This one unfortunately was unable to hold my attention long enough to push through, and is sadly going on the DNFs shelf. I was very excited by the premise, as I find siren lore to be quite underappreciated within the fantasy book realm. However, I don't think this title managed all that well. The worldbuilding & lore itself was fine, but the plot was very helter-skelter (for lack of better phrasing). You're sort of thrown in at the deep end (no pun intended), and feel like you've come in mid-plot, rather than at the exposition. There's definite insta-love vibes going on as well, and a male MC that was not quite as quick-witted or enthralling as promised.

I really enjoyed this book. I usually am not a huge fan of "body horror" but it fit so well in the setting & the writing style, that I did not mind it. It added to the overall atmosphere of the book. I'm excited to read book 2.

This was a fun, entertaining read. I was a bit surprised at the beginning because I felt like I was just thrust into the middle of a scene and I was missing details. I even checked to make sure that it wasn’t a second book, or there was a prequel novella, but there wasn’t. It took a few chapters for me to catch up, but when I did, it was enjoyable.

I do feel there could have been more details added, again, with the opening scene, between the two MCs, the development of her siren powers, etc. I usually need more detail so I can feel immersed in a world, and I don’t feel like I got this from this book.

Entertaining, enjoyable, just missing a little extra oomph to take it that last mile.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️.5

The moment I saw this STUNNING cover art, I knew I had to read this book. Dark, atmospheric, political, romantic, this book has it all. You may be wondering why I didn't rate this 5 stars and the biggest downfall is that even though I absolutely loved the MMC, there really should have been more time spent building up the relationship, in particular in the beginning before certain actions were taken.

With that said though, In the Veins of Drowning had some of the best yearning. Some quotes I highlighted in my copy:

"I called you a gnat, and I detest myself for it. I am the bug. A moth. And you are the moon. Drawing me, pulling me. But I'll never be able to reach you without destroying myself. All I can do is pray for the day." He gave me a pleading look. "Do you understand? I am doing my very best to keep a grip on myself, to keep my distance but everything you do seems in service of thwarting that goal"

"I can't even see her for the way you encompass me" Emotion etched his face. "You fill my every sense. You stalk my waking mind. You make up the entirety of my dreams."

Ahh!!! Theo is the fantasy version of Anthony Bridgerton.

In the Veins of Drowning featured a unique take on Sirens, something different than how we usually see them in media. The book was fast paced and I can say I never found myself bored. If anything, I wish there had been more world building and it had been a tad bit longer.

I think readers will be for a treat with this new series!

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown and Company for a copy of this ARC. All opinions are my own.

a quick and engaging read!

things i liked:
- the mmc was so cute
- the yearning!!
- gothic atmosphere

things i didn’t like:
- romance (not awful but it went way too fast for my liking)
- lack of worldbuilding
- wanted more siren lore

What a STUNNING dark fantasy romance!

If you love sirens/the ocean you need to pick this one up! This is the romantasy we needed with Sirens!

5⭐️Review: Thank you @netgalley @littlebrown and @kaliecassidybooks. Wow! I could not put this book down! This was book one in the Siren Mage series. If you like a fast paced Romantasy with Sirens, a brooding King and magic you should definitely add this to your TBR. It was beautifully written and immersive. There was lots of dark magic, slow burn and tension. What an emotional rollercoaster! I didn’t want it to end. I highly recommend this book. I can’t wait for book two!

In the Veins of Drowning is a captivating dark fantasy, with romance, mythical creatures, and kingdom politics. I didn't think this story was completely perfect, but there was just something about the dark atmosphere that drew me in. I appreciated the different take on sirens, with the sirens having wings and talons opposed to the mermaid type sirens in other stories.

Imogen and Theo are both complex, messy characters. I was happy to see that Imogen leaned a bit more toward darker tendencies, even though a lot of her decisions were questionable. It took a while for me to like Theo, because I felt like his initial interactions with Imogen were too degrading, such as calling her an imbecile. But I felt like the relationship between the two of them finally came together, and their struggles with the blood bond, their feelings for one another, and their individual duties were done really well.

