Book: The Siren's Kiss: A Novel by Leslie Vedder
Reviewed by Suzy Wickedly Good Reads
Rating: 4/5
The Siren's Kiss was a fun, fast-paced YA fantasy adventure that gave me some serious Pirates of the Caribbean vibes! Rayleigh is a cocky pirate indebted to the Revenant, Red Hand Roger, who gave me definite Davy Jones and his cursed crew energy. Roger is searching for a collection of keys that will allow him to retrieve his stolen heart from a sea witch, and Rayleigh has been tasked with finding them. Then Rayleigh accidentally kidnaps Maren.
Maren is a mermaid with her own reason for searching for the keys: she needs them to save her brother. With both women chasing the same prize for very different reasons, they're thrown together on an adventure filled with pirates, mermaids, sea magic, danger, and plenty of secrets. I didn't realize going into this that it was a sapphic pirate/mermaid story, but that didn't change my enjoyment of the book. The adventure was actually my favorite part!
The pacing moves quickly, Leslie Vedder's descriptive writing does a fabulous job bringing the nautical fantasy world to life, and while I found parts of the storyline fairly predictable, it was still an entertaining journey. The romance itself felt very YA to me, including some teenage angst, and I wouldn't personally classify this as romance-forward. There is absolutely no spice- a little kissing, and that's about it. But that's also important to judge within the context of what the book actually is: a YA fantasy adventure rather than an adult fantasy romance.
🎧 AUDIOBOOK: PJ Morgan and Darcey Rhoads made this an enjoyable listen and fit the adventurous YA tone really well. I think this would be an especially fun audiobook for readers looking for pirates, mermaids, magic, and adventure without explicit romance. Overall, this falls somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars for me. The romance didn't completely pull me in, but the adventure, world-building, and descriptive writing definitely did. If you want Pirates of the Caribbean energy with mermaids, sapphic romance, sea witches, cursed pirates, and zero spice, this one is absolutely worth checking out.