Can a Siren Fall in Love?

May 24, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Dec 17, 2024

I love books about mermaids, sirens, undines, water elementals... after all, I'm writing a story that has these characters!

When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it.

Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton

Saoirse survives on lies. She lies about being a siren. She lies about her job to her family. She lies about her sister to everyone else. She lies about...pretty much everything. Saoirse's biggest lie, however, is that she can control her siren power and not kill.

But what she would do anything for is for her sister Rain including taking a dangerous job as a personal bodyguard to the crown prince to pay off a blackmailer.

He is not anything like she thought; he's kind and thoughtful, charming. Saoirse is drawn to him even if she knows she should stay away. After all, he was raised by his father - the one who enforced the kingdom's brutal creature segregation laws.

Crashing to a Trickle

The start of the story quickly pulled me in and I fell in love with the book. The action, the characters, the mystery, the world. The tension surrounding the secrets and lies made the story highly engaging. Yet, the I found myself putting down the book and not wanting to pick it back up. I no longer found the tension or mystery - or even romance - gripping. The end, while a slight shock, was more of a disappointment than a big revelation.

Manipulative Characters

Even knowing that Saoirse was a siren, it was hard to connect with her as she was very manipulative, cold, and even arrogant. She was fierce and I could root for her, but I couldn't truly connect with the character.

“Sirens were made to kill. Our purpose is to lure, seduce, and destroy. It’s wrong, and I know it’s wrong, but that knowledge does nothing to ease the feeling of euphoria—of complete and utter bliss—when I lead a man astray.”

While I liked some of the secondary characters like Rain, she also was manipulative - and because of her secret, could get away with nearly anything. Even Carrick manipulated and his betrayal hurt as that was the one person that Saoirse had thought wouldn't betray her.

Enemies to Lovers

I don't often label many books as true "enemies to lovers" trope; however, considering that Saoirse and Hayes did try to kill each other... and saved each other... multiple times, I do believe that this does fit. I loved that their personalities were so opposite - he was sunshine, she was the grump. As the story progressed, however, I felt that the connection between the two of them fell flat.

"Sometimes, being loved isn’t enough. Sometimes, you need to be understood.”

Overall, while Sing Me to Sleep' started strong - fresh world building, killer siren character - it let down with the story (and characters) as I continued reading.