Book Review: Duet with the Siren Duke

Over the past couple years I have read and enjoyed the books in the interconnected standalone Married to Magic series by Elise Kova. The one that got released last year is Duet with the Siren Duke and I just read it last week. And I, of course, had to wear my dress that has cute mermaids on it!

This novel follows Victoria and Ilryth. The story begins with Victoria trying to escape a bad marriage with an emotionally abusive husband, Charles, a lighthouse keeper. In this world the lighthouses are one of the tools that humans use to keep sirens away. Wen Victoria falls into the water when trying to escape she almost dies, but is saved by Ilryth, a siren duke. He says he will save her if she will give him her soul in 5 years. What she doesn’t know is that handing her soul over means being trained to sing like the sirens and then sacrificed to the God of Death in order to save Ilryth’s people. But the more time Victoria and Ilryth spend together in training, the closer they become and the more feelings grow.

I really liked the premise of this book and I found Victoria and Ilryth really likable. I loved seeing them get to know one another and learn about each other’s worlds. However, this was my least favorite of the Married to Magic series. I found the other ones to be enjoyable and fast reads and this one took me I think a week and a half to get through because it was so lengthy. I read my fair share of long books, but this dragged on to the point that it got to be really boring at times. I truly believe if the book was half the length, I would’ve really loved it because as I said it was a good storyline and I liked the characters. I don’t regret reading it because although the books can be read as standalones, I like the idea of reading the complete series.

There is one book left to the series that just released last week and I do plan to read that at some point!

Read this if you are looking for a steamy fantasy romance with the slow burn and forbidden love tropes and sirens/mermaids.

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