I found most of the world building to be very interesting, and liked the fact that Cassidy gave the reader an understanding of the different gods and their attributes. I did find myself wanting a more in-depth look at the sirens and their abilities. I felt like I was just thrown into the first time Imogen used her alluring ability, with no explanation of what was really happening, and it seemed a bit confusing.

Overall, I enjoyed Cassidy's writing and the pacing of the story, and I'm excited to see where the story goes in the next book. If you love dark fantasy, forbidden romance, secrets and betrayals, forced proximity, and magic, then I would definitely recommend In the Veins of Drowning.

Ambitious Siren Plot Fails to Be Realized
Kalie Cassidy, In the Veins of the Drowning (New York: Little, Brown and Company, July 1, 2025). Paperback: $19.99; Romantasy. 384pp, 5.5X8.25”. ISBN: 979-0-316587-60-0.
**
“…Romantasy about a threatened Siren who forges a bond with a brooding, self-righteous king in order to flee the king who raised her… The monster is always slain… Imogen Nel is in hiding. Hiding from a cruel kingdom that believes Sirens are monstrous, blood-hungry creatures. Hiding from a king and his captain who viciously hunt her kind. Hiding from her own alluring abilities. By keeping herself from the sea, Imogen’s bloodlust is dulled, and her black wings remain concealed beneath her skin. When a neighboring king comes to visit, Imogen can no longer hide. He knows precisely what she is, and he believes she can save their kingdoms from an even greater monster. But Imogen’s power threatens to violently reveal itself, and the two form a blood bond that protects them both. They flee together, traversing waters teeming with the undead. As the lines between duty to their people and desire for each other begin to blur, Imogen worries her ancestral powers may not be enough to kill what hunts her—the only way to defeat a monster may be to become one herself.” This premise is dramatic and invites readers. There was a way to execute this story to make it interesting, and multi-layered, but the author has not succeeded in delivering on this ambitious promise.
This title has another great cover-design that I am rather jealous of. The central image is of a falling angel. The figure seems to be based on a photo or a statue, but parts of it are single-color or line-only in black or gray. This combination of line-sketching and dimmed photo-art is curious, and original. The drawing of splashing water at the top of the water-body this figure is penetrating is also both realistic, and artistically elegant. And the gold doodles around the edges with leaves and snakes are a good mix of sketchy and simple. I am still working on learning how to bring drawn elements to cover some letters in the text: this is probably done by mixing layers in a program and erasing parts of one of the layers in the over-lapping sections. Sections are also introduced with gray drawings of figures, feathers, and the like: this is an appealing way to start sections to draw readers’ interest.
The opening section is a free-verse poem that describes a powerful woman waiting in the water: it concludes by saying this woman is more of a symbol for “want” as opposed to simply a drowned woman.
The first chapter in the first part begins with a mystical reference to a magical scent of the sea being felt like a “tentacle”. But then the story digresses into mundane chatter about an unsuitable dress between a girl and her previous “teenage governess”.
The book ends with the protagonist pushing herself to stand up and heal her own wounds to jump back into the water for it to carry her towards her goal to kill an enemy, find one friend, and save another friend. This is a formulaic counter-resolution, as the character comes very close to death in the preceding climax, and still struggles forward. The determination at the end is either a suicide, or a death, or an invitation for readers to proceed to the next book in the series. And it is rather cheap to use the threat of death to encourage a publisher, or readers to feel sympathy for this character to revive her by paying for the next part of a series.
The first mention of this story being about a “siren” is made a fourth into this book, when an emotional response (swooning) is portrayed in young ladies as this revelation is made: “The large feathers were stretched wide; bolts through the bone held it to its wooden plague…” The description continues: this is apparently a siren’s wing that has been strung onto the wall with a plaque under it. Since this book describes “real” sirens: this is like having a human mummified severed hand hanging on a wall: very grotesque. Apparently, this is strung up in the quarters of somebody who has been “hunting divine Sirens.” It seems nonsensical that anything “divine” can be “hunted” and hung up for sport, but the author seems to be borrowing from human-hunting habits, and mixing these notions with mystical ideas about mythology. Similar mistakes and confusion appear in most fantasy novels.
This book has flashes where it seems to have been polished by a competent editor, who added some details. But most of it is very hollow and unreadable.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2025 issue: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-spring-2025

