Review: The Siren's Touch by Amber Belldene

The Siren's Touch by Amber Belldene

July 21, 2015

188 pages

Genre: Paranormal romance 18+

Contains: profanity, sex

Source: eARC for Honest review

One touch can change everything…

Hitman Dmitri Lisko is determined to avenge his father. Once he takes out the man he believes is responsible for his family’s tragedies, he’s done killing for good. But a mysterious woman may tempt Dmitri to change his plan.

Sonya Truss was murdered in a Ukrainian village in 1968. Now she’s reappeared in San Francisco as a rusalka—the ghost of a wronged woman. And she’s thirsty for the blood of her killer. But she has to make things right before she’s trapped between worlds forever.


Sonya's enigmatic siren powers stir Dmitri's long-buried chivalry, and he finds himself compelled to help her. He also can’t resist giving her a taste of the pleasures she never experienced while she was alive. Soon they discover that touch has surprising consequences. Yet when their shared mission comes to cross-purposes, they must choose between deadly sacrifice—or surrendering to the one act that can save them both.

I went into this story having not paid much attention to the synopsis. My draw was simply having been a fan of Amber Belldene's Blood Vine series, which I loved. So knowing Amber had written a new book, I knew I wanted to read it. Fortunately, it only took me a few chapters to become totally engrossed in this story. 

'The Siren's Touch' felt like I stepped into a modern day fairy tale, but a fairy tale with a very dark and twisted path and characters teetering on the edge of a deep abyss. This was a supernatural tale revolving around revenge and vengeance, but also second chances, redemption, and love. I also loved the mix of past and present, Ukranian culture and mythology.

I was spellbound by Dmitri and Sonya's story and figuring out how they were going to solve Sonya's issue and what the consequences would be. And at the same time Dmitri had his own revenge plot he was trying to fulfill. But plans have a way of changing, particularly when new information comes to light, and the plotter himself starts to make personal changes as well. When a book revolves around revenge, it can be difficult to know how to root or your characters or if you should even cheer for them. There were certain moral questions that came to light, and I loved how Belldene handled it all, and how the ultimate plot unraveled and concluded.

I also fell in love with Dmitri and Sonya. Each had tragic pasts. Dmitri had been raised in a very difficult environment, and had unfortunately made some poor choices in his life. Sonya had been murdered, and while she was innocent then, now, as a rusalka, she has vengeance in her blood. Both are faced with incredible choices. But the beauty of this story is how these two souls find each other, and in the midst of helping each other, end up saving themselves. Dmitri makes the biggest changes, and I loved his transformation. For such a hard character, he turns out to be the sweetest. And for Sonya being so out of touch with the present, she turns out to be the perfect match for Dmitri. Their love story was beautiful, and I was on the edge of my seat hoping for a happy ending for them.

I loved 'The Siren's Touch' and Dmitri and Sonya's story. I was also excited to find out there would be sequels to this story, featuring some characters introduced here. I can't wait to read more in this fascinating series!

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