Once in awhile, I read a book that I really don’t like. I wanted to like Sound of Sirens by Jen Minkman but it didn’t happen.

Throughout the book, it seemed like the reader was supposed to know the history of the sirens and the island where the book was set. I felt really lost until the middle of the book when some of the history was revealed.

There were a few things that the reader wouldn’t know in the beginning so it makes it difficult to make sense of anything. I asked myself several times, “What is going on? Why does one set of people have electricity but the other side has to ride a bike to play a record? What’s the deal with the Sirens?”

In this book, we aren’t really introduced to the Sirens. There are stories about them but that’s it. I thought sirens were supposed to look more like birds. I don’t remember reading about any of the characters actually seeing a siren. I kept imagining that the sirens were like murderous mermaids. (Imagine if The Little Mermaid had her own episode of “Snapped.”)

I found this interesting article about the differences between sirens and mermaids.

The Difference Between Mermaids and Sirens

The characters were believable but I didn’t love or hate any of them. Everyone seemed a little bit boring, except the love interest of Enna, Royce Bolton. He was kind of a jerk but an average jerk. His name was also too close to Roose Bolton, a character from Game of Thrones. Roose Bolton was also a jerk but at least he was interesting.

I would give this book 2 out of 5 stars.