The Siren by Kiera Cass

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: sirens, mythology, supernatural, ocean, love

Setting: Miami, Florida, South Carolina, Maine, New York City...(and various other places)

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Kahlen

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 327 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $18.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “From Kiera Cass, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Selection series, comes a sweeping stand-alone fantasy romance.

A girl with a secret.

The boy of her dreams.

An Ocean between them.

Years ago, Kahlen was rescued from drowning by the Ocean. To repay her debt, she has served as a Siren ever since, using her voice to lure countless strangers to their deaths. Though a single word from Kahlen can kill, she can’t resist spending her days on land, watching ordinary people and longing for the day when she will be able to speak and laugh and live freely among them again.

Kahlen is resigned to finishing her sentence in solitude...until she meets Akinli. Handsome, caring, and kind, Akinli is everything Kahlen ever dreamed of.

Falling in love with a human breaks the Ocean’s rules. But for the first time in a lifetime of following the rules, Kahlen is determined to follow her heart.”

My Review:  The Siren is a standalone paranormal romance novel written by the author of the Selection series. The Siren was Kiera’s first book, and this is a edited and republished version. I never read the original version that was an ebook with a purple cover, but this version was pretty good. Not as good as the Selection, but I love the mythology stuff.

Kahlen (Is it pronounced Collen or Kaylen?) was changed into a siren back in early 1930s, during the depression. She was on a boat that sirens were sinking and she cried out and they decided to save her. They made her a siren and she has a to serve the Ocean for 100 years. Now it’s 80 years into her service and she’s growing a bit weary. Kahlen dreams a romance and love. Her sisters are worried that she’s becoming depressed. Miaka is originally from WWII era Japan and is an amazing painter. Elizabeth, with her golden brown hair and love a fashion, grew up in the late 60s/early 70s. Aisling is from Sweden and her time as a siren is almost up. Soon she meets a boy named Akinli.

Kahlen and her siren sisters are living in Miami at the time. Kahlen vists the local college and sometimes sketches on the benches. Kahlen goes to the university library to look at cake recipes. Akinli walks by and decides to talk to her. Kahlen and her sisters are not aloud to speak to human in their voices, otherwise the human walk to a watery death. They have to pretend to be mute or deaf. The have to use sign language or write around other people. Akinli finds Kahlen’s silence mysterious and want to get to know her.

I think Kahlin and Akinli’s romance is cute. What irritated me was that there wasn’t enough of it. Kahlen is pulled away from him multiple times by her responsibility to her sister and the Ocean. Akinli is very talkative and understanding. He works around Kahlen muteness. He’s a very sweet guy. He’s blond and kind of scruffy. He’s also from Maine. There’s a part of the book in which Kahlen visits his hometown. It reminded of the Siren series by Tricia Rayburn. 

I liked the siren mythology. They don’t have tails, but when they enter the ocean dresses made of sea salt form on their bodies. The Ocean, which the call a Her/She, is like a goddess that speaks to them and tells them to sing and sink ships because those deaths will give others a chance to live.

If you enjoyed any series about sirens or mermaids, then read The Siren. Especially if you were a fan of Tricia Rayburn’s Siren series, Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown or the Watersong series.

Cover Art Review: Beautiful cover! Metallic and velvety. Love the dress and the ocean.

Dark Water by Tricia Raybrun

Publication Date: Came out in July 2012

Series: Siren (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: sirens, supernatural, mythology, small towns, ocean, murder, mystery, summer

Setting: Winter Harbor, Maine

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Vanessa Sands

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 362 pgs.

HC/PB: Now in Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: Egmont

Summary/ product description: “When seventeen-year-old Vanessa reunites with her biological mother, she faces the dilemma of a siren's existence, that in order to survive she must endanger the lives of those she loves most.”

My Review:  After a few years of waiting, I finally finish this series by reading Undercurrent and Dark Water back-to-back. The first book, Siren, took place in Winter Harbor, the sequel, Undercurrent was mostly set in Boston, but they went back to Winter Harbor a few times. Dark Water, the finally, is almost exclusively in Winter Harbor and like the first book, it’s summertime.

The setting plays a major role in this book. There’s nothing as fun as a summertime story set in a seaside town. Of course, the people of Winter Harbor haven’t exactly been having fun this summer. Last summer’s freak events have kept tourists from coming to their town and the economy is down. Betty’s is practically empty and Paige is trying to come up with ideas to bring more people in. Vanessa works as a hostess there again.

