This was such a fantastic, enjoyable read!

Siren fantasies are always some of my favourites but I sometimes feel like they’re difficult to get right? Gabi Burton really hit the spot though!

Saoirse was an incredible MC with a morally grey twist. Due to her nature killing is part of her, she doesn’t feel guilty, it’s a normal thing for her and she’ll continue to do it both to sate her needs and to protect her family. Seeing her come to terms with guilt for the first time was really interesting! I loved that she can taste peoples emotions too, that was a really fun twist!

When I read the blurb I thought it was the retelling of the Little Mermaid but i was wrong. It's an excellent dark fantasy featuring a strong MC and an intriguing world building.
My only issue was the pace that I found quite slow at the beginning.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Sirens, fae, witches, a morally gray heroine, and conspiracies. I loved Sing Me to Sleep!!!

Everyone knows that sirens were killed many years ago when a king created a barrier around his kingdom to protect it from its enemies. Now the fae have control, the witches have their magic, and the humans are servants. What they don’t know is that there is still a siren alive, hiding in plain sight, training to become a guard. Saoirse Sorkova is a siren with a thirst to kill. Beautiful and deadly, her song can persuade anyone, human or magic, to do her bidding. By night, she is a killer for hire, but she doesn’t know who pays her or who her victims are.

Graduating first in her class, Saoirse is chosen as a royal guard for the handsome, charming, and kind prince Hayes. She should refuse because the Palace is a dangerous place for her, but when someone threatens the person she loves most in the world, her sister Rain, and all clues lead to the Palace, she has no choice but to accept the job to find out who is after her family. Once inside the Palace, she discovers that her family may not be the only one in danger and there are much darker secrets to uncover.

Saoirse is a well-developed and fierce protagonist. All her life, she’s been hiding her true identity and her nature, trying to fight the call from the water to kill and destroy. Everything she does, the killing and accepting the job as a royal guard, is to protect her family, but, most of all, her younger sister Rain. She expected to hate prince Hayes, but she didn’t expect to find him funny, benevolent, and almost impossible to resist.

There are twists, suspense, political intrigue, assassination attempts, blackmailing, betrayals, a fantastic world-building, with a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance filled with witty exchanges and desire that kept me immersed in the story. Sing Me to Sleep is a compelling and thrilling fantasy debut and I am already looking forward to its sequel.

Gabi Burton's Sing Me To Sleep had me hooked from the start and followed through with great world building, strong and diverse characters, and a surprising and dramatic turn of events towards the end that I didn't see coming. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend to other readers who like stories with found family, magical beings, royal courts, and secret assassins. I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

“”Why?” “So I would be the best.” “Why did you want to be the best?” I don’t understand the question. “Should I have aspired for mediocrity?””

I was completely hooked from the first page and devoured the book in 2 nights. It’s fast paced and the intrigue will draw you in immediately and keep you reading one more chapter.

The book follows Saoirse, who is an assassin that is also a siren living in a place where she should no longer exist. There are fae who are the rulers and humans are the lesser class.
She uses her siren abilities to assassinate people and never really thinks much about why they have been targeted. That is until her sister is threatened and leveraged against her to force her to kill the prince, Haynes.
She joins the prince’s guard and we follow as she tries to piece together mystery of who is blackmailing her and who she trust. While also trying not to fall for the prince she is supposed to be killing.

I loved Saoirse so much, a morally grey siren who will do anything to keep those she loves safe. She keeps herself isolated and closed off to everyone to keep her secrets safe but I loved seeing her slowly open up to those around her.
Haynes is a ray of sunshine and always trying to get her to open up and it was fun watching their verbal sparring.
There’s also a great female friendship that develops in the book and of course, all the angst as she tries to stop any feelings for Haynes affect her goals.

There is also a lot mystery and political intrigue as we learn what happened to the rest of the sirens and how the magic system and the world works.
We get a slow build up as Saoirse pieces everything together and the last third of the book is action packed and the plot twists were so good!
I really appreciate the ending and how Saoirse & Hayne’s relationship develops and changes because of the consequences of their actions and I absolutely need the next book asap!

