Christmas Cookie Recipe from Tiffany Reisz, Author of One Hot December + Giveaway! (US/Can only)

One Hot December (Men at Work #3)
Tiffany Reisz

Hard as steel... and hotter still!

Never mess with a woman who carries a blowtorch in her backpack. Welder and artist Veronica "Flash" Redding's playful sense of evil sometimes gets the better of her. Like when her insanely handsome, wealthy, suited-up boss gave her the most sensuously wicked night of her life…then dumped her. Yep, revenge is a dish best served hot.

Only Ian Asher isn't quite letting Flash get away quite so easily. He's not ready to forget the intensity between them. The searing heat when they touch. And the deliciously demanding control Ian wields in the bedroom. Now he has only the holidays to convince Flash that they belong together…and that even the most exquisite, broken things can be welded back together.

Buy the book from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Books-a-Million | iTunes | Kobo | Google Play | Publisher

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: The Angel by Tiffany Reisz and Giveaway!

The Angel (The Original Sinners #2)
Tiffany Reisz

Release Date: September 25th, 2012

Publisher: MIRA (Harlequin)

Page Count: 410

Source: I received a complimentary ARC from Little Bird Publicity in exchange for an honest and unbiased review, as part of the virtual book tour

No safe word can protect the heart

Infamous erotica author and accomplished dominatrix Nora Sutherlin is doing something utterly out of character: hiding. While her longtime lover, Søren—whose fetishes, if exposed, would be his ruin—is under scrutiny pending a major promotion, Nora's lying low and away from temptation in the lap of luxury.

Her host, the wealthy and uninhibited Griffin Fiske, is thrilled to have Nora stay at his country estate, especially once he meets her traveling companion. Young, inexperienced and angelically beautiful, Michael has become Nora's protégé, and this summer with Griffin is going to be his training, where the hazing never ends.

But while her flesh is willing, Nora's mind is wandering. To thoughts of Søren, her master, under investigation by a journalist with an ax to grind. And to another man from Nora's past, whose hold on her is less bruising, but whose secrets are no less painful. It's a summer that will prove the old adage: love hurts.

The first word that came to mind the moment I thought of how to start this review, was victim. Having read and worshipped the first book in this series, The Siren, I realized what it and The Angel have in common is that they both revolve around victims. Not victims in the most literal sense, but victims to, none other, but the Original Sinners. Which brings us to ask: who exactly are the Original Sinners? In Reisz's first book, the answer is unclear, but in this kinkier, more frustrating, and dare I say it... hotter sequel, the blurry lines are finally distinguished. Our Original Sinners are Nora, Søren, Griffin, Kingsley, Michael, and very possibly... the tenacious Wesley. But hush! ...you didn't hear it from me.

In The Siren, the victim was Zachary Easton, the one book editor who could really whip Nora into shape (her work, I mean!) and the one who unknowingly taught her a valuable lesson of love and trust. The Angel's victim happens to be rightfully intrusive reporter, Suzanne, who, like Zach, will change Nora Sutherlin's life forever, but concomitantly is just a passerby in the Sinners' lives, and will virtually never been seen or heard from again.

But before we get that hopeful, though, we as readers, have hell and high water to trudge through first.

Suzanne's trying to peruse the one case that should be left alone: Søren's position in the Catholic church. Oh, Søren. Terrifying, poised, perpetually sanctimonious, he's the small-town church's most respected priest, as well as the underground BDSM world's most revered Dom. He also happens to be Nora Sutherlin's lover. But again, shh...

A suspicious tipoff has Suzanne sprawling to get to the heart of the matter, but no one's going to make it easy for her, Søren included. As her investigation progresses, we learn of the overwhelming motives of why she's so desperate to persecute, as well as the more-frightening justifications of why the truth is so carefully hidden in the first place. But again, this is just the victim's story, the thematic narrative, the passing interference. The Sinners' story is much, much more complicated.

