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A review by thenightofcups
The Siren by Tiffany Reisz
2.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. Before I share the things that really bothered me I want to point out that this is a well-written novel. It's not smut or porn or trash. It's not even a romance. It's a study of a group of characters. And that I can appreciate.
BUT I had real issues with some of the details. First of all, Soren is a priest. When one is in a position of power (emotional, religious, academic, professional, etc) it is utterly inappropriate, and unethical, and completely psychotic to take advantage of it in the ways he did. He was fucking her in the head for years before he ever made it downstairs. She needed intervention, yes, not BDSM. And I don't say that from a judgmental position on anyone's kink, either. The reality is that Nora was a child. A CHILD. Regardless of the fact that her virginity was in tact until she was well past 18, that is not the point. She was brainwashed by a figure of emotional and religious authority into thinking she belonged to him from the age of 15, and that a brutal sexual relationship was eminent. And that is NOT okay.
The kicker is that Nora KNEW it wasn't okay, too. Yet she defends him. And returns to him. It's classic.
I would be willing to accept his broken nature and the absurd relationship Soren had with Nora if Michael hadn't happened. That was wrong on so many unspeakable levels. It's one thing to read such happenings in an Ann Rice book (IE: The Vampire Armand) because the element of the supernatural kind of overshadows the actual abuse that was being inflicted on a very young and frightened Armand by a very damaged- and much older- Marius. But here? No. This is real. That boy attempted suicide, and Soren promising that he can fuck a Dominatrix if he doesn't cut for a year is unacceptable to me. Clearly he had other issues that needed to be discussed in healthy therapy. He was not a consenting adult. HE WAS A CHILD PUSHED INTO LITERAL SEXUALITY BY HIS PRIEST WHO WAS LOOKING TO STICK IT TO HIS EX. HOW IS THAT OKAY? Was Soren trying to turn Nora into the pedophile he was? I kind of don't even want to think about it.
Wesley broke my heart, and to be honest, I hated Nora for what she did to him. She ruined him. And he'll have those scars for the rest of his life. By the time the book was coming to a close, I was expecting everyone to end up in misery. The happy ending Zach and Grace got really made this whole book worth it. This does not mean I'm going back on my assertion that a teacher taking advantage of a student is one of the highest orders of WRONG. Not at all. I don't approve of what Zach did to Grace any more than I approve of Soren and Nora, but Grace was a college student. Nora was a 15 year old girl. Big difference. Not okay by any stretch, but a far cry from Father Soren and his ownership of a pubescent girl.
I don't think I can stomach the rest of this series. I want to stress that it was a very well written novel, and smart without being pretentious. I appreciated how Zach's passages were more British than Nora's (and that is hard to come by in many novels!!). I realize it's okay to be aroused by something that's wrong if you KNOW it's wrong and can compartmentalize. But this is just too much wrong for me to wrap my brain around. It's a romanticization of some very evil things. I've seen outrage by the BDSM community over the portrayal of unhealthy BDSM relationships in books like Fifty Shades of Grey, and I've seen people touting The Siren as what Fifty could have been if it had tried and did any research at all. But The Siren isn't any healthier than Fifty. Not by a long shot. This book is about messed up people living messed up lives who seem to get off on fucking [with] one another. Sorry, but it is.
BUT I had real issues with some of the details. First of all, Soren is a priest. When one is in a position of power (emotional, religious, academic, professional, etc) it is utterly inappropriate, and unethical, and completely psychotic to take advantage of it in the ways he did. He was fucking her in the head for years before he ever made it downstairs. She needed intervention, yes, not BDSM. And I don't say that from a judgmental position on anyone's kink, either. The reality is that Nora was a child. A CHILD. Regardless of the fact that her virginity was in tact until she was well past 18, that is not the point. She was brainwashed by a figure of emotional and religious authority into thinking she belonged to him from the age of 15, and that a brutal sexual relationship was eminent. And that is NOT okay.
The kicker is that Nora KNEW it wasn't okay, too. Yet she defends him. And returns to him. It's classic.
I would be willing to accept his broken nature and the absurd relationship Soren had with Nora if Michael hadn't happened. That was wrong on so many unspeakable levels. It's one thing to read such happenings in an Ann Rice book (IE: The Vampire Armand) because the element of the supernatural kind of overshadows the actual abuse that was being inflicted on a very young and frightened Armand by a very damaged- and much older- Marius. But here? No. This is real. That boy attempted suicide, and Soren promising that he can fuck a Dominatrix if he doesn't cut for a year is unacceptable to me. Clearly he had other issues that needed to be discussed in healthy therapy. He was not a consenting adult. HE WAS A CHILD PUSHED INTO LITERAL SEXUALITY BY HIS PRIEST WHO WAS LOOKING TO STICK IT TO HIS EX. HOW IS THAT OKAY? Was Soren trying to turn Nora into the pedophile he was? I kind of don't even want to think about it.
Wesley broke my heart, and to be honest, I hated Nora for what she did to him. She ruined him. And he'll have those scars for the rest of his life. By the time the book was coming to a close, I was expecting everyone to end up in misery. The happy ending Zach and Grace got really made this whole book worth it. This does not mean I'm going back on my assertion that a teacher taking advantage of a student is one of the highest orders of WRONG. Not at all. I don't approve of what Zach did to Grace any more than I approve of Soren and Nora, but Grace was a college student. Nora was a 15 year old girl. Big difference. Not okay by any stretch, but a far cry from Father Soren and his ownership of a pubescent girl.
I don't think I can stomach the rest of this series. I want to stress that it was a very well written novel, and smart without being pretentious. I appreciated how Zach's passages were more British than Nora's (and that is hard to come by in many novels!!). I realize it's okay to be aroused by something that's wrong if you KNOW it's wrong and can compartmentalize. But this is just too much wrong for me to wrap my brain around. It's a romanticization of some very evil things. I've seen outrage by the BDSM community over the portrayal of unhealthy BDSM relationships in books like Fifty Shades of Grey, and I've seen people touting The Siren as what Fifty could have been if it had tried and did any research at all. But The Siren isn't any healthier than Fifty. Not by a long shot. This book is about messed up people living messed up lives who seem to get off on fucking [with] one another. Sorry, but it is.