Sing Me To Sleep by Gabi Burton is an enchanting debut fantasy novel that captured my imagination from beginning to end. Set in the intriguing world of Keirdre, where fae, witches, and humans coexist, the story follows Saoirse Sorkova, a siren living a dangerous double life. The author's vivid descriptions and immersive world-building drew me into the kingdom's rich history and complex magical system. I was captivated by Saoirse's struggle to control her siren powers and her morally grey nature, making her a compelling and relatable protagonist.

The dynamic between Saoirse and Prince Hayes added an extra layer of depth to the narrative. Their evolving relationship, filled with tension and unexpected connections, kept me eagerly turning the pages. The slow-burn romance was beautifully crafted, showcasing the grumpy/sunshine trope that I adore. As the plot unfolded, filled with twists and turns, I found myself completely engrossed in the unraveling secrets, political intrigues, and the underlying mystery of a killer within the kingdom.

Gabi Burton's writing style is poetic and evocative, reminiscent of Taylor Swift's folklore. The story's pacing was steady, allowing for deep character development and immersive storytelling. I appreciated the author's ability to balance action, suspense, and emotional depth. Sing Me To Sleep is a remarkable debut that combines elements of dark YA fantasy, complex characters, and an enthralling plot. I eagerly await the next installment in this captivating series.

Much like its main character this is a book that hooks you and won't let you go.

I really love the characters in this book, our main character doesn't have control of her powers and this makes for a really interesting character arc where she is conflicted and its so nice to have a female lead that is morally grey in this way, but who you can't help to back, its so refreshing that she's not perfect, I find morals grey isn't done so well in YA, not the case with Gabby Burton, if I were to make a comparison I would say it rivals 'The Cruel Prince' vibe and I could not be loving it more!

The writings so good with a plot fitting of great story telling, twists and turns and world building that supports the atmosphere of the story, its easy to follow and doest confusing readers with unnecessary scenes, characters or descriptions.
Its a slow burn romance with a swoon worthy prince, slow burn romance isn't always my scene but in this case the plot and characters held my attention enough for this not to be a problem at all and I can't wait for the next book.

If I had one tiny issue, it would be the lack of 'at sea' time. I love a pirate/siren/mermaid plot more than anything else and for me this siren story crossed into fear of the water in place of love for the water, its just a different take to what I love which isn't a bad thing but with a mention for those expecting sea exploration.

All in all this is a must read for lovers of morals grey, slow burn fantasy books, one of my favourite reads in recent months, thank you for providing me with a copy to review.

Sing me to Sleep was one of the most promising debuts of this year. Its synopsis immediately caught my attention: a girl who is the last siren, that has to hide of the rest of the world and also, an assassin who will be working for the enemy and will be hunting herself. Doesn’t this sounds amazing?! I had super high expectations for this, I will not lie. If it lived to it? Sadly, no.

Everything in this could have been awesome, EVERYTHING. It had all to be a great story but it never got to its full potential. What I felt reading this book was that it was all very superficial. The worldbuilding was almost nonexistent, what didn’t help to understand the story. I never felt that I was inside this world because I didn’t knew what this world was supposed to be. And the plot was very action packed but it lacked meaning and consistency. I never felt attached to the story or to the characters because I never believed or cared about them. The relationships between the characters were all tell and never show. And that was the main problem for me.

I felt that the author was telling me how to feel about the characters but was not showing me why I should care about them. There was a lot of incoherence on the main character personality. Saoirse had everything to be an awesome morally grey hero/villain, and I was desperate to love her but I couldn’t get her actions that, most of the times, didn’t connect with what she was feeling. The side characters didn’t had personality at all. And the love interest was awful. All the romance was just cringe and not believable at all.

I can’t explain to you how sad and disappointed I’m. I hated to write this review. If it wasn’t an arc I would’ve DNF the book and forget about it, seriously. I hope all of you love it more than me, truly 💜

Thank you to @netgalley UK for providing me an arc of this book in exchange of an honest review

Sing Me to Sleep is a fantastic YA Fantasy debut. It’s well written with an engaging writing style, great pacing and the plot is solid and well crafted which makes for extremely compelling reading. The characters are strong and well-developed and I loved Saoirse and Hayes’ dynamic and chemistry. There is lots of relationship building here, but not too much on the romance front…as yet. The mystery of who Raze is added additional intrigue and keeps you guessing until the end.

