4.5 to 5 stars for me. This story felt like a warm, knitted blanket hugging around me. A little heart wrenching with beautiful prose. It made me want to go and lay down on a forest floor and just breathe.
The romance is tender but also sad. Loved this book. ( )

This book was awesome! I love it and it broke my heart and then mended it. She's an amazing author and I love all her books. ( )

This dark young adult fantasy was GORGEOUS. So lovely and atmospheric with breathtaking descriptions and haunting beauty in a bleak world where a family lives close to a cursed wood and tree sirens lure souls out to their death. Owen has already lost his mother to the curse of the wood. Now he cares for his young sister (loved the sister) and tries to keep his family going as his father grieves. When he’s on a train to visit the next town, he’s attacked by the forest sirens. He’s the only one spared. He and Seren, the youngest daughter of the witch of the wood, form a forbidden connection. She’s a siren. He’s a human. This had a lovely forbidden love cursed fairy tale feel, and I devoured every bit of it.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this from my Kindle through the library.

Story (4/5): This was a decent story. I liked the creepy woods and how the story of the witch and her siren’s tie back into some historical events that happened with the king and the kingdom. There is some adventure here, some politics, and some romance. It was generally well done.

Characters (4/5): The characters here were interesting. At times Owen seemed very naive given what he’s been through. I did enjoy the close relationship he had with his family though. Seren was much more intriguing as she tried to navigate the intricacies of being a siren dryad versus a human. The witch queen was delightfully evil and I enjoyed her as well.

Setting (4/5): This is a pretty typical fantasy setting. The kingdom feels very generic. I enjoyed the dark and enchanted woods. I also enjoyed the idea of souls and hearts being separate energies and liked how those things affected the aspects of the characters that had them.

Writing Style (4/5): This was a quick and easy read, some parts of the book were a bit slow. I found some elements of the story intriguing and enjoyed them. Ultimately though I am finding (even a few days after reading this) that this was a pretty forgettable story for me. It has a very retro fantasy feel to it but not a lot of elements that were really thought-provoking or really stuck with me.

My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a decent book that I enjoyed reading. It’s a beautifully written fantasy story that has a very retro feel to it. I loved some of the magic around souls and hearts and enjoyed Owen’s tight relationship with his family. However, it ended being fairly forgettable and didn’t have a lot of elements that really grabbed my attention and made me think. I did read Meyer’s “Into Echo North” previous to reading this book and really loved that book, I am looking forward to the continuation of that series in 2022. ( )