Under Søren's orders, Michael and Nora must hide out at trust-fund baby Griffin Fiske's luxurious palace of a home until Suzanne is convinced to leave. They can't be around while the reporter does her snooping; it's obvious she will expose Søren's lifestyle if she finds any incriminating evidence. Thus we embark on the intense, turbulent summer that begins in Griffin's mansion, composed of Michael's Sub training, as well as Griffin's road to adulthood... something he thought he'd never willingly face.

Nora and Griffin's fuckbuddies-and-best-friends relationship is explicit, entertaining, and very wicked; Michael, to say the least, is shocked, but more than intrigued. I love their dynamic, as well as Michael's initial reaction to and eventual credence for it. His character is probably the one that grows the most in The Angel, especially when he's officially appointed an Original Sinner. I was looking forward to lots of gore and submission regarding his Sub training, but there aren't many scenes. Most of them revolve around Michael coming to terms with his scars—both physical and emotional—and awakening in adolescent sexual discovery, but it's still all amazing. Even more phenomenal, is the effect Michael has on Griffin. With Michael, he's just... home. So proves Nora's theory that he's her Angel, that he's everyone's Angel. It's unquestionable; he's one of them.

The two stories—Suzanne's frantic search and Michael's angelhood—are intertwined perfectly, just so that there are always dire questions raised and is never a dull moment. Well-played, Tiffany Reisz, very well-played. Even when presented with resolutions, I remained scratching my head and pining for more. As expected, the wit, charm, and addictiveness of her literary voice command the tone of this novel. No complaints whatsoever; Reisz has struck gold again.

Nora's separation from Søren will, no doubt, be one of the most difficult periods in her life, but hey, if she survived five years away from him—albeit tearing apart on the inside the entire time—she can do a few months. It will force her to face the unvanquishable flame in the pit of her stomach for a certain sensation she's never known before called vanilla love. It will teach her a few things: the difference between true love and true respect, the irony of sacrilege versus sin, and the only way to cope with denial: to subvert it and confront those demons on her own. Certainly, this summer will change her life. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, but it depends on where her heart's been in the first place. Will facing her fears free her, or will they confuse her even more?

I said this for The Siren, and I'm going to say it again: if you are queasy at heart, if you are devotedly Christian/orthodox/vanilla/insipid, and if you like Happily Ever Afters, do not pick up this book. Not only will the carnal content destroy your sacrosanct mind, but it'll also leave scars and you in tears. We're talking casual sex, underage participants, abusive pasts, and even incest (yes, Reisz went there!) between these pages. So if that turns you off, back the f u c k away. You've been warned.

I think returning readers of the first book in the series will get the most out of The Angel, not only because of the recurring characters and themes, but also because of its newfound revelations. This sequel slowly, painfully, and sadistically answers the questions and divulges the hushed secrets that arose in the first book, particularly those that enshrouded the previously underexposed Søren. It's definitely more agonizing, but all the more gratifying; consider it a 400-page striptease. Dear Lord.

With the exception, of course, of The Siren, The Angel is far more powerful and captivating of a piece of erotic literature than I have ever known. It's equally astonishing, devastating, and foul, but all in different arenas as The Siren; whereas the first novel was heartbreaking, groundbreaking, the second is more adventurous, scarier, darker, more provocative. In the end, Reisz leaves us hanging onto the story of the one person who can make Nora Sutherlin weak on her knees... without a collar and without a cane, but she doesn't let on much, aside from the fact that Nora is finally giving her heart a break. Wesley doesn't make much of an appearance in this book, but he's the title character in the next book, The Prince, out in November. I will forever root for him and wait upon the book with every fiber of my being. 

Stephanie Loves: All right, multiple quotes again. I swear I normally don't do this: "'Please sir, will you let me go so I can drive my as—bottom home, take a shower, eat breakfast for once this week, throw on some clothes and drive back to church so I can sit in my pew looking prim and proper all the while imagining you naked as you're giving some homily on sin and how, shockingly, God's against it? Pretty please with you on top?" and "'I may send you away, but I will give you a goodbye that will hold you all summer.'" and "'Life and death are less life-and-death than love is. When I fell in love ... I felt as though I had this open wound. I was so raw, so tender. And it hurt. But I didn't care. Love is the open would that you hope never heals." Just shoot me ugh, Tiffany Reisz, make love to me nOW!!!!!