I’m so glad this is a series, I definitely need more of these characters and this world.

Thank you so much to the publisher for my eARC via Netgalley.

This book started out really strong. I felt a deep connection to the character straight away and was intrigued about how the plot would play out. Overall I did enjoy the plot and the writing style but I found that the main character was a little 2D and didn’t feel as fleshed out as she could have been. I think this was mostly because her care for her sister overwhelmed any other aspect of her personality and whilst this was interesting it was a little repetitive after a while. I enjoyed the world building but found that it wasn’t always explained enough for me to understand the context of the story. However, I thought the plot was good and the story was unique and interesting.

This had really good potential but for me I felt it was lacking the final punch. I was expecting to love it as the blurb sounded so good, turned out to be just ok but I still overall enjoyed the book.

Hmm where to start, to be honest I don't have a strong opinion on the book as I didn't get attached to the characters or the plot really.

I liked the plot, the Prince, and the pacing. Rebellions are always intriguing, and betrayal is one of my favourite things to have in a plot especially when I don’t like the character who is getting betrayed. She was cocky, and I liked seeing some of that get taken away. I might have liked her more if she didn’t try to rationalize her cold blooded killing. It wasn’t even for the money really, she just likes doing it. It also bothers me that the Prince can even tolerate her after who she killed. The second book is going to be interesting with what is beyond the barrier.

Saoirse Sokova is a siren surviving on lies in a society where only faes are accepted. At night, she works as an assassin to a dangerous group of mercenaries - whom she does not know - for her family. For her sister Rain. But after her graduation, she is employed as a soldier / guard for the prince Hayes whom she hates.
After receiving threatening messages from the palace, she decides to take the job, seeking to find who is threatening her sister and family. From hating the prince, she begins to develop feelings for Hayes.

Together, they stop a deadly killer plaguing the city and threading the future and peace amongst the fake. There is only one problem. How could she do that, protect Hayes from the undying threat, without revealing herself as a Siren - a species that has been murdered in the past by the King.

YOU GUYS 🤓 THIS BOOK. IT WAS SO GOOD.

First of all, the writing. The writing was quite good, descriptive but not so much that it bored me. What I really love is how the Saoirse - as a Siren - has to distinct personalities, one which wants to kill and one that wants to protect, and the writing portrayed that perfectly as she tries and hones her hunger as a siren.
The pace was also quite good. It was too fast / slow paced so it kept me on my toes throughout 🤔 It really helped the plot as well.
Also the ending was so thrilling! It had my heart beating out of my chest.

The characters. Saoirse was a good character. You could truly see her conflicting patters of thoughts as she tries to control her siren impulses to kill. Her character developed well throughout - whereas at first it was hard for her to control her need to kill, it became somewhat easier.
You could really see how the kills she previously had affected her which I loved!
As for the Prince - or should I call him Hayes - his character was also quite good. He was charming and a really nice character overall. His relationship with Saoirse was super cute - despite her being arrogant 🥲 But the ending 😭 ًWHY DID HE HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT IN THE ENDING?!? HE INFURIATED ME IN THE ENDING. LIKE WHYYYYYYYYYY HAYES. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME. TO SAOIRSE.

I don’t blame him lol.

This is quite an enjoyable read overall with great character development. Some parts of the “reveal” actually shocked me a lot. Some were predictable however. But overall, i was still like WHAT when it was revealed.

This was such a good read I have to say. YOU NEED TO READ IT IS WHAT I MEAN

I throughly enjoyed this book. Saoirse, our FMC, is a survivor, a killer and a devoted sister. I loved all her rough edges, her murderous tendencies and they way her heart was pulled in opposite directions. She has bite and heart and that makes for an incredibly fasinating endearing main character.

Fans of The Bridge Kingdom, The Cruel Prince and To Kill A Kingdom will absolutely love this impressive start to a new YA fantasy series. There's so much potential and world still to be explored.

This was a really easy read, which is good because I've had a few tougher ones on the list lately. It was nice to just relax and read about a murderous siren and her unfortunate feelings for the son of the man who is trying to eradicate her kind. It was a great. Typically YA and just what I needed.

