart had another book coming out I knew I had to read it. I’m so glad I did. This book was magical in more ways than one.

Dual time line with two sets of sisters; women fighting back against men who have wronged them; connection to the sea

What worked for me:
- Loved the setting in Australia
- enjoyed the two time lines
- liked how the two sets of sisters/women's stories entertwined
- loved how the sea called to these women
- loved the sirens tie-in

What didn't work for me:
- I didn't love any of these characters. Didn't dislike them really, just didn't connect with them


3.5 stars rounded up

THIS BOOK - there are simply inadequate words to describe the beauty in this writing and within these pages. The way that @emiliahartbooks is able to weave these magnificent and heartrending stories of women across time is truly phenomenal!

This book is truly a genre bender with dual timelines, folklore, magical realism, grit and heart! It follows two sets of women over particularly poignant times in their stories! This is a book that women (and everyone honestly) MUST read!

I will be shouting this books praises from the rooftops forever! An EASY 5 (maybe 6?) ⭐️ and quickly made its way into what I know will be my top books of the year!

Please do yourself a favor and go pick this one up!

Emilia Hart is a master at atmospheric novels. The Sirens transports you to the coast of Australia, to Scotland, to abandoned houses, with such beauty that you could almost paint the scenes from memory.

After a video of her goes viral and she wakes up inexplicably choking her ex's neck, Lucy flees to her estranged sister's house on the coast of New South Wales only to find her sister missing. Lucy searches for her sister, but finds that her vivid dreams are becoming stranger -- dating back to a voyage to Australia from Scotland -- and she feels an increasing pull to the sea. Coupled with the rumors of an abandoned baby left in the sea caves of New South Wales, nothing in Lucy's life is as it has seemed. And she is left wondering whether all of these things -- the dreams, the rumors around town -- having anything to do with her missing sister.

audiobook review: Great narrator -- I usually have trouble with accents in an audiobook, but I loved Kreinik's voice throughout this one.

This cover is beautiful -- I feel like it deserves five stars. The book, and the mermaid-adjacentness of it all was beautiful as well. 4 stars in total for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this author's debut, Weyward, and I loved this one EVEN MORE.

Mermaids and Sisterhood and Vigilante Justice and PUT THAT ISH IN MY VEINS.

I loved the multiple timelines, the distinct voices of each complex character, the interwoven Irish folklore, and the feminine rage.

THE FEMININE RAGE

Was I disappointed Ben didn't go for a final swim? Yes, but I'll content myself with the other nine (+) bits of retribution.

Here’s to many more.

This was my first read from Emilia Hart and it will not be my last!

This had the perfect blend of honestly so many amazing genre’s and themes: its fantasy/magical realism, mystery and suspense, historical fiction, and family drama. It’s about feminism and sisterhood and women who protect eachother. It’s paced beautifully and kept my attention, and while it felt complex, it also wasn’t so much so that it lost me via audio. The narrator was AWESOME as well, she really transported me into the story.

If you enjoy books that keep you guessing, are full of tension, have many timelines, family secrets, missing people and murder, mythology and historical contexts, I think you’ll adore this as much as I did! Thank you to Macmillan Audio for this early audio copy!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for my copy of THE SIRENS. This one is out April 1.

I really loved Emilia Hart's previous novel, WEYWARD, and was super excited to get my hands on THE SIRENS. This one just didn't meet my expectations after her previous novel. I didn't really enjoy the characters and I felt myself dreading reading this one. I do not recommend it.

I really enjoyed Weyward last year. I was very excited to read Sirens!

However, this book was a little slower. Took a little longer for me to get into this book. I thought this was a little slower in the middle.

Emilia Hart did a fantastic job portraying different time lines. I feel like she really put her research into 100 years ago and comparing it to the events she portrayed of modern times. This is definitely a magical realism book, and i thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the Sirens. The Sirens are definitely the hero’s of this book. Very strong female characters.

There are very complicated bonds between characters. Especially Jess and Lucy, with a 20 year age difference and not seeming to be connected at first. But the “blossoming” of their connection was well worth the read.

Barrie Kreinik did a fantastic job with the narration! Flipping from Irish to Australian accents was absolutely seamless. And she sings beautifully as well! Loved the difference she brought to each character!

Overall, i really enjoyed this read. It’s definitely a step outside of my comfort zone. Complex characters, relationships, and jumps to the timeline. Definitely worth the read if you want to branch out a little.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for this advanced listeners copy in exchange for my honest review!

Dear The Sirens,
You were enchanting and magical and I lost myself in the world of Lucy and Jess, as well as in the past with Mary and Eliza. You were a beautifully written story with a fascinating mystery at your core. I was really able to lose myself in everything that was happening, in both the past and present, in the real world and the dream world. There was such perfection in your language, as you built these intricate pictures for me. A story of complexity and layers that was about the simplicity of a relationship between sisters and how deep it can be.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and Emilia Hart for an Advanced Listener's Copy of this title!

The tides of time ebb and flow, and return us, the reader, to a secluded cave once more. In 2019, college student Lucy awakes with her hands around the throat of an ex-lover, and flees for the coast and the safety of her sister in rural New South Wales. Armed with a podcast and her own budding sleuthing skills, the absence of her sister and presence of alarming clues lead Lucy on a wild goose chase into the past, and the murky circumstances behind her sister's behavior, the town's dark history, and the bizarre dreams and ailments they seem to share. In 1800, Irish sisters Mary and Eliza are forced aboard a convict ship headed for a brittle new world across the sea. Their harrowing journey is one of heartache, regret, and mysterious changes to their bodies the closer they come to shore. Through these two timelines a stunning tale of female resistance, patriarchy, and change is washed ashore, where only the water knows if sisterhood and the magic of the sea can ever make things right again.

