The City Center - 4 stars

Firefly: (A Dystopian Story of Christmas) - 5 stars

Cold-Blooded - 5 stars

Not Okay Cupid - 5 stars

Sound of Sirens: (Tales of Skylge #1) - 4 stars

Zia, The Teenage Zombie & The Undead Diaries - 3 1/2 stars

The Girlfriend Request - 3 stars

Phantastische Tierwesen und wo sie zu finden sind - 4 stars

Favorite book(s) of the month: The City Center, Firefly, Cold Blooded, Not Okay Cupid, Sound of Sirens

Books started this month but haven't finished yet: Scintillate (one day I'm gonna finish it), All the Light We Cannot See

Eight books!!! I'm happy with that. I pretty much loved all the books I have read. Not all of them have been my favorites but I enjoyed them all. So it's been a good month. I have a tablet now and read most of my ebooks there and it's just so much easier than reading on my phone or my laptop.

First things first: I won this book way way back in Sarah Dalton's YA Spring Fling!!! Feels like forever ago. Later I downloaded the whole ebook set of the series in november when there was a discount on it (and that kicked my butt and finally made me start reading it)

That was an amazing start to a series. I love how fast paced it is, it kinda has to be, cause it's 'only' 170 pages long. But still, things don't feel rushed. We get a great amount of world building (the world is so interesting to me) and relationship building. And the characters of course.

I seriously love how the characters are written, especially the relationships. I love LOVE the friendship between Enna and Dani. I'm a sucker for great friendships in books.

I'm still not sure about Royce. But I have two more books to figure it out.

I can't wait to read the rest.

I started this book two days ago and aaah, I just love it. It's really fast paced (of course, there ae only 170 pages or so). I really like he world building, and the way the characters are really well written. Love it.

Minkman's book, Sound of Sirens, is an enthralling story filled with secrets, sirens and a blooming forbidden romance between two people of two different worlds.

On the island of Skylge, the Skylgers struggle each day because they have no electricity and stand mostly defenseless when the Nixen attack. The Currents are the opposite of Skylgers; they live in fortified high-rise apartment buildings, they have loud music that drowns out the merfolk call and ultimately, they have electricity. In addition, the Currents protect the people by the bright, shining light of the Brandaris Tower. Thus, the Skylgers, the original settlers of the island, are underlings of the Currents because of that. It’s quite ironic, isn’t it?

Enna and Royce met officially when her brother, Sytse, came home and brought her a record from the mainland. She was confronted by Royce because he wants the LP and it was the only copy the ship brought in. Enna wouldn’t sell it to him for it was a gift, so they agreed to meet in secret. She will bring the LP and Royce will play it on his record player so that they both can enjoy the music. Then, one night when Enna was going home from Royce’s cottage she sees a shadow figure coming out of the old hut. It was her brother.

What was he doing? Why was he there? What is he hiding?

Sirens, romance and secrets that can change everything.

I am a sucker for romances especially in books that have forbidden love because it makes everything more exciting and dangerous, don't you think? The couple's pain, sacrifices and struggles for their love - bittersweet. Just as I like it.

‘Sound of Sirens’ is a refreshing, captivating read and is definitely one of my favourites. I highly recommend this book! The author’s writings never fail to captivate me and make me feel as if I am experiencing it first-hand through reading, in any of her books. That said, Minkman did a wonderful job by including the music that you can hear and feel it as well while reading. A different feeling for every song.

I loved how Minkman has written the family's relationship and roles. It wasn't just the title or label of being a family member, but she also shown the interaction between all of them. Minkman clearly depicted how a specific family member do, think and act in its own way. I agree with their decision on why they hid things from Enna. They know her so much and she stubbornly denies that she would act impulsively. A few pages later, my reaction was like, "Oh well would you look at that. She couldn't keep it without blurting out a thing for a week or two".

On a different note, I am happy to see how Enna and Royce's relationship progressed. I wasn't instant love and there is no love triangle. Yay! The last chapters of the book were challenging for them both. I wonder what are they planning to do next. I'm so thrilled!

Minkman ended this book with a lot of questions unanswered. I just hope I will get answers when I read the next book, Light of Lorelei!

I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.

I'll just be honest right from the start: I didn't like this book because it was boring. It bored me even though it's only just over 100 pages long.

I wanted to like it. I really did. It's set on the island of Skylge, modelled after the Dutch island of Terschelling, and when I saw this Dutch book on Netgalley, I immediately wanted to read it. And the mention of mermaids/sirens only made it better. However, it didn't work out for me.

100 pages isn't much if you're trying to set up a completely new world. I know this is the first part of a new series, but it felt just like a teaser for the actual series, being so short. A lot - most of which comes unexplained - is going on but nothing could make me feel the story or simple care.

It felt like there was a Dystopian twist given to the story, with the Currents as the only ones to be allowed to use electricity for some reason and the Islanders definitely being second-rank citizens. What this has to do with the mythology and mermaids? Your guess is as good as mine, although I think the popularity of Dystopian novels might just have something to do with it...

All in all, I don't think I will be continuing this series.

Sound of Sirens is the first book in the Tales of Skylge series. The second book is Light of the Lorelei and the third book, Fire of Fryslan is expected to be published in April.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!