Thank you to the publisher, to Net Galley and to the author for the opportunity. My review opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this unique story of woman's empowerment through the ages. This story is told in three timelines and speaks to the misogynistic culture throughout time . I loved the women in this book and their intelligence, savvy and bravery. The relation of the women in the story to the ocean is beautifully told. This is a book to be experienced by each reader without spoilers as its magnificent. The writing is so well crafted it kept me enthralled in each woman's story. A must read for those who enjoy women's fiction and justice against the male culture through the ages. You will find yourself cheering throughout and relating to each woman's story. Bravo. Well done to the author. A exciting and fun read

I love books told through two timelines. Sirens is told from the perspective of Lucy, a modern day college student, who joins the story after trying to strangle her boyfriend in her sleep. Lucy flees and goes to see her sister, Jess, who appears to be missing. The other timeline is told from Mary's perspective in 1800. Mary and her sister Eliza are criminals on a transport ship that sinks at sea. The setting, an island where eight men have mysteriously disappeared but were lured to their deaths by a siren's song. A siren's coming of age tale, if you will, filled with mystery, and mysticism. This book had plenty of twists and turns and while not scary, per se, it had some moments where I caught myself not breathing. This is the first book I've read by Emilia Hart and I was impressed. This would be such a good buddy read or book group choice! Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for an advanced copy- very much appreciated!

This one was so fucking good. The prose was perfect, the feminism fantastic. It didn't shy away from any of the more gruesome details of what a siren is and how they respond to the world around them. The three timelines worked well together, particularly with how the 1800 timeline matched the dream sequences in 2019. I think this book will be recommended highly in 2025, so long as it is marketed correctly. I feel like a lot of people expected this to be magical realism with emphasis on realism, but it was magical realism with emphasis on fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this haunting and eerie story about 2 sets of sisters from 2 different time periods!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this arc.

I absolutely loved Weyward by Emilia Hart and was so excited to get approved for the arc of The Sirens and it did not disappoint. The Sirens is at its heart a story about womanhood, secrets, mythology, and the lengths women have to go to protect themselves and the ones they love.

Lucy is a college student who wakes up with her hands around a former lovers throat. Fleeing her school, and everything she’s worked for, she heads to her sister’s house, in a small town shrouded by mystery and tragedy. But Jess is missing, and Lucy is determined to find out what happened between her and her sister, and find out where she went.
Mary and Eliza are twins from Ireland in the 1800’s, sentenced to exile and forced to board a convict ship headed for Australia. Along the way, as conditions get more and more deplorable, and fear is contagious, the girls bodies begin to change in unexplainable ways.

I loved this book just as much as I loved Weyward. The writing and description was eerie and chilling, the pacing was consistent, and the magical realism aspects were beautifully executed. It was thought provoking and feminist and absolutely beautiful. The sisterhood, mystery, and atmosphere, as well as the dual timelines was so engaging I couldn’t put it down.

I gave this book 4.5 ⭐️ as I did find that one of the timelines didn’t wrap up as well as the other and left me wanting a little more resolution. But overall I loved this story and it will stick with me for a long time.

A compelling story about sisters separated but still bound together. I found the story a bit dark and eerie for my taste but still an overall great story.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I tried this book on audio and could not connect with it. It was wrong book, wrong time for me.

I love this cover and premise but this didn't hit for me. It was fine and had good atmosphere but the plot lost me a bit.

Another amazing book from Emilia Hart- I think I loved this even more than Weyward! The switches in timeline between the 4 women were done so well. The writing was atmospheric and just well done. There's nothing I would change about this well written story.

Thanks for the review copy. I enjoy Hart’s writing. This book is very engaging and intriguing. I liked the two timelines.

I was so excited to receive this as both an ALC and an ARC! I have heard great things about Weyward and knew I had to get my hands (and ears) on this.

Brief summary: Lucy wakes up to find herself strangling her ex, prompting her to seek sanctuary at her older sister's home. However, when she arrives, her older sister is not home. While waiting for he sister return, Lucy begins to uncover more about her sister, and herself, via her sister's diary.