I absolutely love a well-crafted contemporary fantasy, and "The Sirens" was right up my alley. Told through multiple first-person perspectives and following an ambling journey through past and present, this overarching tale of feminine rage and power was spellbinding. I sometimes think it's hard to bounce between multiple narrators, let alone timelines that are hundreds of years apart, but the way in which the author moved from Lucy, to Mary, to Jess, really kept a pulse on the tension that built as each respective set of girls moved towards their denouements, and set up for an absolute pummeling of twists towards the end. I also like the parallels each timeline was able to draw regarding female treatment in regards to assault - through we should expect that Mary and Eliza's time was particularly harsh to women and have record of that, Lucy and Jess in some ways hardly fared better than their 1800s counterparts. I also loved the author's notes in the beginning about the colonization of Australia (including the decimation of First Nations peoples), and while I had a vague idea of Australia as a country of prisoners, I feel like I learned a lot and am motivated to go do more research on the subject in my own time. I think this was a fantastic, tense, and delicate book all at once, and will certainly be seeking out more books by Emilia Hart in the future!

I highly recommend giving the audiobook version of this title a listen - the narrator did a stellar job of moving between accents across each voice shift and I really had a hard time putting the book down to attend to rea life matters!

The Sirens is a story about women and sisters and the lengths we will go to keep each other safe. Hart's writing is beautiful, descriptive, and atmospheric, reminding me a little of Adrienne Young. For me, the writing was the best part of this story.

Unfortunately, I struggled through most of this story. I just kept waiting for something to happen. Perhaps I went in with the wrong expectations. I expected violence, rage, and savagery. Instead, I read a slow-burn fantasy mystery that never quite hooked me. The ending seemed evident from the beginning, and the two timelines failed to distinguish themselves.

Overall, I wanted more tension and risk. I wanted mermaids that bite. The Sirens is not that story, and if you have any recommendations for books like that, please drop them in the comments.

Many of my friends love this story, so if you are interested, you should read it. I have not read Weyard, so I can't compare the two.

I do want to point out that I listened to this via audio, and despite my issues with the story, the audio production was exceptional. Barrie Kreinik does a fantastic job of distinguishing the points of view.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! It creatively explores the origins of mermaids and sirens through the story of women with a family history of becoming mermaids while living on land. The narrative unfolds across different timelines, weaving together the stories of Lucy, her missing sister Jess, eight missing men, and a shipwreck from the 1800s involving twin sisters Mary and Eliza. The connections between these stories are masterfully told, keeping me fully engrossed throughout.

The audiobook was fantastic. The narrator was perfectly cast, bringing each character to life with distinct voices and flawless pacing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Emilia Hart for the audiobook.

The captivating novel, The Sirens by Emilia Hart, skillfully weaves multiple narratives and perspectives. The audiobook narrator, Barrie Kreinik, enhanced the story with phenomenal transitions between Australian and Irish accents.

4.25 STARS

This book took me on quite the wild ride, but I loved every second of it! The back and forth between povs was a bit confusing, but the way everything pieces together in the end was *chefs kiss*

The Sirens by Emilia Hart beautifully explores sisterhood, family, and self-discovery. Barrie Kreinik’s captivating narration seamlessly weaves together the novel’s multiple narratives and perspectives through regular vocals, accents, and even singing.

Emilia Hart knows how to write female resistance. This book crushed me and filled me with hope. The audiobook narrator was extraordinary and made me feel even more immersed in the story, which already did an incredible job of pulling me in. The incorporation of Irish folklore really worked for me. The bond between Jess and Lucy is so genuine and I really appreciate the care Hart took when writing Jess. I will not ever shut up about this novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audio ARC of The Sirens by Emilia Hart.

I really wanted to love this book. The concept is fantastic with three women across different time periods, all connected by a shared legacy and a supernatural thread. I especially appreciated the narrative structure: three POVs, weaving through history, with hints and echoes across time. That part was beautifully done and kept me engaged.

Unfortunately, that’s where my enjoyment stopped. The characters felt flat and emotionally distant. I never really connected with any of them and none of them had personality. Their voices didn’t feel distinct, and their arcs lacked depth or growth. Each was just carried along by the plot without guiding it. The mystery of them being sirens is treated like a big revelation, but honestly, the title gives the whole plot away. There’s no real tension or payoff because it’s all telegraphed from the start.

The book is also heavily inspired by the Me Too movement, which I don’t inherently mind, but it doesn't bring anything new or nuanced to the table. The themes felt one-dimensional, more like a slogan than a story.

In the end, The Sirens had potential, but the execution just didn’t deliver. Great idea, well-structured, but ultimately hollow.

The Sirens by Emilia Hart explores the ocean’s mysteries and Australia’s disturbing origin story. The narration alternates between Lucy in 2019 and the late 1700s on a ship full of women exiled from Ireland to New South Wales.

Lucy flees college seeking solace at her older sister Jess’ new house in a small seaside town. Lucy, an aspiring journalist dives in to the mysterious disappearances of men that the ocean has claimed over the years. Meanwhile two sisters, Mary and Eliza haunt her dreams as they survive abhorrent conditions upon an exile ship headed to the same shore Lucy’s now living at. She’ll uncover not only the ocean’s secrets but those of her family. The story will keep readers staying up late and turning the pages quickly to the very end. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

The audiobook was well done and I loved the addition of the siren song. What a treat!
Fans of Kate Morton’s Homecoming will enjoy this novel too.