It's not often that a book comes along that completely and totally blows me away. During an 8 hour road trip to Lori Foster's Reader Author Get Together, Mandi of Smexy Books and Bells of Hanging with Bells, told me that I have to read The Siren. The entire weekend they were telling me and others that we have to read this book! I already had the book on my K-Fire but wasn't in any hurry to read it. On our way home, I decided to start reading The Siren, thinking I'll read a couple of chapters to make the drive go by quicker. I read half the book in the van. Got home, was tired as hell, but continued reading The Siren. And then the next day, went to work and watched the clock until it was lunch time so that I could finish it. All I have to say is - Oh. My. God.I don't know how to review this book. It's not a romance. There's no HEA (yet). And if there is an HEA, I don't think it will be your typical romantic ending. Let's start at the beginning. Nora is a writer. Zach Easton is given the task of editing her latest book. Zach's a book snob. He thinks Nora's books are guttersnipe trash and he doesn't take the editing job seriously. He refuses at first until he starts reading her manuscript. What he sees is great potential. Once Zach and Nora start working together, their attraction grows. But Zach isn't ready for a relationship. His wife left him and he is nursing a broken heart.Nora is not only a writer but she's a Dominatrix as well. She makes great money and she is the Dominatrix. Nora is also living with a 19 year old college student who's also her intern. Nora is also 4 years removed from a D/s relationship with her former Dom, Soren.Soren, what can I say about him? When I first started reading about him in The Siren, I gave him the name The Boogeyman. He is a huge shadowy presence in Nora's life and for me, he is scary. We learn about Nora and Soren's relationship through her telling and her writing. The D/s relationship is violent and brutal and arousing. The injuries that she endures in the name of love is too much for me to handle. Some scenes made me uncomfortable. Some made me flinch. There are many things about their relationship that made me uncomfortable besides the D/s aspect. And yet I continued reading.I immediately fell in love with Nora's intern, Wesley. He's a Southern Christian boy who is saving his virginity for the Ms. Right. Nora is attracted to him but tries very hard to not cross that line. As much as she loves having Wesley in her life and as attracted as she is to him, she doesn't want to harm him. And being with Nora could seriously harm Wesley. Despite the 14 year age difference, I think Wesley and Nora's relationship is the most stable and normal relationship in Nora's life. But Wesley is too vanilla, too innocent and Nora doesn't do either one. Wes and Nora had some of the best and most emotional scenes in this book.The Siren is a book that evoked so many emotions while I read it. It definitely made me uncomfortable, icky, frustrated and sad. This book owned me. I could not put it down. And once I finished, I couldn't stop thinking about it. The Siren is so well written and I was so invested in all the characters, even The Boogeyman.When the book ended, I cried. Wes and Nora broke my heart; it was gut-wrenching reading what they were going through. Also, some of my tears were due to fear. I feared for Nora's safety because I'm not sure the decision she made at the end was the best one. But the author, Tiffany Reisz, says to trust her so I'm going to.I can't recommend The Siren enough. Like the opening line of Nora's book "The Consolation Prize" states, This is not a romance novel. What it is is a heart-wrenching story that will have you thinking about it long after you've read the last page.A+
