This book started off promising. The dual timeline was not my favorite and neither was the mermaid part. But overall a decent book.

Eliza and Mary are considered criminals in Ireland and forced on a convict ship for Australia. They are packed like sardines with other women. We learn of their time in Ireland and what led to their arrest. Then we learn of Jess and Lucy in 2019 and their life. What a hauntingly poignant story of sisters and history. I listened to the audiobook and adored the narrator and the songs. This story will sit with me for quite some time.

I really enjoyed Emilia Hart's Weyward. It was so engrossing and magical. However, The Sirens did not captivate me. I listened to 20 percent of the novel before deciding to call a quits. The story is very slow moving. Little to nothing happened in the amount I listened to. I wasn't interested whatsoever in the characters (past or present) or what was going to happen next. I'm sure this book is for someone, but not for me.

Weyward has been on my TBR for a while and this sounded interesting, so I picked it up. First and foremost, this narrator is fantastic. How she manages to switch effortlessly between an Irish and Australian accent is incredible. I really enjoyed her flow and this is one of those where narration actually made a huge difference.

The plot is a split timeline, between two current day Aussies and two very much in the past Irish sisters. It can be a bit confusing for people who don’t usually do split timelines, but I personally love them. Adds to suspense and gives much more insight to the story. I did pick up on the “twist” far before it happens, but it was still a wonderful moment when everything is all laid out. The epilogue… I didn’t love. I was a bit confused by the ending (there are two children? Both women pregnant?) and it did kind of fall flat against the rest of the book. Literally contradicted the entire moral of the story. My only complaint about the book, if she had ended it differently I would’ve probably enjoyed this more.

The writing is just beautiful. I don’t mind women’s fiction when the writing is lyrical and flows well, and this definitely meets the mark. I didn’t feel as though it was too flowery or descriptive in ways it didn’t need to be.

This sucked me in and I finished it in two sittings. I highly recommend this to anyone who occasionally enjoys a women’s fiction novel but primarily reads Greek retellings, fantasy, or magical realism.

There are a few TW, mostly grooming and non graphic SA on minors.


Also seriously if anyone can explain the ending I’d be forever grateful.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒔 was a story of strength, grit and resilience…absolutely a female empowerment novel, as was the case with Weyward. In 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒔, Emilia Hart’s 2nd novel, she weaves a tale of fantastical feminism and sisterhood. Emilia’s writing is captivating and with this 2nd novel she has proven she’s here to stay. I can’t wait to see what she writes about next.

This was a very atmospheric novel with a slow and steady pacing, which really suited the story.

Things you’ll find in this story…

🧜🏻‍♀️Trafficking / Kidnapping / Slavery
🧜🏻‍♀️Murder
🧜🏻‍♀️Grooming
🧜🏻‍♀️Gaslighting
🧜🏻‍♀️Sexual Assault
🧜🏻‍♀️Family secret
🧜🏻‍♀️Sisterhood
🧜🏻‍♀️Strong Female MCs

I loved the audiobook for this one because the song they sing is so calming that I’d like to listen to it to fall asleep. This would be a perfect book to read while sitting on the beach with the sound of the ocean waves in the background, just immersing yourself in the story. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒔 definitely should be shopped for a movie adaptation for sure.

This was a thoroughly engaging take about womanhood and sisterhood. There is 2 timelines set hundreds of years apart with a mystery that slowly unfolds.

I really enjoyed this one as I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator was good.

Loved the mood of this book... dark and cloudy, but with flashes of light. The tangled relationships in both timelines, shadowed by trauma, were highlighted with flashes of love. The mystery unfolded at the perfect pace. I cared about the characters and wanted contentment and joy for them. Incredible descriptions of art... I felt like I could vividly see the paintings.

