Sing Me to Sleep: The unmissable Sunday Times bestselling enemies-to-lovers romance!

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Saoirse is an amazing FMC, I loved her so much! She's grumpy, she's serious, she's very protective of those she loves, and she's careful and smart. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! Saoirse is a siren in hiding, pretending to be something else and training harder than anyone else to come up top of her year and get a good rank position! Oh, and she has a side job: assassin for hire! With her siren abilities and blood call, she’s the perfect temptress. But all she does is for one and only one goal: to protect her little sister, whom she loves the most in the entire world.

The writing is also good, there were some word choices that got a bit repetitive (I've never read the word lightbrained so many times in my life) and some... weird sentences, but I guess a lot of that comes down to the book being YA. Overall, I enjoyed the writing style though. Saoirse Sorkova survives on secrets. As the last siren in her kingdom, she can sing any man to an early grave - but her very existence is illegal, and if her true identity were ever discovered, it would be her life on the line. The Cruel Prince meets To Kill a Kingdom in the first in this dark YA fantasy duology, in which a siren assassin must join forces with the prince she hates to hunt a deadly killer – herself. The other benefit of Saoirse’s ability to taste emotions is the incredibly detailed language that this allows Burton to infuse into the novel. Emotions have colors, scents and flavors — happiness is sweet, lust is spicy — and as the reader we are given another layer through which to experience this tale: taste. This level of sensory language and worldbuilding is not something that I have experienced much of in any books in recent memory, and it is a wonderful addition to the story that Burton is weaving, one that makes the book all the more enjoyable. Oh yeah, we just bribed the gym teacher for this test that would reveal that she’s a human and no one questioned it. This book is so bad.Saoirse doesn’t know, and it’s not her primary concern. She is more concerned with keeping her and her sister’s identity secret, for if anyone realizes Saorise is a siren, she’ll be put to death. For sirens are known to have an insatiable desire to kill. Why do we care if they kill the evil king and queen again? Like the prince doesn’t even really like them. Like oh no, an army will come through the barrier and kill people to stop genocide and slavery. How terrible.

I look forward to the second book because I need answers! But don't worry - while the story continues in book two, the first one doesn't have a cliffhanger. There were some small aspects that I didn't fully love, but really nothing worth mentioning or pointing out, especially since it's YA and I'm an adult and I think the "bulk" of my issues came down to that, so I'm rounding up to 5 stars. Mesmerizing faes, sirens, enchanting siren song – you will feel pulled into this story right from the beginning! Sing Me to Sleep was beautiful, terrific, magical and extremely unique!’ Netgalley – 5 star review Trapped by her deadly double life, Saoirse can’t leave the palace until she saves her sister . . . but who will save her from herself? Oh my freaking god I loved this book! I read it in under 24 hours it was so damn good. A captivating story of hidden identities, secrets, betrayals and a slow burn romance to die for’ Netgalley – 5 star review

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Saoirse was the best character in every way! She is morally grey, has a lot of loyalty for her family and I loved her driving force, but also her self-awareness. She knows she is a killer and doesn’t apologise for it. She doesn’t shield away from her own nature and desires and I really admired that! I was also a big fan of Hayes! He was dealt a bad hand in life and tries to live with it. I loved how he came out of his shell because of Saoirse.

The conclusion to this book makes me question if the author just couldn't decide on best way to finish stuff happening and discovered a perfect solution - le sequel, opening pandora's box completely unnecessary for the story to be done IMO. This book could've been saved by remaining a standalone, having dark ending for the FL but actually settling her crimes properly, not some lovey-dovey 'hope never dies' ending we got. In the second book in this dark and seductive YA fantasy duology, a siren must decide if saving her kingdom is worth betraying the boy she loves. I have had this book on my radar for quite some time and was super excited when I got approved to read an early copy! The synopsis spoke to me a lot and I couldn’t wait to dive in! By day, Saoirse disguises herself as a fae, pretending to be the perfect soldier-in-training. By night, she satisfies her darker urges working as an assassin for dangerous mercenaries. And all the while, she keeps the biggest secret of all: that she is not always in control of her Siren powers, or her desire to kill.

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Themes beautifully shared in this book are: prejudice, equality and acceptance, and the importance of loyalty and that it can signify family, not just blood. It is also about protecting your loved ones and reaching your potential. Saoirse expects to despise Prince Hayes. But he is kind, thoughtful, and charming, and she finds herself increasingly drawn to him . . . until he tasks her with investigating a killer plaguing the kingdom. The problem: the killer is Saoirse.

Also I didn’t understand the whole secrecy of the sisters species. It was just such a drab outcome and didn’t feel like we should have waited until the end of the book to find out. Quite underwhelming. Plus the bad guy was predictable too…. Do you trust me? No. Then hey, maybe don’t enter a romantic relationship with that person. Maybe stop hanging around them. I'm always a fan of fantasy worlds that are filled with different magical beings, and here we have fae, witches, (humans) and a siren. Yes, one, because Saoirse is the last siren, and so she needs to hide her identity. From the first chapter, I was immediately captivated by our main character, Saoirse. She has such a strong voice throughout this book and I'm so happy we get her the way we do. She was nothing short of extraordinary. She is a classic antihero, morally grey character (like actually morally grey) and she has no shortage of flaws, but I loved her SO much. She reminds me of so many fantasy heroines but also feels uniquely separate from them as well. She’s a murderous assassin with a penchant for lying and scheming, but she is MY GIRL.Trapped by her deadly double life, Saoirse can't leave the palace until she saves her sister . . . but who will save her from herself? Not Halle’s Ariel is training to be a guard for the kingdom because top guards make bank and she needs major schmoney to afford her foster sister’s private school. It’s so expensive that she needs a side hustle. She’s an assassin. Somehow a super secret resistance organization decided it was a good idea to hire a literal child to be an assassin. But like oh my god, why wouldn’t they hire her? She’s secretly a siren. That means that men take one look at her face, and instantly want to rape her. That’s how beauty works. But don’t worry, if she sings to them, she can mind control them. But oh no Cleo, if she touches water, the water can mind control her and force her to kill men. Kind of. Not really. But it’s a great excuse to be “morally gray” and have literally no qualms or guilt about killing random people. Descriptions of our characters surroundings on the other hand were just non - existent. The story starts out in a pub for example, but do I know how it looked like?? Nope. Same with Characters, I guess one dude's cheekbones looked like glass, whatever that's supposed to mean. Not sharp like glass, not cut like glass, just glass. Guess our poor man was just see-through. And everyone's eyes were a different crystal colour, but that's as far as we get. As a siren, Saoirse can physically taste emotions, and this adds a layer to her character that allows us a further window into her reasoning. She can taste her sister’s fear, she can taste the disappointment of her loved ones when they realise what she has done, and so her decisions are influenced by that emotional connection she has to those around her. It makes for a fascinating internal struggle that draws you in and demands you read on. Hidden identity is definitely the main trope of this book, not only our FMC hides who she is, but also some other powerful players.