Forsaken (Fallen Siren Series #2.5) by S. J. Harper

Emma and Zack’s relationship is fraught – Demeter’s interference has left Emma reeling and Zack angry with a terrible case of magical amnesia

But all of that has to be put aside when a multi-billionaire’s son is kidnapped and his babysitter murdered possibly due to an extreme act of revenge or just simple greed? Answers that can only be found by being professional, putting their issues aside – and going undercover in a sex club

As a book reviewer, there’s a repeat problem I have when reviewing a series I like. How do you say “I love this book for all the reason I loved all the previous books in the series” without sounding repetitive or lacklustre? It’s hard to make it clear that the elements that you love about a series are still making these books ones you really love to read without sounding like it’s stalled or run out of ideas

This is a short story in the Fallen Siren Series and, yes, it contains many of the elements that have made this one of my favourites:

We have a police investigation that is interesting, tense, exciting and relies as much and more on actual investigative skills as it does on magic (now I do love magic heavy series but I also prefer my investigative protagonists to actually have skill rather than deus ex machinae powers that are so often used as an easy way to solve the mystery without a coherent plot).

We have characters who have a romance – but put it aside. Again, in a genre where all too often characters have sex at inappropriate times, especially a character whose woo-woo is sex based, it is refreshing to see characters that have such a good sense of priorities. In this story there could be no alternative - you cannot have people in charge of finding kidnapped children be distracted by sexy times. But this also reflects not just in the romance but also the other character developments between them.

Over the course of the books, Zach and Emma have had a fraught history. Her curse, her justifiable fear of love and the constant threat of Demeter has made their relationship difficult and have left them with a lot of issues and rifts between them. And, as professionals, as capable dedicated adults, they are quite capable of putting aside all this emotional drama to focus on the essential task at hand. I really appreciate that.

Reckoning (Fallen Siren #2) by S.J. Harper

Special Agent Emma Monroe is an FBI agent who finds missing children – both as a profession and as a curse laid on the siren by Demeter in revenge for her failure to find Persephone. As part of that curse, Emma may not be happy, may not fall in love.

And love is not what she shares with Kallistos, the vampire king who shares her bed, though they certainly have fun. Less fun is her FBI partner Zack, werewolf, professional, fellow agent – and ex lover. If he could remember it – unknown to him they were once lovers and deeply in love and unable to be together without risking Demeter’s wrath. Saying no, is hard though.

All three are drawn into the hunt for missing girls – but it’s a hunt that spills over from her professional life to the supernatural as both werewolf and vampire politics raise their ugly heads.

There is a lot of sexual tension in this book, certainly more so than in the first book – but it’s just that for most of it, tension; there’s a lot of both of them lusting after the other, a fair amount of physical description that isn’t always necessary and more than a dollop of angst because of the curse that keeps Emma and Zack apart. There’s also a thread of angst between Emma and Kallistos; she has a no strings attached relationship with the vampire, the only kind of relationship that could work for her.

In many ways it does work, neither of them are embarrassed or ashamed about having casual sex, nor is their relationship considered wrong, something to hide, something to be embarrassed about or in any way it’s nice to see. But at the same time it’s inherently cast as inferior because it will always be the second choice to Zack and that shadows the whole thing – no matter how casual a relationship is, Emma pining after another man does not exactly make Kallistos feel happy and joyful. So it’s a fairly good representation of shameless sexual relationship but still holds it as inherently inferior.

The other source of conflict in their relationship is Kallistos being a vampire ruler and, because of that, a man who does evil things out of necessity. This is one of the better conflicts of the book – because it’s very tempting to look at Kallistos as the good vampire and then Lamont, an antagonist, as the bad vampire. But there’s a lair of complexity there – Kallistos is not a good person, he cannot even be a good person and still hold power. In fact, it can even be argued (and he does argue) that he cannot be a good person and even be a vampire – he can be a less bad person – but ultimately he is a being that preys on humanity which, on some level, means the exploitation and use of humans; made more fraught by the necessity of secrecy. I like how it looks at many of the things that other books may present as hallmarks of a “good” vampire and points out that “less bad” and “good” are a long way apart – and messing with people’s memories, stealing their blood, etc are not ever going to go in the “good” column.

Cursed (Fallen Siren Series #1) by S.J. Harper

Emma is a siren, banished from Olympus by Demeter for failing to keep Persephone safe, she now must seek redemption by saving kidnapped women and girls as an FBI agent if she is to ever have any hope of returning to Olympus. And in the meantime she must avoid any romantic entanglements or risk Demeter’s spite

Which makes her new partner, Zach, who she previously had a fling with, very complicated indeed. Especially since he’s a werewolf with a difficult past and fleeing political turmoil in his pack.

But emotions aside the job calls, people are going missing, people without any apparent connection between them – it’s their job to find them, preferably alive.

The story and world are definitely appealing – Emma is a cursed Siren and we have a wonderful new take on Siren mythology (especially since siren mythology is one of those that has several different versions). Emma’s quest for redemption, without any real confidence of ever being redeemed, is a powerful one – but not one that eats up the story with angst. She seeks redemption so she gets on with her job – she’s not happy with Demeter but she isn’t going to curl up into a sobbing ball for pages of how miserable she is, but at the same time her sadness, frustration and despair is apparent.

The book is a police procedural and I know that has been done a lot in Urban Fantasy – but it works. It works because it is actually a police procedural with the law and detective work and channels and procedures to follow. “Detective” isn’t a job just used as a title to justify why the woo-woo character happens to be involved in the latest case, it actually means something. Which in turn leads to the story being compelling as Emma and Zach hunt down leads, follow up possibles actually have to interview people and work and chase dead ends and generally do police work.

It’s got a wide world that has only been hinted at but already leaves me eager for more – the different werewolf packs and politics from that, the vampire kings and their own politics. With lovely extra twists like the vampires not wanting to reveal themselves to humans because they distrust the humanity of humanity! Because human exploitation, arrogance and cruelty is such that they think it wiser to hide from them – I love that twist.

When it comes to romance there’s usually a lot of tropes going on that give me headaches – but this managed to navigate them well, much to my happy surprise.

Firstly, there’s no love at first sight or love at first woo-woo – there’s attraction that grows into more and there’s also history between them. Just the fact they have been together before, that they know each other, that they’ve worked together gives a foundation on which that attraction and emotion can actually be built upon rather than just racing to the “rawr, sexy times!”