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

This was great. This is what I want when I say I’m in the mood for romantasy. My problem is the ending! How dare this book end like that. I need book two now which is crazy because I read this as an eARC and I have so long to wait. I recommend. It’s gothic, there are sirens, dark magic and the writing is immersive.

Okay, so this was darker than I expected and I quite liked it! 3.5 stars rounding up.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company as well as Netgalley for the eARC.

This one has dark magic and sirens/sea witches with a heck of an ending. Trigger warning for magic that pretty much requires self harm, though.

The writing is really beautiful and lush without being overwhelming for the story. The banter between the characters is fun (although it veers a little TOO much into talking about how hot the MMC is when he is glowering, it kind of made me laugh and not in a good way). It took a little bit to understand the magic in the world and how things worked, and I think we will be seeing more in the next book.

The spice was okay, nothing mind blowing but it was well done.

Will be reading the next book, and I think readers will eat this up upon publication!

This book dug it's talons into me and didn't let go. And I am here for it. It immediately lures you into its siren song with atmospheric descriptions and beautifully strung together sentences. Imogen Nel is in hiding, right beneath her enemy's noses as the ward of the King who hunts her kind. She's also betrothed to his army's captain, the very man killing sirens like her. Tension, check.
As long as she stays away from the ocean, perched high in the mountain fortress, her siren nature remains dulled, her wings safely buried within. When that no longer remains the case, she desperately requests the aid of a foreign king to take her away, starting a war à la Paris and Helen of Troy.
This world was so well-built, even in a fairly short length novel. The magic system, the Gods, the creatures and the lore were all so well-developed, I absolutely devoured this book. The complexity between the relationships was emotionally charged and Cassidy excelled at evoking visceral feelings in the reader for each of them. I appreciated the dark elements as well, exploring the gruesome lore of sirens, but also authenticating actions through the morally gray heroine's perspective. Not to mention stalwart, very kingly oh-so-hot Theodore - the slow burn was as antagonizingly delicious for me as it must have been for them. This was a joy to read. I can't wait for book 2. This is a dark fantasy romance you do not want to miss.

Kalie Cassidy knows what she's doing and, goodness, she does it so well. From the first chapter I couldn't look away. This world, the characters, the way Kalie dangles the carrot so that I have no choice but to continue on--this book had me in thrall! I'll be sure to shout about this book from the mountaintops! It's incredible.

All the romantasy tropes but with a great siren spin. A woman coming in to own and a man filled with such longing! A great quick read

Easy 4.25 out of 5 stars for me

This book took me on a journey and I was hooked from the first chapter. Was that an accidental siren pun? Yes. Do I regret? Not particularly.

We had a fast moving plot (imo), two fantastic leads, and a fascinating world.

The world building was great for me, no info dumping and easily wound into the main story.

Gorgeously dark atmosphere.
Tense and somewhat slow building romance.
Breathtaking gowns.
Female rage 🥰
Interesting magic system.

This is one of my favorite reads this year and very excited for the next book! Almost wish we had another 50 pages somewhere haha.

Thanks to Net Galley for the eArc!

Where to begin... After what has felt like an endless reading slump, In the Vein of Drowning came to the rescue. While many books in the romantasy genre have become somewhat trite over the last few years, Cassidy has created a standout novel full of unique magic, a twisting plot, and genuinely believable romance. I can't wait for everyone to experience this book when it releases, and I absolutely cannot believe I have to wait for book 2! 

This ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

There was a lot going on but also not? It was a tad confusing. There was no shortage of descriptions for the male MC and his attractiveness.. I wish more time had been spent explaining the world rather than his hottness. There wasnt much chemistry in my opinion so I would have rather focused on the story. I think this is more of a story for the steamy scenes than it is for reading a good fantasy

3.5/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Kalie Cassidy, & Little Brown & Co. For the A R C
Hooked by 9%-this book pulls you in fast and delivers a visceral, fast-paced ride full of blood bonds, siren goddesses , and solid action scenes. The world is immersive and moody, perfect for a cloudy day with a glass of wine or a chill summer beach read.

That said, it felt like just a piece of a larger story. I wanted more lore, especially around the sirens, and didn’t fully connect with the female main character—I’d love to see the story from other characters perspectives. Still, a strong, intriguing read that leaves you wanting more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. And it’s going to be very honest. Gird your loins.

Tl,dr: a predictable yet entertaining, this trope-heavy romantasy is riddled with plot holes and plagued by a FMC with serious boundary issues.

The description & comp to One Dark Window initially intrigued me. In a genre saturated with fae and shadow daddies, a romantasy with a siren FMC and healer MMC was a nice change. But sirens could have been replaced with literally anything else for how much it mattered to the “plot”— a bunch of romantasy tropes stacked under a trenchcoat.

This fantasy romance was mostly well-written, at times veering into overwritten, but little was fantastical or romantic about it. The characters were cardboard cutouts leaping between tropes in a poorly explained world. The stakes were uncertain, the pacing erratic, and the FMC was deeply problematic in her lack of respect for other people’s boundaries.

I was hoping for a gradual reveal of the world and magic system, but nope, I stayed confused throughout and got tripped up in the many plot holes.

The FMC has to hide from the sea to prevent turning into a forbidden Siren—even the smell of salt air can set off her transformation—and so she lives on an island… in the sea. She’s the ward of a comic book villain king on an island kingdom that is only described as hating Sirens (for…reasons?) and having bad wine. When she’s told to marry the king’s captain and official Siren killer, she doesn’t bat an eye. She even sleeps with him. In 26 years as a secret Siren, she has never once questioned her origins, her magic, why she’s unbothered by her fiancé slaughtering her kind, or much of anything happening in the world at all.

Imogen was a petulant and entitled FMC with no agency throughout. While she did develop self-awareness, it was not reflected in any meaningful character growth. She has the ability to sprout wings and steal breath and command the sea, yet twiddled her thumbs while waiting to be rescued. Without remorse, she manipulated strangers (i.e. Theodore) into risking everything to save her from the consequences of her own actions, then threw a tantrum when he expressed reasonable boundaries (i.e. no, he will not risk a hasty rescue and start a war that will hurt his kingdom for a woman he met yesterday and has rightfully nonstop called an imbecile.)

The already thin plot was twisted to squeeze in as many tropes as possible, including not one but two love triangles (my least favorite trope.) In classic romantasy fashion, there was a blonde MMC fakeout and a dark-haired MMC endgame. The blonde fiancé is an infamous Siren-hunting captain, yet apparently he can’t recognize he’s engaged to a Siren until she literally transforms into one after she licks the salt off his skin while he’s inside of her.

Yep.

And she just watches the Siren-murdering captain awkwardly put his pants back on and shuffle out, then twiddles her thumbs waiting for someone to save her from the situation she created. Instead she gets Theodore, who was a cardboard cutout of the tall, dark, and broody MMC. Dude was scowling so much in every scene it was a wonder he didn’t pull a facial muscle. Surprisingly, he actually calls Imogen out on her spinelessness. Some good zingers: “You’re an imbecile to marry a man whose job it is to kill you.” Yes! Thank you! And this gem of reason: “You should have tried to leave a long time ago.”