The world was interesting but I feel like we haven't really explored it that much so far. Most of the oppression, we learnt because Saoirse tells us and there isn't much showing. Only that she and her family have to hide. I'm looking forward to finding out more about the world in the next book.

I liked the ending. It was suitably dramatic and thrilling. I could really feel the emotions that Saoirse was going though.

All in all a pretty good book, but not a lot of depth in the society.

Sing Me to Sleep is an engaging tale of intrigue, found family, and nature vs nurture.

Saoirse is a siren, able to control people with her voice and beauty alone, and overwhelmed by her species’ desire to kill when she’s in the vicinity of water. She hates that she is a murderer, and lives with the secret shame that she enjoys the kill. When she comes first in the Barracks’ annual competition and is offered a place guarding the fae Prince, she initially turns it down - the royal family hate sirens more than anything, and would happily see her dead. But when someone with access to a royal seal threatens to expose her sister, Saoirse takes the job to discover who knows their secret and stop them before it’s too late.

I adored the complexity of Saoirse’s character. The conflicting facets of her feelings towards her nature were really well balanced and considered. The fact that she feels driven to kill and simultaneously hates it and loves it made for a really interesting, rounded character who I was engaged by. Similarly the other characters added to the story, and I loved their interactions - especially considering Saoirse’s innate lack of trust in anyone outside her immediate family.

The plot was an interesting YA mystery and I loved the world that the author created. The way the subjugation of various species was worked into the plot was, sadly, realistic, and will hopefully provide a good comparison to our world for younger readers to consider how this same racial disparity exists in real life.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Sing Me to Sleep and will definitely pick up the sequel.

I devoured this book in one evening! Absolute brilliance within a book - I gave it 4.5 stars.

Firstly, the premise is amazing - Saoirse's life as a Siren is so intriguing and I love how badass she was. It never felt like she just relied on her beauty, and the discussion of the internal conflicts that it provided her with felt honest and genuinely interesting.

The characters were so great, I loved meeting each one of them and learning more about them, especially Saoirse, Hayes and Rain! The magic-system of the world seemed well thought through and I thought that we were told enough to set it up without it feeling boring or overwhelming.

The plot of this book genuinely had me gasping at points, I could not get enough once I'd got into the book. One thing that knocked the rating down ever so slightly was the lack of romance in the book: I felt on tenterhooks the whole book and then was a little underwhelmed. However, now that I've confirmed that this is the first in a series, I don't mind, as I'm sure we'll get more in future releases! Just don't go in expecting the romance to be solidified by the end, you're left on edge the whole time!

Ultimately, this was a brilliant debut and I highly recommend that everyone picks up this book! I can't wait to see what Gabi Burton releases next...

A huge thanks to Hodderscape and NetGalley for early access to this book!

DNF at 35%

I am so so sad that this one just was not for me, I feel even more sad at the idea of rating this low when its the authors debut. But this jsut did not work for me.

1. It kind of felt like a repeat of a few too many YA books I've read, just with a new cover.
2. The protagonist is not someone with a cause, or someone I'm rooting for. She kills people: people that could be innocents or atleast do not deserve to be drowned. I do not want her to succeed.
3. I could tell that there would be a generic YA romance in this that would make me roll my eyes.
4. THe protagnist has these murdery moments when she is near water - which is confusing since surely she bathes and it rains and she drinks it... ???

At the end of the day: this is probably going to work for so many people but for me: 35% of the book with nothing.

Becuase it is a debut, and I DNF'd I will not be giving a goodreads rating and dragging that rating down, I also do not want to rate it on netgalley but to ubmit feedback I have to.

If this author writes more books in the future I would 100% be interested.

I knew from the first page I was going to love this book! The writing instantly drew me in. I want more… immediately.

Our main character is FIERCE and will do anything for her family, including things that put her in danger. Like despite her identity as a siren being something that would mean she’s killed on sight, Saoirse places herself in the palace, working directly with the Prince who’s searching for her to ensure she can work out who’s blackmailing her sister.

This book is filled with mystery and plot twists, I couldn’t put it down.