I really loved Weyward so I was excited to get approved to not just read this but I was also approved for the audiobook, so I will be reviewing both.
Sirens has a very similar vibe to Weyward, so if you were a fan of that you will not be disappointed. This book has it all, strong female leads, mystery, fantasy…it’s an epic tale and a real page turner.
It follows two timelines. In 2019, we meet Jess and Eliza, sisters who have a lot more in common than they realize and a lot to learn about each other. Each sister is being called and on a strange journey of their own.
In 1800, we meet Mary and Eliza, similarly afflicted sisters who are making their way on a convict ship heading to Australia. They will face great peril and many obstacles to learn the truth about themselves and why they are called to the sea.
Female empowerment is the over encompassing theme of this book. It is told in an engaging way with well developed characters that you really care about.
The audiobook by Macmillan Audio is a joy to listen to and is narrated by Barrie Kreinik. She does an amazing job and even sings in part of it and she has a gorgeous voice! I highly recommend it!

Barrie Kreinik did an amazing job narrating The Sirens by Emilia Hart. I had a bit of difficulty following through with the story as the perspective shifted to Mary and Eliza in the 1800s. I wanted to continue with Lucy and her search for her sister Jess. However, I did like how all stories connected especially while taking into consideration this takes from real events from Australian history. The writing itself was cold and eery, and overall really set the tone. I would definitely pick this back up!

Great audiobook narrated by Barrie Kreinik. I really enjoyed Emilia Hart's first book, Weyward, and The Sirens was an excellent sophomore novel. I loved the sections from 1800, following twins Mary and Eliza, who are Irish convicts bound for Australia. There's always a suspension of disbelief when an author has one character read another character's diary in bits and pieces, instead of all at once. So while I was able to figure out most (but not the last) of the twists and revelations before the characters did, I still found the various timelines and Hart's writing compelling.

Thanks NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was a phenomenal audiobook. An amazing and well told story that was all around fascinating and held my interest the entire time.
Great narration and amazing writing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Barrie Kreinik does a great job narrating this story and I recommend the audiobook if that is of interest.

I was excited to read this story as I loved Weyward. However, I found that I did not enjoy this one as much.

The good: I enjoyed the characters and found them relatable. also like themes of female rage stemming from male violence or chauvinistic attitudes. I did like the magical realism as well. The writing is fast paced and flows. I really enjoyed the historical chapters much more than the current timeline. I found the facts, history and content to be more interesting.

The not so good: This book seemed a bit unbalanced in that there was much more going on in the historical part than the present day chapters. The overall story is predicable and felt similar to Weyward. It seemed to drag a bit as well.

This is still a good book for fans of magical realism and feminine rage against men. It was an ok read for me.

I was really excited to get an early copy of The Sirens, as I enjoyed the author's last book, Weyward so much. Unfortunately this one fell flat for me. The story was told in a similar way to Weyward in that it was told from two timelines in alternating chapters. I really enjoyed the start of the book, but as I read on there were a lot of things that were confusing to me, and I didn't really feel like the end was tied up nicely. The plot twists were predictable, and the story seemed very slow.
On a positive note, the writing is gorgeous, and the narrator did a fantastic job, but this book was just not for me.

I loved Weyward so I was beyond excited to read this one. And if I'm going to be perfectly honest, I was a bit worried that it wouldn't hit me the same way Weyward did. I shouldn't have worried. Siren's brings all of the feminist revenge and redemption that we loved from Weyward. With multiple POV and timeline, the story is expertly woven with the twists perfectly placed. Highly recommend!

“She wanted to be the one speaking into the microphone, unraveling a story like a spool of knotted thread. She wanted to be the one to fight injustice with the only weapon that matters - the truth.”

Following up a hit debut novel seems like an insurmountable task. All the themes I loved in Hart’s extraordinary novel Weyward were exactly what I also enjoyed about her new work, The Sirens. The sophomore effort maintains similar feminist threads with renewed emotion and amped up fantasy.

Two timelines each focus on sets of sisters, fighting for and protecting one another.
1800 - Mary and Eliza are wrongfully accused and sent from Ireland to Australia on a convict ship where their survival and their futures are absolutely not guaranteed.
2019 - Lucy and Jess haven’t spoken in some time but they are both in trouble. Lucy finds herself in a compromised position at university and flees to a small cottage on the coast of New South Wales where she believes her sister resides. There she discovers a treasure trove of artwork, a diary and a coastal cave; home to secrets, regret and murder spanning centuries.

Readers who are able to suspend disbelief will be swept away by the lyrical prose and stellar descriptions of the people and the places of a world I know little about. Barrie Kreinik is excellent narrating the audio version with blended dialects and a massive timeline gap and she does it with artistry and subtlety.