Imogen responds to this fair criticism as expected: poorly. She goes from simpering to stomping off at even a whiff of rationality. I needed a neck brace from the FMC’s whiplash of emotions.

Instead of fighting against her predictably-evil fiancé when he tries to force a blood bond on her, she throws her arms around his neck and pleads, “Please don’t.” Then, a minute later, she’s casually drowning him in the bathtub. After killing Evander, her “escape plan” consists of forcing a blood bond on a sleeping Theodore without his consent—you know, the exact reason she just drowned her fiancé in the tub for—then gets upset when Theodore wakes up and repeats his reasonable answer of nope, not starting a war to help you, strange bird lady.

No means no, Imogen. Save yourself!

Then out of nowhere, Theodore says sure, what the heck, I’ll sacrifice the people I’m duty-bound to protect for a woman I just met. They perform a blood bond, the flimsy plot device that the rest of the story is hinged upon, and I honestly couldn’t tell you what it is or why they do it.

Things got weirder after this, and not necessarily in a good way.

Suddenly, the blood bond means that Imogen and Theodore are married, but oh no, he’s already engaged, but then the blood bond can be severed, but only by a Mage Seer who also gives prophecies, yet now the blood bond is the reason they can’t be separated and have all-consuming feelings for each other instead of actual compatibility, and they need to fuck to stop puking?

I… can’t.

The blood bond was a vehicle for the forced proximity trope and used in lieu of any actual chemistry, relationship development, or character growth. The “romance” was not romantic for me. Imogen was often immature, Theodore lost what little personality he had as soon as he developed feelings (he went from “duty-bound to the core” to a besotted doormat like overnight), and their dynamic was pretty toxic. The formula: she makes irrational demands, he negotiates with emotional terrorists and offers a sensible compromise, and she storms away in a huff. Rinse and repeat.

For a first person POV, there was so much introspection drooling over Theodore (his “strong fingers”, “strong back”, “strong knees”), and almost none for reflecting on her actions, let alone the string of dead bodies left in her wake.

The ending was a hot mess with no resolution, and it undid what little did actually happen in the story. They’re going to stretch this already thin plot into another book, and while I found the first entertaining enough to finish, I am not invested in the story or the characters to bother with the sequel.

Someone save me from booktok trope overload I think I’m starting to drown

Rating: 2.5/5 ⭐️

I wanted to like this soooo badly and the story had so much potential that it honestly hurts to rate the book this low. I LOVE sirens and the fact that they’re based on the classic Greek mythology version in this just immediately caught my attention and got me extremely excited. Unfortunately, I just can’t ignore how rough certain parts were; between the strange writing in the beginning (which actually did get better later) and nonsensical character decisions/feelings, I just struggled to really get into this.

There seems to be a weird disconnect between the characters at the beginning of the book and the interactions that happened between them later. At first it seemed like an insta-love romance (which I just am too old for at this point lol), but then suddenly the characters both “hated” each other and it was enemies to lovers I guess? But also there was supposed to be “he falls first and harder” male yearning and desperation. Just complete whiplash with very little explanation for why their dynamic kept changing. Honestly, it just felt like the author had a lot of tropes they wanted to hit, making the whole romance confusing and unnatural. I would’ve liked to see more moments when the main characters really sat down, got to know each other, and build that connection they’re supposed to have. It felt like they only actually talked once, and that also happened to be the only time I felt any chemistry between them.

I did love the world and wish the author spent more time fleshing out the sirens and all the politics going on a bit. The author repeatedly told us that the stakes were high, but I wanted to actually feel the tension more. Theo is supposedly a good king, and it’s supposed to be dangerous for him to care about Imogen so much, so let’s see some moments where he’s caring for his subjects and thinking about the consequences of his actions.

Closing thoughts:
Overall, I just needed so much more from this. The world and the plot were fascinating and I loved the twists the author incorporated, but the characters (and sometimes the writing) fell so flat that I just can’t really recommend this unless it goes through a bit more polishing.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and not sponsored in any way.