Rave Review: "Sing Me to Sleep" by Gabi Burton

Quick Summary

Type: Novel, book 1 of Sing Me to Sleep series

Genre: Fantasy, mystery

Back Cover: "Saoirse Sorkova survives on lies. As a soldier-in-training at the most prestigious barracks in the kingdom, she lies about being a siren to avoid execution. At night, working as an assassin for a dangerous group of mercenaries, Saoirse lies about her true identity. And to her family, Saoirse tells the biggest lie of all: that she can control her siren powers and doesn't struggle constantly against an impulse to kill.

As the top trainee in her class, Saoirse would be headed for a bright future if it weren't for the need to keep her secrets out of the spotlight. But when a mysterious blackmailer threatens her sister, Saoirse takes a dangerous job that will help her investigate: she becomes personal bodyguard to the crown prince.

Saoirse should hate Prince Hayes. After all, his father is the one who enforces the kingdom's brutal creature segregation laws. But when Hayes turns out to be kind, thoughtful, and charming, Saoirse finds herself increasingly drawn to him-especially when they're forced to work together to stop a deadly killer who's plaguing the city. There's only one problem: Saoirse is that deadly killer."

Read Time: 2 days

Rating: 5 stars

Review

The best way I can describe this book is as a Siren Song. It was so enchanting, so mesmerizing that as soon as I picked it up I couldn't put it back down.

I will say that there were some things that threw me. The start was a little slow, and the naming schemes for characters threw me (for example, the main character is named Saoirse Sorkova, a mix of an Irish and Russian name). In fact, I think the names of the characters in this book were the most annoying aspect of it. They ranged from high fantasy (Y'ddrina, Laa'el, etc) to painfully normal (Hayes).

But my issues with the names weren't enough to detract from my enjoyment of the story overall. The story was just that compelling. I wouldn't quite call the romance 'enemies to lovers', but some of those elements were there and I loved them. It had betrayal (lots of it) and mystery (subtle before it gets in your face) and overall it just kept my interest.

Some of the plot points were fairly predictable. From the earliest point, it was obvious to me that Jeune was not the blackmailer or involved at all with the Resistance. When Hayes is dragged underwater in the beach scene, it was pretty obvious to me that Jeune didn't save him because she was distracted by a person, probably a lover she wasn't supposed to have. So I wasn't surprised at all when she helped Saoirse and Hayes fake Hayes's death.

I also wasn't surprised that Laa'el, the only witch on the prince's guard, was part of the Resistance. But Erasmus? Definitely didn't see that coming. And Spektryl's identity? In hindsight, it makes perfect sense, and yet I totally didn't see it coming. I actually thought that plot twist was so good that I gave the book another half a star on that alone.

Then came the ending. I was disappointed by the ending, but I have to admit that not only did the ending make sense, it's the only logical ending. I wanted Saoirse and Hayes to end up together, living happily ever after. But obviously, Saoirse has killed a ton of people (including Hayes's best friend), so of course she's a fugitive. Since they're still in communication, I have high hopes for the next book in the series, although based on the ending, Saoirse might not actually be spending much time in Keirdre.

Overall, I thought this book was great. Unfortunately, I borrowed this book from the library the same day it came out, which means that I probably am going to have to wait an eternity for the next book. If the sequel is anything like the debut, it's going to be great.