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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Book Review: Sound of Sirens by Jen Minkman




Sound of Sirens (Tales of Skylge #1) by Jen Minkman
Genre: Young Adult (Paranormal/Fantasy Dystopian)
Date Published: November 28, 2014
Publisher: Dutch Venture Publishing

An ancient land protected by a Tower of Light,
its people ever tempted by Siren song,
and a girl who falls for the wrong boy.

On the island of Skylge, electricity is only for the Currents – the rich ruling class who once came from across the sea and brought the holy fire of St. Brandan to Skylge. Ever since, the light in the Brandaris Tower has protected the islanders. Heeding the Siren's call will drown your body and steal your soul, but the sacred light in the Tower will chase the merfolk away.

When Skylger girl Enna welcomes her brother back from a long sea voyage, he gives her a special present from the mainland – an electronic record only playable on a Current device. The problem is that Royce Bolton, Current heartthrob and the town’s most gifted pianist, wants it too. After she stubbornly refuses to sell the LP featuring his favorite artist, he suggests sharing the record by secretly meeting up in his private summer house. Taken aback yet thrilled, Enna agrees – and discovers that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Current society and the history of Skylge. Why do the Sirens tempt the islanders to give themselves up to the sea? And where does the Currents’ monopoly on electricity really come from? 

While struggling with these questions, Enna begins to fall for Royce, risking everything to be with a guy who is clearly wrong for her. She will learn that the sound of Sirens isn’t the most treacherous thing out there to haunt her dreams.

(The setting of Tales of Skylge is loosely based on the Dutch island of Terschelling, or Schylge in the island’s dialect. Although the names and places in this book will sound very familiar to people living on the island, the characters and events are, of course, entirely fictitious in nature.)

Sound of the Sirens is the first book in the Tales of the Skylge series by Jen Minkman. This is one of those stories that grew on me the more I read. The characters each have their own history, and as I read, I found that what they know may not even be the truth. It seems there is much going on behind the scenes on all sides. The lore of sirens and mermaids is something I already find interesting, and like everything else within this story so far, I don't feel like we have the full picture yet. There is darkness & mystery that surrounds the characters. Add in the beginnings of a forbidden love to the mix, and I was hooked.

Sound of Sirens by Jen Minkman was kindly provided to me by the author for review. The opinions are my own.
author
Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication.

In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack.

'I have always been drawn to writing. My first book was a sci-fi novel at the age of eight, which I painstakingly typed out on my dad's typewriter and illustrated myself. Nowadays, I stick to poetry, paranormal romance, chicklit and/or fantasy. In my home country, I am the first-ever published writer of paranormal romance, and I will gradually make my books also available in English (seeing I have to re-write and translate the books myself, this will take some time!


To learn more about Jen Minkman and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on GoodreadsFacebook, & Twitter.

1 comment :

  1. Thanks for sharing, I hadn't heard of this but I think I'll check it out :)

    ReplyDelete

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