Starred review from April 24, 2023
Seventeen-year-old Saoirse Sorkova is a beautiful, brown-skinned siren, believed extinct in the fae-ruled Kingdom of Keirdre. As a siren, she can feel and taste emotions as well as ensnare men’s minds, and she also grapples with an insatiable need to kill. Saoirse hides her lineage and lives in secret among Keirdre’s fae, witch, and human denizens, only sharing her powers with her multi-species family. To make ends meet and protect her non-fae younger sister Rain from the cruel monarchy, Saoirse trains as a soldier in the kingdom’s military school by day, and by night performs covert, clandestine assassinations for an anonymous employer. When Rain receives a blackmail letter threatening to reveal her heritage, Saoirse vows to uncover the blackmailer using her new position as a guard for the otherworldly fae Prince Hayes. But a growing conspiracy soon reveals that her past assassinations might be connected, putting everything she’s worked so hard for at risk. Via Saoirse’s simultaneously ruthless and tender first-person POV, Burton spins an unforgettable debut that boasts impeccable characterizations and fresh takes on well-trod tropes that promise an amorous adventure centering a devoted, rag-tag family, stirring mythos, and sweetly budding romance. Ages 13–up. Agent: Naomi Davis, BookEnds Literary.