Think The Lost Apothecary meets The Little Mermaid! I would love to re-read this book so I can better appreciate the foreshadowing for so many of the fairy tale elements. This has a great message of sisterhood and female empowerment.

2019: Lucy awakens in her ex-lover’s room in the middle of the night with her hands around his throat. Horrified, she flees to her sister’s house on the coast of New South Wales hoping Jess can help explain the vivid dreams that preceded the attack—but her sister is missing. As Lucy waits for her return, she starts to unearth strange rumours about Jess’s town—tales of numerous missing men, spread over decades. A baby abandoned in a sea-swept cave. Whispers of women’s voices on the waves. All the while, her dreams start to feel closer than ever.

1800: Mary and Eliza are torn from their loving home in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship heading for Australia. As the boat takes them farther and farther away from all they know, they begin to notice unexplainable changes in their bodies.

A breathtaking tale of female resilience, The Sirens is an extraordinary novel that captures the sheer power of sisterhood and the indefinable magic of the sea.
Really enjoyed this story. Cannot wait to read more from the author. Will recommend to others.

This was my first book by Emilia Hart and I really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, I found the writing style and the characters difficult to connect with.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and SMP for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Sirens follows 3 POVs, the first one introduced was Lucy in 2019. Lucy is a student at university who flees to her sister after she is assaulted (yes, revenge porn is assault) by a fellow student and she wakes to herself strangling him while sleepwalking. The second is flashbacks to two sisters in 1800s Ireland who have been sent to the colony of New South Wales as a punishment for assault. Later in the book you are taken to Jess’s timeline via her journal which was an interesting change to the dynamic of the story. The Sirens follows Lucy as she tries to unravel the mystery of how these things are all connected.

I can’t understand the lukewarm reception this book is getting. It’s not the happiest read but it is a beautiful read. As the title suggests there is a mystical element to this story that I think frustrated as a lot of people wanted that to be fleshed out more, but I think that leant itself more to the actual point of the story. What is it in women’s existence that has required us to imagine or create mystical creatures that would keep us safe. This point is told in each timeline and highlights the institutions, cultures and default that are misogyny. But that flip side of that coin in the community that women create to protect ourselves from that very thing. This is a hauntingly beautiful story of womanhood and strength.


A place like Comber’s Bay where women are protected sounds like a dream.

*Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, AND Macmillan Audio for the ALC/e-Arc! All opinions are my own.*

Weyward was my favorite read of 2023 so I jumped at the chance to get this one early and I'm so glad I did! I was fortunate enough to get approved for a digital copy and an audio version of this and went back in forth on format - both were wonderful, though I found there was a slight "learning curve" with the audio as there is a decent amount of worldbuilding in this one and it can feel like a lot of information coming at you. Just worth noting as the narrator was amazing and it provided a lot of great atmosphere to the storytelling.

Emilia Hart's writing is what drew me into her debut and it's absolutely present in this one, too. Each description pulled me deeper into the story and I was so fully immersed (pun only kind of intended) that I ended up having dreams about shipwrecks afterwards! I felt so attached to each POV character, and I especially loved going back in time to Mary and Eliza's POV. The ship full of women was such a harrowing story and each character, no matter how small, felt so full. A trouble with dual timelines (personally) is that I often struggle in feeling that one or both storyline(s) are incomplete by the end. I felt satisfied by this novel and I feel confident in saying that each story feels whole and complete to me.

In other people's reviews, I've seen a lot of comparing this to Weyward. You're getting a lot of the same underlying themes, but this book is not that book. This book is deeper in the suspense subgenre, in my opinion. There's a much deeper element to the mystery plot in this novel compared to Hart's first, and you'll get much more mileage out of the fantasy in this one. You're getting a much grittier story out of the Sirens compared to Weyward. All this is to say: Do Not go into this comparing it to anything before it. It is its own narrative and it deserves to be treated as such. You'll be doing yourself and the work a much greater disservice otherwise.

