Sisters Mary and Eliza are onboard a convict ship in the 1800s, Jess is struggling as a young woman in 1999 and her sister Lucy is looking for answers in 2019. What are the strange dreams that haunt her really about?

I’d been a huge fan of Weyward and had huge hopes for this, but it fell slightly short. Writing a book about mermaids for an adult audience was always going to be tough, but for me there was too much time spent on building up the mystery, at the expense of the mystical and magical.

The action picked up in the last third of the book which was the most enjoyable part as a reader, but I was left with a lot of questions and a few plot holes.

After reading Weyward last year (one of my favourite reads), I was very excited to read this one. Unfortunately, I feel this just didn’t hit the spot for me. It started off well, then about 80% of the book was samey/nothing happening/no real connection to any of the characters. I’ll be honest and say I nearly gave up on it. Had it not been for Weyward, I would have. The story picked up a bit in the last 15% but I feel like I could have skipped 85% of this book and read the epilogue for all the answers. I give this book 2.5 stars but have rounded up to 3 stars.

I loved Weyward and @emiliahartbooks' The Sirens brings the same energy to play as her first book did.
In the acknowledgements, (yes I read acknowledgements), she admits to having scrapped over 300,000 words in the pursuit of the final product and the craft pays off.

Once again myth and magic are interleaved across multiple timelines and POVS with utter precision and careful craft to make a stunning exploration of what it is to inhabit your body as a woman, both now, and through history and the sisterhood that bonds women and the secrets that splinter us, and the rage that fuels us. I raced through this book battling my flu, my ADHD, and a very clingy cat to see what happened to Lucy and Jess, and Mary and Eliza.
Whilst Mary and Lucy are our ostensible protagonists the story is as much about their sisters and their relationship with their sisters as themselves. Hart builds such beautiful, well drawn characters and so seamlessly pulls the threads of their stories together that each POV jump is as devastating as it is exciting as you desperately need to know what happens next for each character.

A fantastic book, that taught me horrible new things about imperial behaviour in the colonies - I am disgusted but not surprised - The Sirens will linger in your mind long after you turn the last page.

Massive thanks to @boroughpress for the approval on Netgalley

Such a heartwarming novel about the bond between sisters.

The Sirens follows two timelines, Mary & Eliza in the 1800s as they travel on a convict ship to Australia, and Lucy in 2019 who flees to Comber Bay only to find that her sister is missing.

This book was atmospheric, eerie and so full of mystery and family secrets that it had me hooked from the start. There were so many twists by the end but it somehow came together so well and had a full circle moment.

Overall, just felt like a cozy, heartwarming read and just what I needed.

I cannot even begin to put into words how much I loved this book. I absolutely loved Weyward by this author so I was so excited to read this. The female empowerment, the mermaid vibes, the magical realism - it was all absolute perfection and I couldn’t put it down. The way Emilia Hart writes is so beautiful and it captivated me straight away. All the stars and more, I can’t fault it 🧜🏼‍♀️

Everything drew me to this book, the folklore theme, the conviction shipwreck, the power of women in the face of defeat. The writing was lyrical at times and completely drew me in. Having said that, the plot was predictable, I guessed where we were heading most of the time but this was still an incredibly worthy book to read.

This is my first book by Emilia Hart, but it will not be the last. I thoroughly like the writing and plot, which made it tough to put down.

Absolutely loved this. The way the sirens are described you can really picture them. Such a fantastic story of empowered females with a fantasy twist

3.5 stars.

When I saw the cover and author name while scrolling on NetGalley, I immediately went "MERMAIDS" and requested it. I do, despite all the warnings, judge books by their covers (sue me).

Unfortunately, it's not really a mermaid story. I mean, sure, they're in there, but it's more of a mystery thing. And the mystery, well, it's honestly quite boring.

I feel like the things that I liked about the Sirens are things that will completely lose their charm on a reread, that being the reveals. I already know now the plot twists and results; and, yes, they are all fairly easy to guess and get right. Otherwise, the book is 90% of our main character, Lucy, just wandering about, theorizing about what happened to her sister, but like, without actually taking steps to find her. All she does is hang around the house, thinking. It makes for fairly boring reading.

Additionally, there is a secondary story of two sisters, Mary and Eliza, on a prison ship to Australia. Now, having finished the book, I know why these chapters are there, but everytime a chapter from Mary's POV started, I rolled my eyes. It was just ... boring. We are told that the Mary chapters are what Lucy dreams of when she sleepwalks, but for some reason, that thread just ended up kinda fizzling out.

It wasn't a bad book, by the way. It was ... a book. A story. And now it's over, and I'm neither richer nor poorer for having read it.

This was a solid siren story - I got exactly what I was expecting and I'm happy about it. I enjoyed reading a novel set in Australia, something I realise I haven't done much. The dual perspective with Lucy in 2019, and the convict ship in the 1700s kept it intriguing. Not being Australian I didn't know much about the women convicts so Mary's perspective was really grim and interesting. The mystery was threaded through the book well, and the clues drip fed in a way that although I guessed how the story was going, it was in a satisfying way. The writing was clear but vivid - the descriptions of the girls skin especially! It made this a really digestible and compelling read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harpercollins UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Eerie but intriguing.
It may have taken a couple of chapter but this story really drew me in & kept me guessing.

