Review of Sirenz by Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo

Publisher: Flux

Release Date: June 8, 2011

More Info: Amazon    The Book Depository

Book Blurb:

Bickering frenemies Meg and Shar are doing some serious damage at a midnight sample sale when the fashionistas find themselves arguing over a pair of shoes-with fatal consequences. One innocent bystander later, the girls are suddenly at the mercy of Hades, Lord of the Underworld himself. To make them atone for what they've done, Hades forces the teens to become special-assignment Sirens, luring to the Underworld an individual whose unholy contract is up.

Finding that delicate balance between their fashion addiction and their new part-time job in the eternal hellfire biz turns out to be harder than Meg and Shar expected, especially when an entire pantheon of Greek deities decides to get involved. Then there's the matter of the fine print in their own contracts...

My Thoughts:

"Sirenz" is fun and funny, and had me laughing out loud many times. Meg and Shar have been thrown together as roommates at an alternative high school that offers residential, college style housing, to it's top students, and it's been a bumpy ride; they are dissimilar and they barely tolerate each other but the school's policy is clear: irreconcilable differences = removal from the program.

While spending time some together shopping over the Christmas school break, in an attempt at bonding, they find themselves arguing over the same pair of red shoes and a cute guy; the latter is named "Bad-ass jacket" by Meg and "Sweet Jeans" by Shar. Guys and fashion, what every pair of BFF's can enjoy, even if their styles are different. "Sweet Jeans" aka Jeremy reappears later in the story and is crucial to the overall plot.

Their arguing leads to an unfortunate event and out of nowhere, Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, appears and offers to help them out. Of course, there's a catch - if they fail to achieve the job he offers them, they will turn into Sirens - bird shaped women who act on his behalf to bring him mortals who have sold their soul to him a la Faust. After much talk and negotiation, a deal is struck, and they have 2 weeks to complete their assignment.

Hades, in Bennardo and Zaman's world, is a lot like the Christian Satan, with a bit of Loki, the Norse god of, among other things, tricks, thrown in. True to classical Greek mythology, Hades is sneaky, lecherous, and not to be trusted. Bennardo and Zaman give us a new spin on the Demeter, Persephone and Hades story, giving us a modern update.None of the gods we meet are particularly nice or trustworthy, straight out of classical mythology.

The girls are stuck together while they work on this job and it doesn't always go smoothly but they keep trying. Along the way, they live in a fabulous condo, enjoy shopping sprees, try to resist temptation, and discover that they can work together and even get along.

The story has twists and turns, the occasional cliche, snappy dialogue, and a fun, original take on Greek mythology. There's a happy ending, but we know that life will not be a smooth ride as the second book is already written. I'm looking forward to it.

I received this paperback from the authors for review as part of a Bewitching Books Blog Tour.