Reviewed by Andrea for TeensReadToo.com

Vanessa Sands and her older sister, Justine, are very different, but very close. Justine is the daredevil and loves to be in the spotlight and the center of attention, while Vanessa is afraid of everything.

One night, after a family argument, Justine's fearless ways end in a tragic accident. Her body is found washed ashore after a cliff-diving accident near her family's vacation house in Maine. But Vanessa doesn't believe that her sister's death was just an accident and she sets out to prove it.

She soon learn that her sister was not who she thought she was and had been keeping secrets from almost everyone, except her boyfriend and childhood friend, Caleb (who is now missing).

Meanwhile, other bodies are now washing up on shore. Vanessa is sure that this is no coincidence and that there is some reason for all of these deaths. With Simon's (Caleb's brother's) help, they uncover the secret to what is happening in the town. And while she is finding that she has feelings for Simon, she is also discovering that her family has a secret of its own that she never dreamt of.

SIREN is a unique and interesting story. Right from the first chapter, I was hooked! I felt that the writing flowed so well and I flew through it.

I have only read a couple of books about mermaids, but I don't think any of them had been about Sirens. The story just enthralled me and there were a couple of twists, which I always love.

I really liked all of the characters. I thought that they all had depth to them and seemed real. I found myself rooting for the main characters, and even the secondary characters.

The only thing that I didn't like is that there seemed to be some loose ends at the end of the story, but I won't say what so that I don't spoil it. I'm not sure if this book is going to be part of a series or not, but I sure hope so!

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I had been wanted to read this book for some time. I ended up getting it to listen to on audiobook at one of Audible's book sales. It was an okay book, while there wasn't anything technically wrong with the story I had a lot of trouble engaging with the story or the characters.

I listened to this on audiobook and I don't recommend it. The narrator had a breathy, cutesy voice that bothered me. I think the sounds of the narrator's voice made me like the main character even less than if I had been reading about Vanessa in paperback.

Vanessa and Justine are sisters. They spend every summer at Winter Harbor with their family. Vanessa is scared of everything and Justine is fearless. Then one night everything goes wrong; Justine gets in a fight with their mother and storms out of the cabin...the next day she is dead. Two weeks after Justine's death Vanessa can't help but feel something isn't right. She journeys back to Winter Harbor to confront Justine's boyfriend about what really happened that night. Little does Vanessa know that she is going to be entagled in doings beyond her wildest imaginings.

Okay so my main problem with this book is that it is named Siren. Guess what Vanessa spends the whole book doing? Well, she is trying to figure out what is killing people in the waters outside of Winter Harbor. I felt like shaking her the whole book and saying "Duh, it's Sirens! Obviously!" It would have been better to title the book something that doesn't totally give away the mystery that the characters spend most of the book trying to solve.

Enough griping about that. This is one of those high school kids go away for the summer and solve some seaside mystery sorts of books. It moves pretty slow, Vanessa is kind of dense, and of course she has to fall in love with the boy who helps her unravel the mystery. I am not sure why but this book constantly reminded me of Moonglass by Jessi Kirby. Granted this book has more supernatural activity; but it also has that same feeling of high school age characters slowing getting over grief and slowly solving a mystery.

Vanessa was hard for me to engage with as a character; she is always uncertain and always scared. She grows a little in this story but not much and I found her difficult to be inspired by and hard to relate to. She was also incredibly dense, she just didn't understand things and how they related and it frustrated me.

A lot of the characters in this book are fairly forgettable. They must be because I had trouble even distinguishing some of them from each other. I didn't realize this was part of a series. By the times things are actually picking up pace and getting somewhat interesting the book ends.

Overall this was an okay book. There isn't technically anything wrong with it. I just found the characters to be lackluster, the story predictable, and the mystery slow-moving and difficult to stay engaged with. So far I remain unimpressed with all of the Siren YA books I have read. I did think that Lost Voices by Sarah Porter was better than this book but not a ton better. I won't be reading any more of this series.

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Fraidy-cat Vanessa's gregarious older sister Justine goes cliff-diving after a family argument. When her body washes ashore, everyone thinks it was an accident, but Vanessa thinks there's more to the story, especially when she discovers things that Justine had been hiding from them all, and when Justine's sort-of boyfriend, their family friend Caleb, goes missing.

But soon other worrying things begin to happen in Winter Harbor, Maine. Bodies of grinning men begin washing ashore at an alarming rate, and Vanessa's new friend's family seems to be keeping secrets. Together with Simon, Caleb's meteorologist older brother, Vanessa is determined to seek out the truth. But what she discovers may be bigger and more dangerous than she can handle...

SIREN was a surprisingly heartfelt supernatural YA debut. It elegantly combines ocean myth with relatable human troubles for an interesting and absorbing read.

Despite her self-acknowledged fears, Vanessa's attachments to the people she loves drives her to stretch her boundaries and take risks for their sake. I found her believable and likable; in real life she'd be that reserved classmate who's hard to get to know but worth the effort to befriend.

Ironically enough, SIREN's strength lies in its humanity. Even though it's Vanessas story, Caleb and Simon don't exist merely as errand-boys for her mission: they have personalities and passions of their own, too. Additionally, Vanessa's relationship with her parents, while not the central focus of the book, is a lovely touch, from her easygoing banter with her father to tensions with her austere mother.

Sadly, the best part about this book's supernatural element may be its novelty. There's tremendous buildup for the supernatural aspect, and I found its history within the novel's world to be well done. However, in the ending, everything--and I do mean EVERYTHING, pretty much all the subplots--comes together so handily, so effortlessly, that I found my eyes bugging out, unable to believe that it had ended like that. The ending requires a whole heap of suspension of disbelief, and I really struggled with it.

Overall, however, SIREN was an entertaining read that took me away entirely for a few hours. The ending leaves open the possibility for a sequel, and I definitely would not mind seeing what else Tricia Rayburn has for us regarding Vanessa.

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