I was first introduced to Kiera Cass' writing last year when I started The Selection series. While books like The Selection are sometimes hit or miss for me, I found myself really enthralled in the story and enjoyed the writing style. When I heard we were getting another book by Cass, I was immediately dying to get my hands on it. From what I've learned The Siren is a book that Cass wrote several years ago that she decided to rework and republish with HarperCollins. 
 The Siren follows the story of Kahlen, a girl who is given a second chance at life when the Ocean turns her into one of Her Sirens. For 100 years a Siren must dutifully serve the sea, singing to cause shipwrecks and feed humans to the Ocean. After 80 years of servitude, Kahlen is struggling. She feels immense guilt over the deaths that she has caused as a Siren and yearns for a normal life, including love and marriage. One day she meets Akinli, a college student, who seems to see past her Siren beauty and silence (Siren's can't talk in front of humans or they'll run straight to the Ocean to drown) and sees her for who she truly is. But how can they make it work when they're from completely different worlds? 
 The most interesting parts of this book for me were learning the history of the Sirens, from their powers to their individual backgrounds. There are always three to five Sirens serving the Ocean at any given time, becoming Her daughters and becoming sisters to each other. There was a great chance for diversity in this sisterhood that I think could have been explored more. The Sirens were from all over the world, including Japan and India, but once they were turned into Sirens it seemed the culture there just disappeared and the girls all became sort of generic. We only learned about how two or three of the girls came to serve the Ocean, like Kahlen, Aisling, and Padma. I think it would've been great to learn about how the other girls got taken by the Ocean too. I'm also still curious about what (view spoiler)[Aisling (hide spoiler)] is up to now that (view spoiler)[her sentence as a Siren is over (hide spoiler)]. 
 One of the biggest forces in this book is supposed to be the Ocean, but I felt like the author was telling us instead of showing us everything. We were told about how complicated the relationship is between the Ocean and the Sirens. We're told how the Ocean hurts them, but we're told She is also like a mother to them. It sounds like an abusive relationship, but we never really see any of the moments, minus one at the end, where the Ocean acts motherly toward them. Maybe that's the point, that since the Ocean isn't human, She doesn't know how to show Her love. But there are many moments when Kahlen tells us about how she loves the Ocean and how She comforts her and is there for her, but I wish the author had shown us it more. I think we were supposed to feel bad for the Ocean, but there wasn't enough there to really feel anything for Her. I just didn't believe the connection the Ocean and Kahlen supposedly had to make Kahlen the favorite. 
 Let's get into the love story between Kahlen and Akinli. This was probably my least favorite part of the book. I wish their love story had a more time to grow instead of being a classic instalust scenario. The two of them spent barely three days together in the course of a little over a year and suddenly they're in love/soul mates? I could understand Kahlen being upset because she wants to find love and can't until her sentence as a Siren is up, but they just fell in love way too quickly. I would have liked to see them meet up a few more times to really solidify their relationship because every time Kahlen told the Ocean or her sisters about Akinli the author repeated the same two or three things because they just didn't have enough time together. There were two other things related to the Akinli part of the story that really bothered me. Randomly Kahlen told the reader that (view spoiler)[Akinli's parents died, but there's no way she could know that because she hadn't talked to him in months. It made me think maybe the editors missed the comment when they were working on the book. Either that, or maybe I missed something earlier, but I'm pretty sure I didn't (hide spoiler)]. The other thing I really didn't like was when Kahlen went back (view spoiler)[to the town where she stayed with Akinli and his cousins and talked about how they "had given [her] the truest sense of home." HOW???? She stayed with them for barely a day and during that time they had said they didn't want a stranger in the house. I don't understand how hanging out with them for one day made her fall in love with their family (hide spoiler)]. 
 I would have loved if this book had a more solid, real love story and if the Ocean's story line was stronger. I even think the relationship between the Siren sisters could have been stronger. Or even better if this was less of a love story and more about a girl dealing with being a Siren and planning an epic future when she's done. There were just so many things that I wish were expanded upon. We only know what Kahlen knows. But I'm curious about what happened to (view spoiler)[Aisling or even what Padma and the other girls did to her parents when they went to India without Kahlen (hide spoiler)]. 
 Overall I'm giving this book three stars because while I wanted more from the book, I did enjoy the writing style and I liked the parts of the story more focused on the Sirens. It made me want to read more about the history of Sirens and mythology. 
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