Dazzled by Books

l "Lullaby" by Amanda Hocking was "WOW!" "Lullaby" is the sequel to "Wake" and I have to say that I thought it was a lot better than "Wake." Gemma is gone and Harper is left at home to try to take care of their family. Gemma and Harper's father is heartbroken and having a hard time trying to function daily because he feels like he failed his daughter. He is under the impression that she just decided to up and run away since he doesn't know anything about the Sirens. In reality Gemma went with the sirens because she wanted to save her family, Alex, and Daniel.

Gemma isn't given much of a choice to go with the sirens. She leaves with them and has to start living their way of life. Thea begins to grow on me as she interacts with Gemma more and more. She doesn't seem to be like Penn and Lexi as much. Thea seems to have a caring side to her that the other two girls don't have. Gemma learns a lot from Thea as she and Thea begin to get along but since Gemma is refusing to eat like the other sirens do, she is beginning to die. Will Gemma finally give in to her siren ways or will she end up dying and killing them all?

I feel like Gemma has done a decent amount of growing up in this novel. I don't feel as if she is still completely thinking only about herself. Gemma wants to find a way to get home but she wants to do it in a way to where her family will still be safe from the other sirens. I feel like Gemma's siren self has made her more human than monster. She has learned to care for her family more than she did in book one. I think Gemma always loved her family but she was the one that was being taken care of, she didn't have to put her own effort into her family.

Harper is still my favorite character. There are still times that she is very pushy but I think that comes from her being a protective big sister because of her mother being in a terrible accident, so she has had to raise her little sister. Harper is having to learn how to let herself have some fun too even though she has taken on the responsibility of caring for her father and sister. Now that she is given a chance to actually make a life for herself, she can't figure out whether she wants to take it or not. Harper has never made time for herself and now is her chance, but with everything her sister is going through, she doesn't want to put another person in danger. I like Harper because she is the person I can relate to the most. She has a good head on her shoulders. She likes to take care of people, especially her family and she doesn't like to put herself first. I think Harper is brave to help take care of her sister likes she has and of course their father.

Then of course there are the cute boys and the mean girls and everyone in between. All the characters in this story definitely make the interactions interesting. I feel like with all the character sin the story it gives everyone a chance to relate to someone.

I like how the author does a dual point of view between Harper and Gemma. We can see how miserable Gemma is and how she is dealing with being a siren and then we can see how Harper is and how she is dealing with her sister being gone and trying to find her. I think this really shows the sisterly bond that they have. These two seem to have such a strong bond that they seem to be able to sense when something is wrong with the other one.

I love the fact that Hocking has created such a unique story based on the mythology. I love being able to read about others takes on mythology and what they think happened. I think it is really unique. It is very interesting having the siren take on everything rather than mermaids.

I listened to the audiobook, so I have to say that Barber does a great job narrating this story. She is entertaining and makes it easy to follow the story. I enjoyed Barber a lot. This has helped me get into a lot of audiobooks lately. I find that I enjoy the audiobooks more when the narrators are interesting and fun to listen too. Barber does a fabulous job with entertaining the reader and making sure that their attention stays on the story.

My only real complaint is I really don't think these books are made for young adult readers. I feel like there is some mature subject matter that comes up in the books. When I read books I think about whether I would be able to recommend them to my siblings and these are books that as much as I enjoy them, I would have a hard time handing the story over for my siblings to read. Other than that I really like this series and I am looking forward to "Tidal." "Lullaby" is definitely a great book. I still think it is way better than "Wake." If you like Sirens or want to learn more about them, I think this would be a great series to start with.