BookHounds ya: BOOK REVIEW Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo, Natalie Zaman @Natalie

Sunday, June 10, 2012

BOOK REVIEW Sirenz by Charlotte Bennardo, Natalie Zaman @Natalie_Zaman @charbennardo

Book Description

Publication Date: June 8, 2011 | Series: Sirenz

Bickering frenemies Meg and Shar are doing some serious damage at a midnight sample sale when the fashionistas find themselves arguing over a pair of shoes-with fatal consequences. One innocent bystander later, the girls are suddenly at the mercy of Hades, Lord of the Underworld himself. To make them atone for what they've done, Hades forces the teens to become special-assignment Sirens, luring to the Underworld an individual whose unholy contract is up.

Finding that delicate balance between their fashion addiction and their new part-time job in the eternal hellfire biz turns out to be harder than Meg and Shar expected, especially when an entire pantheon of Greek deities decides to get involved. Then there's the matter of the fine print in their own contracts...

ABOUT CHARLOTTE
I'm living one dream; my book, Sirenz, co-authored with best gal pal Natalie Zaman, debuts from Flux in June. I'd like to be able to chase my other dreams where ever they take me, but that's dependent upon money, time, political unrest, contractual agreements, book revisions, if cat will let me, and if I have to make dinner.
ABOUT NATALIE
Natalie Zaman is the co-author of Sirenz and its sequel, Sirenz Back In Fashion, published by Flux. Her other projects are a concoction of steampunk, romance and Victorian paranormal fantasy, not necessarily in that order. Or all together. Natalie lives in central New Jersey with her family and several fine looking chickens.

SOURCE: AUTHORS

MY THOUGHTS
LOVED IT

This story about two private high school roommates, who are not really friends or enemies, Meg and Shar and is loosely based on the Greek mythology of Hades. When the girls do get together at a shoe sale, the worst happens when they fight over a pair of shoes and somehow shove a guy onto the subway tracks. As the Lord of the Underworld, Hades forces the girls into service as Sirens to bring a soul whose time is up to answer for their misdeed. The girls are given powers to help them with their quest. Now these girls must now work together AND for a man they begin to loathe just sets up a wonderful tale. Oh, and shoes, did I mention shoes?

Since the guy they are set up to bring back to the Underworld is deaf and blind, Meg's beautiful voice is wasted while Shar's enchantments are totally worthless. The gift of transformation into birds (yes, and you though sirens were just mermaids!), is worth the price of the book alone. Meg is the smart one on the surface but don't think Shar is just a pretty package. Meg's love of vintage captured my heart. Shar is all about name brands (lots are dropped) and she also has brains but her overt love of fashion seems to outweigh them sometimes. Oh, how i loved these characters and the humor that is bestowed upon them. Of course things really spark when all of the gods get involved with their efforts.

The plot speeds along and is pretty clean which is a good start for even the youngest teens to enjoy. There may be some worry over a few of Hades tricks but if they have survived Twilight, it will be a non issue. The element of the girls working together even though they don't want to is a nice twist and the fact that by working together is that it increases their ability to succeed. I have read a few books about Sirens recently (Of Poseidon by Anna Banks and Wake by Amanda Hocking) and this one really hits the mark. I now have another series to recommend to reluctant readers along with Marlene Perez (Dead is), Kelly McClymer (Salem) and Alyson Noel (Riley Bloom).