Weyward was one of my favorite books from 2023, so I couldn't wait to get to The Sirens! Although I enjoyed it, it wasn't a favorite.

The writing was beautiful and atmospheric, but the story did drag a bit for me at some parts. Pregnancy being a huge part of the storyline wasn't my favorite either (this is just a personal thing, so I didn't lower the rating based on this). The twists were also predictable but satisfying.

Check the content warnings for this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and ALC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5 ⭐️

An interesting blend of past/present narrative. The performance of the narrator elevated my experience of this story. 4 Stars.

Simply put, The Sirens is a story of men behaving badly and eventually getting their comeuppance with a little magical realism mixed in. The story was engaging and mysterious as well as richly detailed. I could easily imagine all the settings. The narration was really good too.

Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this arc

3/5 stars

This was a book about sisters, secrets, and the pull of the sea. I was super excited going into this book, as I love anything to do with mermaids and sirens! Unfortunately I seem to feel the same way many others felt about this book, in that it never truly pulled me into the story and made me invested in the way I was hoping. Now don't get me wrong the writing was beautiful, lyrical, and haunting, its just that the characters felt a bit one dimensional and I couldn't connect with them or get invested into their story, Lucy and Jess in particular. I enjoyed the dream sequences with Mary and Eliza more than Lucy and Jess, which was disappointing as they were so few and far between lol. Overall, this was fine. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Another good read by Emilia Hart. Really enjoyed the twists and turns. Descriptions in the story made me feel like I was there.

The cover is the best part of the book. Slowly paced book with a predictable plot. The magical realism is the strongest aspect of the book, but the reader knows what the characters' strange skin affliction is from the very beginning and you spend the whole book just waiting for the author to do something with it. The scenes of female friendship from the 19th century timeline and heartfelt.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 #𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 #𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I have seen lots of negative reviews of this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I haven’t read Weyward yet (but it is on my TBR list), so I don’t know if that impacted my expectations of what a story by Emilia Hart would be – as in I had no expectations, unlike folks who had read previous books.


I loved how the stories of the two sets of sisters were woven together; it was a bit different from the ways I have seen in other books, and I really dug it. The details of both stories kept my attention, I didn’t want to stop reading (listening) when my commute ended.

I figured out a couple of the twists fairly early, but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the story. I might have given it 5 stars if not for this…

Highly recommend!
🌟🌟🌟🌟

#NetGalley #HistoricalFiction #MagicalRealism #Mystery #Fantasy

What a hauntingly gorgeous story this is! It unfolds slowly and smoothly, layering timelines until they all come together. The Sirens truly swept me away. I now want to read more from Emilia Hart. I’m just dazzled by the mysterious and mystical characters and storylines. I loved it! Those who find it to be a bit too slow, hang in there. It really comes together in the end! Absolutely beautiful narration, too! She did a phenomenal job narrating voices, accents and emotion throughout. I would recommend this book as an audio rather than reading, as her voice really adds texture to the story!

🎧 Thanks, @Macmillan.audio, for the audiobook review copy. #macaudio2025 (Available now) 10 hours, 56 minutes

The novel entwines the stories of two sets of sisters: Lucy and Jess in 2019, in the Australian coastal town where men have been disappearing, and Mary and Eliza aboard a convict ship en route to Australia from Ireland in 1800. Both sets of sisters have mysterious skin conditions and are expectedly haunted.

The cover is lovely, the premise is fascinating, and the narration is excellent, but the story was predictable and slow, like trying to escape a tangle of seaweed.

I loved Weyward so I was really excited to read this one but I ended up not liking it. The story didn’t flow nicely and I couldn’t connect with the characters. Once I thought I knew what was going on it would change to a different storyline. I was confused by the characters and how they didn’t communicate with each other (that is slightly explained later on in the book). I typically like books with multiple timelines but it didn’t work for me in this case, it felt disjointed. Not much happens in the current timeline which made it boring. Also, the main character doesn’t have much of a personality. Her sister is the only one who is fleshed out and we only read about her through her journal entries. There are 2 narrators but their voices sound the same which made it harder to differentiate. Overall, I’d pass on this one but I highly recommend Weyward.

3.5 rounded up

I feel like the pacing was off on this one for me; every time a place was being described, it drew me in completely as if I could fall into the picture. I have strong images of various places that I can pull up even days after finishing this book. I don't have as clear a picture of the characters.

