Hello readers!
I hope everyone’s holiday season has been wonderful! I’m getting ready to head home for Christmas this weekend and I can’t wait to have a few blessed days off since I’ve had virtually none! That doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading though! Just as an update, I finished book ninety-six yesterday and I’m seventy percent through book ninety-seven, after which I will be rereading the Gemma Doyle trilogy to round 2017’s book count to a solid one hundred! The end of this insane reading challenge is finally in sight!
This week’s book is one I can’t believe I haven’t gushed about yet! I read it in a day this March and it was so much more than I ever expected it to be! I talked about this author a couple weeks ago and I’m excited to bring her back. Let’s dive into The Siren by Kiera Cass!
The Siren by Kiera Cass
Kahlen is a siren. Yes, one of the deadly mermaids you’ve heard about in fairytales and myths. When she and her family were in a shipwreck, the Ocean saved her, thus claiming her for her own. Now, she owes the Ocean a hundred years in her service. But being a siren isn’t all mermaid tails and seashell bras. The Ocean has to be fed, and the sirens’ job is to provide her with human lives. every few months, they must sing for her, claim a ship, etc. Only then will the Ocean be sated. But when Kahlen meets Akinli, an irresistible human boy who wants to get to know her more than any human ever has, Kahlen is faced with many questions. Will she continue to hide from this boy–and keep him hidden from the Ocean–and continue her last forty some-odd years as a siren knowing that he is out there and she cannot have him? Or will she pursue the forbidden, thus putting her life and his on the line?
Fun facts, I was actually a fan of Kiera’s back when she and her friend Liz were YouTube famous for their Twilight fan videos. I remember when she first sold this book and wanted to read it, but it was limited release and by the time I really looked for a copy, they were incredibly expensive. But Kiera recently picked this gem up again and rereleased it with some edits and revisions. And thus, we have this beautiful pearl free of its oyster.
First of all, I believe this is the first mermaid-related YA I’ve ever read. I thought it would be incredibly fluffy, very Little Mermaid, all cutesy and happy. But I was entirely wrong. Kiera’s original take on the legend of the siren is breathtaking and riveting. The element of servitude and old myths in a modern setting is so well-written and I couldn’t put this one down.
This book has a surprising element of danger. When we think of sirens and mermaids, we think of half-fish, half-human girls who live underwater and do nothing but entice men to their deaths. But these girls are a reluctant sort of family. They can live relatively normal lives: go to school, live in a house on land, even date human boys. But the catch is that they cannot speak aloud amongst anyone but each other. Any human who hears their voice, singing or speaking, will immediately be under their spell and will head for the closest water source to seek their death. For a fluffy YA romance, this highly unanticipated element keeps the reader on their toes.
Another aspect I did not anticipate was my fierce and undying love for Akinli. For such a sweet and simple love interest, he is captivating and heartwarming and I quickly grew far more attached to him than I had ever planned. I also loved Kahlen, who is a dynamic and relatable character, simultaneously being a sixty some-odd year-old siren and an indecisive young teen.
This book caught me so off-guard, and not only because it was the first book I read this year that made me cry because it was just so happy, though it was somewhere around book fifteen. It is somehow both a lovely and simple YA and a book that has the same depth as the ocean. It will carve out a hole in your heart just its size and then fill the hole with all the joy and love it leaves behind. Put this book in your Barnes & Noble cart now, because you’ll definitely want to grab your copy with that gift card you’ll get for Christmas!
Available at: Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Amazon
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