The Siren by Tiffany Reisz


The Siren was probably the worst piece of erotica I've read in a long time.

The novel is about Dominatrix/Erotica Author Nora Sutherlin who wants to break into the high class publishing world. But in order to do so, her novel has to be edited by the hard-ass, pretentious Zach Easton, who thinks erotica is the scum of the earth and not up to the high standards of the previous novels he has edited. So of course, there's going to be some kinky, hate-filled sex between the two of them as they fall more and more in love with each other and their differences.

Yeah...not so much.

The description sets the story up to be a love affair between the Editor and the Dominatrix, who have to deal with their slow attraction towards each other but also focus on the book. But it really wasn't like that it all. The two of them are attracted to each other, but neither one of them really wants to be with the other for more than just sex; they're both hung up on past (shitty) relationships.

The main protagonist Nora is supposed to be a Dominatrix with a soft, wickedly funny side. But really she's just kind of a terrible person and sleeps with everything that has a pulse--with no thought of how it will make the people around her feel. She toys with her virginal assistant Wes, who she obviously has feelings for, and who obviously has feelings for her as well, but just breaks his heart because she wants to stay behind the facade of her Dominatrix personality. The way she treated others as objects just made her extremely unlikable and the main reason why I almost didn't finish this book.

And the ending was just annoying. I understand that there is going to be a sequel, so hopefully things will turn out better in the next novel; but the conclusion was the kind of ending that makes people not want to read the sequel because it pisses you off so much.

Also, the sex scenes were disappointing. They weren't descriptive, immensely short, and there were barely any! Which, I suppose, was a good thing in the end because they were so poor. But erotica is all about the smut; so if you can't write good smut, why are you writing an erotica novel?!

I guess I do have to give credit to the author for not following the classic Erotica story tree. It basically destroyed any assumptions a reader would make about how the plot would evolve; and I liked that the unconventional erotica novel that Nora was writing in the story essentially paralleled the The Siren as a whole--which is why I'm giving this novel two stars instead of one. But all together, it was a disappointment--especially because it received a lot of positive reviews. It just rubbed me the wrong way.

Call me boring, but I guess I just like the usual erotica tropes.

My Rating: ★ ★

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