We have dual stories of two sets of sisters in two different time periods. All women struggle with skin that dries and cracks open after being exposed to water. All of the parents decide it is best not to ever get wet and find various ways to address this. The title of the book takes on different meanings at different places in the book. All of the women experience some kind of sexual assault at some point in the story that causes their lives to veer in a different direction. All stories are completely different while also connected.

As a reader, you see many of the plot points before the characters discover them for themselves. The story is different and creative enough that you can usually wait for the characters to catch up with what has already been revealed. There were a few times that we waited too long for the characters to catch up to the clues the author provided, repeating similar information, which was part of my pacing issue.

I think if I were to choose this for a book club, we would have a lot to talk about. These women stand up for themselves and each other. They lie to protect each other. Parents struggle with what they think is right. The women face societal expectations, oppression, bullying, and body image shaming.

Thank you so much to Emilia Hart, St.Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book as an ARC in audiobook form! I would say this book was 4.5 stars and 9 out of 10 experience for me!

This book was written so beautifully that you experienced the atmosphere, the emotions and the tribulations of these women in such a vivid way that I found it hard to jump out of this world. I found myself cogitating on the pain all the women were going through, so often that I found myself rewinding to previous chapters to re-listen.

This story really served to inform, evoke and empower. And Emilia Hart does a great job of unfolding the events realistically and heart-wrenchingly. At times, you will be frustrated by the events and the surrounding characters, they certainly reflect the world and how women have been treated throughout time.

But I hope the ending, as a woman, gives you hope. That through all the hardship, women sticking together will always be stronger, and indeed, individually, we can also be stronger than we thought ourselves to be.

3.5/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Sirens by Emilia Hart is a beautifully written historical fantasy with strong themes of sisterhood, resilience, and transformation. The story moves between two timelines: in 1800, Irish sisters Mary and Eliza are sentenced to transportation to Australia aboard a harrowing convict ship, and in 2019, Lucy returns to a coastal town searching for answers after her sister Jess disappears.

The dual timeline format is a strength, with the historical narrative standing out as the most compelling. The atmosphere is immersive, especially around the sea, the coastal setting, and the eerie small-town mysteries. Hart’s writing style remains lyrical and evocative, with clear echoes of her debut Weyward.

Where the book faltered for me was in the pacing and emotional engagement. Lucy’s chapters, written in third person, felt distant and repetitive, slowing the pacing and making it harder to connect. Although the themes of transformation and inherited trauma were interesting, many of the major revelations came too late to be satisfying. I also found the student-teacher subplot in Jess’s arc unnecessary and distracting.

While the concept was strong and the writing lovely, I didn’t feel as gripped or emotionally invested as I hoped. Readers who loved Weyward may still enjoy the lyrical style and themes, but The Sirens never fully hooked me.

I was hooked from the beginning!!
It was amazing and engaging.
I was instantly sucked in by the atmosphere and writing style.
The characters were all very well developed .
The writing is exceptional and I was hooked after the first sentence.

Loved this ALMOST as much as I loved Weyward. Historical fiction with a strong female characters and a mythical twist... what more could you ask for?

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.

I was really excited to read this ARC!

I enjoyed the multiple povs and how each story line connected together in the end. The story lines across time were neat too because as they continued on you could see how everything connected together.

Overall I think the story was interesting even though the main plot twist were hinted at before they were revealed

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

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.

The Sirens by Emilia Hart is a beautifully written novel that showcases her talent for evocative prose and atmospheric storytelling. The language is lyrical and immersive, and I often found myself highlighting lines just for how well-crafted they were.

However, despite the strong writing, the overall tone of the book was much darker and more emotionally heavy than I expected. The constant sense of gloom and the bleakness of the characters' experiences made it hard for me to stay fully engaged. I appreciate books that tackle serious themes, but this one left me feeling more drained than moved.

If you're looking for something haunting and intense, this might be for you. But if you prefer a little more light amid the shadows, you might want to go in prepared.

The Sirens by Emilia Hart is a beautifully written novel that weaves together three timelines, exploring sisterhood, resilience, and hidden histories. From a modern-day woman searching for her missing sister, to Irish twins on a convict ship in 1800, and a mysterious baby found in 1982, each story is rich with emotion and intrigue. Hart’s lyrical writing and haunting atmosphere make this a powerful and memorable read. Great audio quality and narration