A pirate walks off with a ruby and winds up owing a sea god three years of her life. Suddenly, my overdue library books seem pretty manageable.
Thank you to the author and publisher for the book and my honest review. This book tour is sponsored by Toppling Stacks Tours.
The Siren’s Kiss by Leslie Vedder, published by Amulet Books, promises Pirates of the Caribbean meets The Little Mermaid. The setup delivers on that mash-up. Dead Shot Rayleigh, the eighteen-year-old captain of the cursed Revenant, wants her freedom. Her best bargaining chip is the heart of Red-Handed Roger, the sea god who cursed her. Small problem. The Sea Witch stole it. Meanwhile, Maren, a mermaid with her own reasons to find the witch, comes to the surface to get her brother back and protect the remaining mermaids. The two have every reason to get in each other’s way and, inconveniently, every reason to stick together.
I liked the characters, the world, and the love story, and there’s plenty of action once things get moving. I also found the pacing slow and saw too much of the story coming. If you’re wondering whether this is your kind of pirate adventure, here are five reasons I’d give it a look.
1. Rayleigh and Maren both have something worth fighting for
I liked that I could root for both leads from the moment I understood what they wanted. Rayleigh has spent three years living with the consequences of taking the Siren’s Kiss. Getting her hands on Roger’s heart gives her a chance to decide what her life looks like again. Maren has her brother to think about, along with the last remaining mermaids. There’s an urgency to her mission that makes it easy to understand why she has so little patience for an infuriating pirate.
Their goals also make the partnership more interesting. They need to find the same person, but getting what one of them wants won’t automatically solve the other’s problem. I wanted to see how much room they’d make for each other’s priorities when they already had so much at stake.
2. The sapphic romance gives the adventure its heart
A cursed pirate and a mermaid with clashing plans? Yes, I wanted to see how that would go. I liked their love story because their reasons for teaming up are clear from the start. Each needs something from the Sea Witch, and each has a reason to be wary of the other. Having to trust someone under those circumstances is a tall order. Catching feelings on top of it is downright inconvenient.
The two points of view also give each girl room to have a life beyond the romance. I could see why Rayleigh wanted to get off that ship and why Maren couldn’t walk away from her search. Their growing connection was one of the parts I enjoyed most, even when I wished the larger story would move along.
3. The world has plenty to explore above and below the water
Cursed ships, sea monsters, pirate kings, siren songs. There’s a lot to like about the world Vedder builds. I especially liked that Maren brings a mermaid’s concerns into a story that could easily have stayed on the deck of the Revenant. Rayleigh’s curse gives us one reason to care about what’s happening at sea. The danger facing the remaining mermaids gives us another.
The sea also feels like a place with rules and grudges that were around long before Rayleigh ever touched that ruby. What happens below the surface can upend a pirate’s life, and a bargain with a god might hinge on something the Sea Witch has been holding on to for years. That’s the side of the setting I wanted to spend time in.
4. The old gods have a mess of their own
Red-Handed Roger and the Sea Witch used to be friends. Then they fell for the same mermaid and nearly destroyed the world. As friendship breakups go, that’s a lot to ask everyone else to get over.
That history was one of my favorite ideas in the premise. Rayleigh sees Roger’s stolen heart as a way off her ship, but it was already part of somebody else’s love story before it became her bargaining chip. And here comes another pirate-and-mermaid pairing, trying to get what they need from the very people whose feelings caused so much trouble in the first place. I liked having that older story hanging over Rayleigh and Maren’s choices.
5. There’s plenty of swashbuckling when the story gets moving
If you’re here for an adventure involving a cursed captain, sea monsters, and a risky hunt for a stolen heart, there’s plenty of action to enjoy. I liked seeing the characters have to deal with threats outside their own uneasy partnership. They already have enough trouble agreeing on what to do, and the sea gives them very little time to sort it out.
Even with all that action, the book felt slow to me. I could often guess where the plot was headed, and much of the adventure reminded me of pirate stories I’d read before. That familiarity took some of the suspense out of the journey. If a classic pirate setup is part of what draws you in, you might have more fun with that than I did.
My 3.5-star verdict ⭐⭐⭐✨
Come for the cursed ship and sea monsters, and give Rayleigh and Maren a chance to win you over. They were the reason I wanted to keep reading, even when I felt a few steps ahead of the plot. I’d recommend The Siren’s Kiss to readers who want a YA pirate fantasy with a sapphic love story and who are happy to sail familiar waters to get it.
About the book:
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publishing date: September 1, 2026
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Rep: LGBT+, Sapphic, Lesbian
Synopsis:
Pirates of the Caribbean meets The Little Mermaid in this swashbuckling Sapphic fantasy!
Three years ago, Dead Shot Rayleigh laid hands on the legendary ruby the Siren’s Kiss andsuffered the wrath of the sea god, Red-Handed Roger.
Now bound as captain of his cursed ship, The Revenant, eighteen-year-old Rayleigh hatches a plan to win her freedom. Everyone knows that Red-Handed Roger’s heart was stolen by the Sea Witch. If she can get it back, she can barter her release.
But Rayleigh isn’t the only one with a score to settle. Fiery mermaid Maren lost her brother to the Sea Witch, and she’s come to the surface to get him back and save the last remaining mermaids at all costs.
When Maren runs afoul of the infuriating cursed pirate Rayleigh, sparks fly, and all her plans go up in flames. Now the only chance they have is each other.
Swashbuckling, sea monsters, pirate kings, siren songs, and stolen hearts!
Red-Handed Roger and the Sea Witch were once friends, before they both fell for the same mermaid and almost destroyed the world. Will Rayleigh and Maren’s love set things right, or just finish what the old gods started?
Some hearts are meant to be stolen…
Meet the author:
Leslie Vedder (she/her) is a queer ace author who loves girls kicking ass in fantasy! She grew up on fantasy books, anime, fanfiction and the Lord of the Rings movies, and met her true love in high school choir. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in creative writing and currently lives in Colorado with her wife and her kitty Fox Mulder, who believes the treats are out there.
When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her watching anime and sci-fi shows, walking in the woods and pretending they’re enchanted forests, or playing old video games. She always collects all the Skulltulas in Zelda and all the Dalmation puppies in Kingdom Hearts.
Her debut YA THE BONE SPINDLE was an indie bestseller. Find her online at leslievedder.com.