Radical Rating: 10 hearts: I'm speechless; this book is an extraordinarily amazingly wonderfully fantastically marvelous masterpiece. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Giveaway!

Thanks to Little Bird Publicity, one lucky reader will get the chance to worship read The Angel, themselves! To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open to US residents only

Only those who follow the Rafflecopter instructions will receive entries

Ends October 15th, 2012

❤author: Tiffany Reisz Interview and Giveaway!

❤ I'm thrilled to welcome my new favorite asdfghjkl; (the sound I make when I even THINK about her visit) author, Tiffany Reisz, to the blog today. Welcome to ¡Miraculous!, Tiffany! Will you please share a short bio with us?

Tiffany Reisz lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with her boyfriend (a reformed book reviewer) and two cats (one good, one evil). She graduated with a B.A. in English from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and is making both her parents and her professors proud by writing BDSM erotica under her real name. She has five piercings and one tattoo. She has only been arrested twice.

When not under arrest, Tiffany enjoys Latin dance, Latin men, and Latin Verbs. She dropped out of a conservative Southern seminary in order to pursue her dream of becoming a smut peddler. Johnny Depp’s aunt was her fourth-grade teacher. Her first full-length novel, The Siren, was inspired by a desire to tie up actor Jason Isaacs (on paper). She hopes someday life will imitate art (in bed).

If she couldn’t write, she would die.

❤ Seriously can we be besties. Tell us about your debut novel, The Siren. 

The Siren is my drawer novel. Wrote it years ago and sat it aside. I was always thinking about it though, thinking about the characters. My lead character is a woman named Nora Sutherlin who is a Dominatrix and an erotica writer. She’s quirky, funny, sweet, spicy, and incredibly strong, stronger than almost all the men in her world. As the years past and I kept reading stories of women who were merely spunky but never actually that interesting, I started to realize I had something really special with Nora — an Alpha heroine. And the men in her life, especially her former lover — a super sexy sadist — haunted my dreams. I started working on the book after about five years of drawer life and bam — magic.

❤ Did you see my review for it, guys? The process makes the book even more intriguing! How did you get published? Tell us your call story.

My characters in The Siren haunted me so much that I couldn’t stop imagining what their lives were like before the book. I saw that Spice Briefs were looking for sexy shorts with taboo sexual elements. I thought, “Taboo? I can do that!” So I wrote a story called Seven Day Loan with my Nora from The Siren ten years before. In The Siren she’s a Dominant. In Seven Day Loan she’s still a submissive. When I got the call from Harlequin Spice that they wanted to buy Seven Day Loan, I realized that my characters and my odd take on romance spoke to people. I took The Siren out of the proverbial drawer, did a lot of work on it, and got my badass agent Sara Megibow. Sara submitted it to Harlequin. They loved Seven Day Loan and wanted to keep me in the Harlequin family. So they bought book one and book two. One year later, they bought book three. Keep your fingers crossed they buy books four through eight!

❤ Your brilliance is paying off for fiction whores like me ;) How much of your actual life gets written into your fictional stories?

Either “a lot” or “none” is the right answer. I’m kinky so I use all that personal experience when writing the kink scenes. But I’m no Dominatrix, alas, although I have played with one. What I take from my life and put in my stories is the reality of how tough relationships are. A lot of romance novels make love seem so simple — there’s a complication (class divisions, a clause in a will, pirates, angst, whatever), a barrier to the couple being together. The barrier is overcome and then mazel tov! Happy ever after! Anybody over the age of thirty knows what bullshit that is. Getting together is the beginning, not the end, of the complications. I bring the reality of how incredibly hard relationships are into my books and show that even good people can fuck up and even great couples can fall apart. But I’m ultimately an optimist so if my readers are brave enough, they’ll get to see their favorite characters find meaningful fulfillment at the end of the series. But they’ll have to crawl through hell first to get there.