3.5 stars rounded up

What to expect in this book:

-Multiple timelines
-Coastal Australian setting
-Magical realism/fantasy elements
-Sisterhood and family ties
-Atmospheric
-Multiple POV

Thoughts

This author's debut novel, Weyward, was haunting, memorable, and is one of my top reads of 2024. I am so thankful to #NetGalley for the advanced copy of her sophomore novel and enjoyed seeing how she expanded on her ability to create atmospheric and interesting characters. In 2019, Lucy wakes in her ex's dorm room with her hands around his neck. Horrified by her own actions, she flees to her sister's house in New South Wales, hoping she can provide some clarity on the mysterious and fear-inducing dreams that she has been having. When Lucy arrives, she finds that her sister, Jess, is no where to be found. As she begins to explore this town where Lucy lives, a place as mysterious and elusive as the Bermuda Triangle, Lucy discovers that her dreams might be more connected to reality than she realizes. In 1800, sisters Mary and Eliza are taken on a prisoner ship from their home in Ireland heading to Australia. The sisters begin to notice strange changes and an intense connection to the sea.

Whether you can suspend belief and connect with mythology and mysticism or not, this is ultimately the story of the bonds of sisterhood throughout the ages. A historical/contemporary tale of self-discovery and family secrets and the ties that bind us to who we are and where we come from. I really enjoyed the contemporary storyline of Jess and Lucy and was surprised at the elements of mystery as the storyline unfolded. Despite this not being a very long book, it took me a while to get into the story and at times was confused as to the historical narrative's connection with the contemporary story. While I enjoyed Weyward more, I do think this was a strong sophomore book and hope that the right audience finds this story.

If you are a fan of Greek mythology, folklore, and magical realism, be sure to check this one out!

This is a dual timeline book, about two Irish sisters who are sent on a criminal transport to Australia, and a modern (2019) story of two sisters, and finding strength through adversity.

Both groups of sisters have had the world hand them things that it shouldn't have, and both have to find a way to get past the unfairness of their situations.

Although I could pretty early on see where the story was going with the Lucy/Jess timeline (both with their arc as sisters and the side story with the missing men in their town), it didn't diminish from my enjoyment of the book.

I thought the writing was terrific, and the sense of place was spot on. I could really see and feel the settings. I thought the story setting of the prison transport ship was engaging and I had a vested interest in what was happening with those women. In fact, I would have liked to know more about them, how they got to where they were.

On the whole I really enjoyed the book and I want to read more from this writer.

I did have one pretty large quibble, which I address in a spoiler hidden review on Goodreads.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 ✨

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this arc of The Sirens which comes out April 1, 2025.

The Sirens is a story of female empowerment across generations that is heartbreaking, suspenseful, and can resonate with any woman. I went into this one with high expectations after reading Weyward. I didn’t like this one as much but It was still an enticing read. There were a few twists that were in the 2019 timeline that had me turning the pages (swiping since it’s an e arc??) quickly. I liked the touch of magical realism in this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I picked this book up on a whim because I thought the cover was cute. While I don’t usually condone judging a book by its cover in this instance it was well worth it!

This story is told over three separate timelines, going across generations of women. It highlights the injustices against women across history, while also allowing them to get back at those that have wronged them. This is a perfect example of how I support women’s rights and their wrongs.

This one won’t be published until April 2025 so keep an eye for it!

#netgalley #thesirens #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookstagram

Jess flees her college campus to no see her sister Lucy. Lucy moved to a ramshackle house on the coast of New South Wales. The cove that she lives near is known for many mysterious events that led to the death of multiple victims. Jess finds the house empty and starts investigating Lucy’s disappearance as well as the men. Jess starts to have vivid dreams that mirror a shipwreck of femal convicts from the 1800s.

I feel like this book would be best enjoyed by people that like historical fiction and fantasy. Some parts were interesting to me but the plot line moved really slowly and I had a hard time staying engaged.






Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book.