Vanessa’s parents are selling their lake house and buying a house close to the ocean. Since her parent now know about Vanessa’s siren heritage, they’re doing whatever they can to help her, like letting her go for nighttime swim or adding salt into her food and drinks. Her mother acts a little overbearing and obsessively decorates their new summer home. Then murders start happening again. This time women instead of men are a dying. The town freaks outs. Vanessa’s parents are freaked to and not thrilled about staying in Winter Harbor anymore.

On top of that, Vanessa’s real mom, Charlotte, shows up. She looks aged and week. She’s there to see Vanessa and tell her some things, and then want to go to Canada to visit other sirens. Also, Vanessa is trying to repair her relationship with Simon, who’s the only guy her powers don’t affect. She loves him, but he’s hurt after last year. Vanessa also learns other way to gain power, by contact with other men and using her inner voice.

I have loved the character of this series. I love that Simon’s a bit of a science geek. Vanessa reminds me a lot of Nora from Hush, Hush. Paige is a funny best friend character. She reminds me a little of Arianne from Fallen. This series is sometimes dark and atmospheric. It feels like a horror or thriller mystery at times. It reminds me a lot of the Hush, Hush series. It’s also got Siren mythology, which is cool. I definitely recommend this series to fans of Becca Fitzapatrick, Kimberly Derting, and Lauren Kate. It’s set in Maine. It’s paranormal. It’s amazing. I wish Tricia Rayburn would write more paranormal books like this series.

Cover Art Review: I like the cover except the title being in black.

The Nightmare Charade by Mindee Arnett

Series: Arkwell Academy (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: supernatural, boarding schools, dreams, humor, magic, magical creatures, mystery, mythology, nightmares, sirens

Setting: Somewhere in Ohio (Chickery) at Arkwell Academy

POV/Tense: 1st person, past tense: Dusty

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 380 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Macmillan: Tor

Summary/ product description: “The final installment in a thrilling fantastical mystery series.

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare. Literally. Dusty is a magical being who feeds on human dreams.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy is hard enough, not to mention the crazy events of the past year. Dusty may have saved the day, but there are many days left in the year, and with an old foe back to seek revenge, she'll need all her strength to defeat him and save her friends.

Mindee Arnett thrills again in this stunning final installment in the Arkwell Academy series.”

My Review:  Another wonderful finale. What started in The Nightmare Affair, and continued in The Nighmare Dilemma ends in The Nightmare Charade. Dusty Everhart is a Nightmare (and half-human). She can enter people dreams and feed off their dream energy known as fictus. Eli and her are Dreamseers (and call themselves the Dream-team). When she enters Eli’s dreams, they can see the future. They are given a task to look into the disappearance of Deaths Heart, which can steal souls.

I really like this series. It’s fun and entertaining. It’s set in a boarding school like a lot of paranormal series I’ve read. This school isn’t like Hogwarts. It’s not only for wizards and witches, but also for Dark-kind (demons, nightmares, sirens) and Nature-kind (fairies, dryads) too. It’s supposed to be in Ohio, which is cool because I’ve been to Ohio, but it’s not like the state setting plays a huge role. It’s where the author lives.

I think the coolest side character is Selene, Dusty’s best friend. She’s a Siren and she has black bird wings and can fly! She can also mesmerize like the other sirens, but chooses not to. She mostly uses spells and decides to try out for the gladiator team. I think it would be awesome for the author to write a spin-off series about a siren. It’s kind of cool to have a non-mermaid siren.

In this book when Dusty enters Eli’s dreams they see something that freaks them out. There’s this curse that Dreamseerers can’t fall in love because one will die. Lady Elaine has warned them and shown Eli her vison of what will happen if they continue their relationship. Eli can’t help that he loves Dusty, but tries to distance himself and tries to join the gladiator team. During the dream-feeding session, a Will Guard puts Eli to sleep before Dusty has a chance to talk to Eli. In the dreams, they cannot touch, which sucks. This forbidden romance is hard on them.

The ending is crazy and full of twists. I never guessed who was behind it all. There’s a lot of things I don’t want to spoil, so I didn’t mention the other plot points. There’s so much than happens in this book. It’s a great ending. I recommend this series to fans of paranormal romance series that take place in boarding schools, like Evernight, Hex Hall and Haven.

Cover Art Review: It’s a vector illustration and looks kind of fun. I just don’t like how the boat was rendered.