Many thanks to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Sirens by Emilia Hart was easily one of my most anticipated reads of 2025. I was so delighted to have received access to the audio arc from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio. If you enjoyed Hart's debut book, Weyward, you're going to LOVE The Sirens. The Sirens was everything I needed it to be and more. I can't help but admire the growth in Hart's talent! I am looking forward to any future works they publish!

The Sirens tells the stories of four different women across the span of centuries. In 2019, Lucy awakens one morning with her hands wrapped around the neck of a boy who wronged her. Terrified, she runs away from college to her sister's house on the coast only to find that Jess is missing, leaving behind a diary and her artwork. In 1999, Jess is a lonely teenager diagnosed with a rare water allergy, which only makes her feel like more of an outcast. She tries to understand the world and her strange dreams through her art. Lucy and Jess are connected by their haunting dreams of two other sisters, Mary and Eliza, who were sent to Australia on a convict ship in 1800. All of these women's lives are interwoven through their dreams, diaries, and memories in a really interesting way.

Overall I liked the book. I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrator did a good job with the voices of the characters, so no complaints there. I think that I just wish that there had been more of the book, like maybe the issues that each character had could have been explored more or the disappearances in Comper Bay could have been a bit more developed. Splitting the story across the three perspectives might have thinned out their individual stories a bit too much for me and I never felt like I could fully connect with the characters. The writing was beautiful, though, and I found the setting to be really well developed. This will be a great one for people who enjoy atmospheric stories with elements of magical realism in them.

A beautiful book that kept calling me back to it. I listened to the audio and the narrator singing the songs was haunting and exactly how you’d expect a siren sound to be like. The jacket copy seemed a little misleading. It makes it seem like the story is about the same set of sisters centuries apart and it’s not that. Or if it is, it wasn’t clear. A little irritating how long it took Lucy to figure out some things while this reader was yelling “you haven’t figured it out yet?! It’s been obvious since the beginning!” But she eventually got there, albeit with a rather unremarkable moment or journey to that information.
The ending was wrapped up in a little bow- which while nice felt a little rushed and inauthentic to the rest of the book.

Overall, a great book and I really enjoyed it.

The Sirens is a speculative fiction story about two pairs of sisters centuries apart, but are tied together by the sea. The story follows 3 points of view: Lucy, Jess, and Mary and Eliza. Lucy suffers from a rare condition- aquagenic urticaria. She is allergic to water, which causes her skin to rash easily and burn when she has contact with water. After finding herself in a sticky situation at college, she decides to run away to her sister’s house until everything blows over. Once at her sister’s house, she finds that Jess has disappeared and waits for her to come back. During this time, she becomes plagued with dark dreams that have caused her to sleepwalk. She also finds an old Journal of Jess’s and begins to read- finding that her sister has had similar dreams and issues with sleepwalking. The three stories- Lucy in present time, Jess in the 90s as a teen, and these vivid dreams of Mary and Eliza-Irish women deemed criminals- make such a riveting tale of mystery, magic, and family.

I was a little worried at first to find that there were three different storylines going on at the same time. However, the pacing was well done and it never was jolting to jump between. There always felt like a smooth transition from past to present. I really enjoyed learning a little about how many of the women that were labeled as criminals in Ireland and their horrific voyage to Australia as prisoners on a ship. And I learned more about the skin condition of aquagenic urticaria.

Everyone needs to listen to this audiobook simply for the narrator. Barrie Kreinik did an absolutely amazing job with this one. Her flawless transition between an Irish accent and an Australian accent was effortless. There also is a moment in the book where she sings and I rewound it so many times just to listen. 5/5 performance.

I did figure out about 95% of the plot twist fairly early on. However, the epilogue picked me up and threw me out a window. And even though I did guess the majority of the story, it still was an enjoyable read and something that I would want to have on my own shelf.

Anyone that loves magical realism, strong female characters, family bonds, and listening to a beautiful singer (with the audiobook!) please read this!

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for allowing me to read/listen to this book early!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance audiobook
This audiobook was excellent. I really enjoyed the story I look forward to reading more from this author