❤ I couldn't have said it better, myself. You certainly know how to draw out the essence of your writing. How would you describe your style/tone?

I feel like a douchebag calling myself a “literary” writer. But whatever, I’m a literary writer or at the very least, a reasonable facsimile. My style is spritely at times, atmospheric at others. I let my characters have fun, have a sense of humor, and I let the narrative style reflect that. Other times, my prose is solemn as liturgy, which, in this series, is quite fitting. *wink*

❤ Puahaha again, I'm in full agreement. Give aspiring writers a piece of advice you wish you would have known before getting published.

You hear the stats about how many people want to be writers and it’s intimidating as hell. What you don’t know in these stats is how few of these people even have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting published. Your competition is not the 35,000 people who queried my agency last year. It’s maybe about 300 people who wrote a query decent enough to get asked for a full manuscript from my agent. If you’re a good writer and you’re going to have to take a good long hard look at yourself to find out if you are or not, you can get published.

❤ That's really sobering — and it gives me hope! What's the most interesting comment you have ever received about your stories?

Before he was my boyfriend, Andrew Shaffer (aka Evil Wylie, aka Fanny Merkin, author of 50 Shames of Earl Grey) read The Siren. I was hoping to get him to blurb me. And blurb me he did! (No innuendo intended). Anyway, Andrew’s blurb said that he hadn’t read a book as subversive as The Siren since Fight Club. Ever since then, when trying to warn people about the content of The Siren, I tell them “it’s like Fight Club for Women.”

❤ What's next for you?

World domination. Okay, actually, after I’m done typing up this Q&A I’m going to bed. THEN world domination.

❤ A babe after my own heart! Where can you be found on the web? 

Website (with free reads!) | Twitter

❤ Before we conclude this interview, is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?

Do you think BDSM writers should actually practice kink or does it not matter to your enjoyment of the story if the scenes come from personal experience or pure imagination?

❤ My response: hmmm.. nah, I don't think it matters. I mean, if they do, that's really awesome, but they don't necessarily have to, in order to write accurate, believable depictions of the practice. Murderers don't write serial killer thrillers, you know...*grin*. Thank you so much for being here today, Tiffany! It was a pleasure getting to know you and congrats on The Siren!!! I think you are amazingly amazingly brilliant so... I'm just going to sit here and fangirl while you're off fulfilling your amazing brilliant authorly duties ♥_♥

Giveaway!

Thanks to Little Bird Publicity, I have one copy of The Siren, reader's choice of eBook or print, up for grabs. To enter, all you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway Giveaway runs through August 31st, 2012 at 11.59 pm (EST).

Open to US residents only!
Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize once they are chosen, or else their winnings will be forfeited.

As a reminder, you do not have to follow my blog to enter, though it is always very much appreciated ❤

Good luck!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: The Siren by Tiffany Reisz

The Siren (The Original Sinners #1)
Tiffany Reisz

Release Date: July 24th, 2012

Publisher: MIRA (Harlequin)

Page Count: 427

Source: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Little Bird Publicity in exchange for an honest and unbiased review, as part of the virtual book tour (thank you!!)

It's a man's world, but she's the one on top.

Notorious Nora Sutherlin is famous for her delicious works of erotica, each one more popular with readers than the last. But her latest manuscript is different—more serious, more personal—and she's sure it'll be her breakout book... if it ever sees the light of day.

Zachary Easton holds Nora's fate in his well-manicured hands. The demanding British editor agrees to handle the book on one condition: he wants complete control. Nora must rewrite the entire novel to his exacting standards—in six weeks—or it's no deal.

Nora's grueling writing sessions with Zach are draining... and shockingly arousing. And a dangerous former lover has her wondering which is more torturous—staying away from him... or returning to his bed?