2.75-3 stars
After reading “Weyward” and loving it I was more than excited to dive into another book by Emilia Hart.

plot / setting
“A story of sisters separated by hundreds of years but bound together in more ways than they can imagine”

> In this story you follow Lucy, in 2019, after an event in the middle of the night, she flees to her sister’s house - Jess, but finds her missing.
> Mary and Eliza, in the 1800s, are taken from their home in Ireland and forced on a ship heading for Australia.


pacing / enjoyment
> Unfortunately it ended up feeling flat for me. The story didn’t exactly captivate me and I felt like it was going nowhere. I was struggling to keep reading it at times, but I push through it.

It wasn’t my favorite read but I enjoy Emilia Hart’s writing and will read more of her books in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK/HarperFiction for providing me with this free digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This captivating story is told over a dual timeline, in third-person point of view. We see Lucy in present-day Australia and Mary in the past, two centuries ago, as a prisoner on a convict ship heading to Australia from Ireland.

We hear the history of Comber Bay on a podcast, listened to by Lucy, sharing the stories of missing men over the last century. It would be interesting to listen to this in audio.

Lucy, escaping her problems, goes to see her sister, Jess. However, her sister is not there. We get a glimpse of Jess's past from her diary entries, which help piece together the story.

It's interesting to see the dynamic between the two pairs of sisters and the similarities they have with each other.

I found it a little slow to start but it picked up after the first quarter, and I was enthralled by the end.

It's hauntingly beautiful, drenched in mythology.

Make sure you read the epilogue, as this answers the last piece of the puzzle.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK for this ARC.

I was excited to receive an ARC of The Sirens by Emilia Hart—thank you Netgalley for the opportunity!
The synopsis intrigued me, promising a mix of historical fiction, sisterhood, and a touch of myth. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me.

The writing is undeniably beautiful, and the atmospheric descriptions really bring the setting to life. I can see how readers who enjoy slower, more lyrical storytelling with a focus on female resilience might love this.
But for me, the pacing was painfully slow, and I never felt truly 'caught' by the story or the characters. The multiple timelines, while interesting in concept, didn’t grip me emotionally, and by the time I reached the end, I felt no real sense of achievement—just relief that I had finished.
If this weren’t an ARC, I probably would have DNFed it.

That said, just because it wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it won’t be for you. If you enjoy historical fiction with a touch of magical realism, interwoven timelines, and themes of women reclaiming their power, The Sirens might be worth picking up.

While it didn’t hold my attention, I know many readers will be drawn to its themes and beautifully crafted prose!

3.75 rounded up for goodreads and netgalley.
It was a very pleasant surprise. I haven’t read anything else from the author so I discovered her writing and I thought it was lyrical yet very easy to grasp. The plot is impactful and full of mysteries. Some of the reveals towards the end of the story got me amazed because I guessed them only a few pages before the reveals and it was a powerful experience. I did not think I was going to like it as much as I did, but I’m glad I decided to request it. I was enthralled all the way and hardly put in down. I highly recommend it, and I could very much read other books by the author.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Dual time line with a historical element - the Sirens follows Mary and Eliza on their journey from Ireland to Australia on a convict ship, and Lucy and Jess in modern day Australia.

This is a historical mystery with magical realism and classical references. It is compelling and engaging, and kept me gripped right to the end. I even had a few gasps.

A great read.

Lucy is a college freshman who after sleep assaulting the boy who posted her nude photo on TikTok, flees to the safety of her sisters house in Comber Bay. When she shows up and her sister isn't there she begins to worry. In addition to the history of strange disappearances in Comber Bay and the sinking ship of female prisoners Lucy cant stop dreaming about. Lucy is also concerned because everyone seems to think Jess is just taking some time off despite leaving her phone and car at her house. As Lucy begins to investigate she discovers secrets long buried and learns things about Comber Bay that seem almost magical. This was a gorgeous book. Beautifully written and very twisted as well! The only reason I couldn't give it 5 stars (it was a close one for sure) is because the beginning is very slow and makes getting into the story difficult. Otherwise it was amazing!!

3.75⭐️

I received this as an arc and it’s the first I’ve read of the author’s books.

I really liked the three different storylines we had in this, and was instantly gripped by the exploration of systemic sexism and violence towards women, both historically and today.

The look into the female convict ships to Australia was so interesting and a part of history I knew nothing about. I was also pleased to see the author acknowledging the colonisation and extensive harm that was also happening to indigenous Australians at this time, but that that was not her story to tell.

This was very much a character driven book and explores themes of healing from trauma, sisterhood and transformation. Whilst this is being marketed as fantasy I believe, it feels slightly more in the realms of magical realism and lit-fic, with the siren element more metaphorical at times.

I think it deals with these themes relatively well and I was hooked on these characters’ journeys, however I do have some issues with the abruptness of the ending which I think could have been explored more and one of the revelations felt hypocritical to me.

I hate this. I tried so hard to like it. But I'm over 1/3 of the way through the book and literally nothing has happened. I don't like Lucy. Jess has yet to appear. It's literally Lucy's inner monologue and some journal entries along with some flashbacks to a prison ship. I'm sure that the author has some beautiful culminating plan that is a story of heartache and healing blah, blah, blah. But it is SOOOOO boring along the way. Big Fat DNF.

A haunting, sometimes creepy tale set across two/three time periods (one is by reading a diary of events in 1999 in 2019 so not sure if that counts as a third time period). Thought provoking, mysterious fantasy with an interesting take on sirens. Includes themes of female strength and persecution.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.