The book that started it all—the sophisticated, edgy and devastatingly sexy beginning to The Original Sinners series.

Notorious Nora Sutherlin is famous for her delicious works of erotica, each one more popular with readers than the last. But her latest manuscript is different—more serious, more personal—and she’s sure it’ll be her breakout book . . . if it ever sees the light of day.

Zachary Easton holds Nora’s fate in his well-manicured hands. The demanding British editor agrees to handle the book on one condition: he wants complete control. Nora must rewrite the entire novel to his exacting standards—in six weeks—or it’s no deal.

Nora’s grueling writing sessions with Zach are draining . . . and shockingly arousing. And a dangerous former lover has her wondering which is more torturous—staying away from him . . . or returning to his bed.

Nora thought she knew everything about being pushed to your limits. But in a world where passion is pain, nothing is ever that simple.

Avery’s Thoughts About the Book

The BDSM Romance Benchmark

SHOUT OUT TO HEATHER: Ok, you were right. I surrender. You were right. You. Were. Right. 100%, totally and undeniably correct.

A while back, my friend Heather and I went on a little mini road trip out to River Run Book Store in Portsmouth NH to meet an absolute favorite author of hers. I knew of the author but hadn’t read any her books yet. Even though I wasn’t familiar with her work, I am always down for meeting authors and picking their brain.

We get out there and right off the bat, we didn’t know what to expect with this signing. As book stores go, River Run Is not my favorite. It was my first time being there and the best thing I can say about the place is it smelled good. It’s very cramped and the cataloging system makes no sense to me. I had a hard time finding the order to things. However, with the excitement of the signing, maybe I wasn’t 100% on the ball at the time so please, don’t take my word for it. Give them a shot yourself.

We waited around for about forty-five minutes and in through the door strolls Tiffany Reisz. This chick is just a big ball of humor and intelligence and warmth. After talking with her in an intimate group of about 15 or 20, I was SOLD. I said it when I started reading the book and I will say it again – if her writing is HALF as clever and entertaining as she is as a person, these could possibly be some of the best books on the market right now. She was just incredible to listen to. She’s so funny and sweet and just a tiny bit sadistic. One of the most entertaining meet-n-greets I have ever been to.

Well, I was right. The Siren is both clever and entertaining. It is also shockingly painful (both emotionally and physically!) and absolutely heart breaking. Do not mistake me, this is not your average chick lit. I mean, in one night, the main character with has sex with or fools around with four different men. Her vagina has quite the free spirit.

Even with the sexual energy cranked up to 11, The Siren has a wonderful and touching story line. The book isn’t just an excuse to write sex scene after sex scene. The plot really is there. Lots of dark mystery and a twisted sort of romance. One of the twists I knew about because of the book signing with Tiffany but it didn’t take any of the surprise away. It was still an out-and-out stunner moment. And it is FAR from the only one of those in The Siren.

One thing I struggled with (and I touched on it a bit up above) was the BDSM scenes. Believe it or not, this book is NOT all whips and chains. However, the scenes that do involve pain were actually PAINFUL to read. I chatted with my mom about this book (yes, we do talk like that) throughout reading it and the one thing that kept coming up was HOW CAN SOMEONE DO THAT?!?!?! For me, it’s not even a pride/control/submission thing. Not at all. It’s a I-don’t-like-it-when-things-hurt kind of thing. Rough sex is one thing. Whipping someone for two hours and belting them across the face hard enough to make them bleed AS FOREPLAY is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT ANIMAL. It was painful to read but also fascinating. It doesn’t interest me in the slightest bit to try out but it didn’t even come close to making me want to stop reading either. To each his own. I don’t care what you like to do behind your closed doors – everyone has their own little kinkster in them – but I will take mine with no lashings, please.

Another thing I want to mention… I didn’t actually read this book. I listened to the unabridged audiobook. The narrator took some getting used to. I was a little amazed to see that this book would be narrated by a man but once I got used to him, I couldn’t imagine it being read to me by anyone else. There are a couple of trip-ups here and there. For instance, at one point, the narrator reads one of Nora’s lines in Wesley’s southern drawl. It’s just one sentence out of her entire dialog in that scene but it was enough that I was like “WAIT!! When did Wesley come into the room?!?!?” The very next sentence, the narrator is reading in Nora’s voice again. There were also a few retake spots where the producer didn’t mix the vocals right and it’s obvious that it was a retake. The levels aren’t even close to the same. I only ran into this three times while listening. The last thing is at the very beginning, I would say the first two hours or so, watch the volume!! Especially if you’re listening on ear buds!!! The narrator either got to close to the mic a few times or the mic’s filter wasn’t far enough away because a bunch of his ‘S’ sounds cause painful feedback in the mic. As I said though, it doesn’t last very long into the book. And it’s not every time he makes an ‘S’ sound. I think it happened five or six times. Other than that, the audio book was very well done. Saying as those few blips are over the course of a twelve hour and forty minute recording that really isn’t bad at all!!

This book was just amazing. A lot of other review sites are saying this series is the series that all the other D/s books should be compared to. I totally see why and I couldn’t agree more. It is VERY well written with a genuinely gripping story. The characters are well developed with a lot of depth. After meeting the author, you can really see her humor in Nora. The Siren was a wild ride.

Heat Level
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Avery’s Rating
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Tropes Used
BDSM
(I literally cant pin this book down to any other one trope)