A lovely, hopelessly romantic story about a young girl who has been turned into a Siren and must now serve the Ocean for 100 years, singing to lure people to their deaths in order to still Her hunger, after which she'll be granted a second life. As is the case in so many romance stories, the romance part of it came on a little quickly. Part of me loves the whole pre-destined love thing, the idea of soul mates meeting and falling so hopelessly in love in the mere space of days that they can hardly stand being apart after that; but the more critical part of me prefers to have it take a little more time and effort in order to make the whole thing a bit more realistic. 
 Other than that, however, the story is good and the characters are wonderfully multi-faceted. The Ocean is simultaneously a mother figure, a saviour, and a villain, in ways. It's hard to hate Her because She has good reason to do the things she does, even though that doesn't really become clear until the end. Kahlen and her sisters are all lovely and I liked getting a back story on almost everyone, fleshing them out more. This book isn't just about romance, soul mates, and the choice between family and love. It's also about sisterhood, friendship, and family, and how those concepts and relationships can change over the years. It's about sacrifice and doing the right thing, even though the right thing seems to be so very wrong. In ways, I might actually like THE SIREN more than I did THE SELECTION series - and that says something.