The Siren by Tiffany Reisz. Published by Mira.

Sensuality rating: Blistering, and then some.

This is less a review than a collection of impressions.  I’m feeling too shell-shocked to come up with plot summaries.

The Siren is a complex, fascinating book. I found myself often bewildered by it at first, because I kept trying to read it as a romance, despite having been warned that it isn’t one. Seriously, it isn’t one. It is a love story — or perhaps several — and like all great love stories, has a strong element of tragedy.

“The Siren” is Nora, a popular erotica writer. Writers of erotic romance often seem to stress the stability of their private lives, as if not wanting their readers to think they’re wild and crazy and think about sex all the time. But Nora is wild and crazy and thinks about sex all the time.  She’s heavily into the BDSM scene, as someone who can take either the dominant or the submissive role equally well.  And she’s polyamorous, capable of loving any number of men (or women) with depth and sincerity.

Here is Nora as seen by the person who knows her best: “Eleanor is always joking. Eleanor is never joking.”  Both of these statements are very true: Nora is brilliant, funny, and accomplished at telling the truth in a way that makes it seem like a lie.  Her life is filled with secrets and heartaches and hidden agendas. (more…)