Nora thought she knew everything about being pushed to your limits. But in a world where passion is pain, nothing is ever that simple.

Okay. So this review is going to be very incoherent, and very very long (reminiscent of my senior 4000-word extended essay woohoo), but please bear with me. Yes, I have that much to say about The Siren, and yes, it makes me that big of a bumbling mess. But I'll tell you a secret: all the best books do.

I suppose I should warn you: This book isn't what you're expecting. If you are a fan of romance novels, you will not like The Siren. If you enjoy erotica, smut with explicitly arousing pornographic detail, and no romance in between, you too will be disappointed because The Siren is neither. The blurb and cover indicate otherwise, I know. I picked up this one thinking it was just another Harlequin but with a kinkier theme. I assumed it was a variant of the regular romance novels we know and love/hate, with a cute but trite twist on the heroine who is an erotica author (as opposed to, say, a sexy librarian, single mother, English student, tourist, or whatever other props romance novelists are inclined to use), and another one on the hero, who's a handsome but provocative Brit. Swoon. Sounds like a romance, right? Nice try, but no. To say there is a hero and heroine to begin with, is a ridiculous statement. To the traditional literature fans who demand two protagonists in a love story: you will be sorely dissatisfied; there are none. 

So then, you are brought to ask, why DO I fucking love this book so much. In so many words (or, relatively none at all), it's because The Siren is complex. It's not a book you read and forget about the next day. It's incredibly intelligent in both structure and style: a perfect combination of present-day havoc and brief, flitting memories, with a deep, effortless tone that must be superglue—I couldn't keep my hands off! The pages literally turned themselves. I devoured the whole thing way before I wanted to—before I could even realize.

Remember Carrie's Story? Well, Nora's story isn't too dissimilar, except that it's more emotionally rendering, more scarring. The Siren could be considered its more tasteful yet more convoluted, brutal, destructive, and torturous aftermath. And of course, starring our more human and unforgettable characters. Zach, I feel, is the one I can explain most easily, so I'll talk about him first. Eight years ago, he met the woman of his dreams, albeit, through a ferocious, sexually-charged tumble he swears he never deserved, and he married her. But thirteen months ago, his life began falling apart when she told him to leave. So he hops on a plane to New York to forget about her and focus on his career. A Cambridge professor, he's a much sought-after figure at Royal House Publishing; soon, within the time span of thirteen months, he gains notoriety as being the house's toughest, but best editor, as well as the infamous label, London Fog, because of his cold, shady demeanor.

Nora's plagued by a slightly more elaborate situation, one that's certainly more dangerous and... obscene. She too, is estranged from the man, Søren, who, in many ways, owns her soul, but for Nora, it's by choice. Well, not entirely choice. Mostly it's under the influence of her self-respect, what little of it she has left, as well as of the disapproval of the only person in her entire life she's ever come close to loving. She's been steadily depriving herself of Søren, whom she loves in a twisted, fierce, and selfish way, for five years now, and she's been doing well distracting herself with her soaring career. Not her erotica novelist career—though that's been successful too—but her secret career, the one only the most elite people of the underground world know of. When this circumstance of hers collides with Zach's, his transparency reflects in the most intimate of ways, her own depravity, and sweeps her peaceful, relatively safe life into ruin.

What I just worship, is how well Reisz portrays the tragedies of real-life relationships, including the failure to recognize a lasting love's demons because of the need to deal with first, those of our own. Even though The Siren is highly indulgent in setting, the feelings we see and grow upon, are so, so real. The characters are so complex and so fleshed-out, that I feel the utter aching they are each inflicted with and sharply inhale the searing breaths each of them take. Further, the author's eloquence and novelty shock me. Just in general, everything she comes up with, everything she pens, is astonishing. There are not many authors who are this skilled. So Reisz, I commend.

The Siren is sexier than sex itself, but not because of its explicit scenes. I can't pinpoint this one as erotica because the scenes, while frequent and red-hot, are not the pivot of the novel. They certainly make it a naughtier read, but they aren't what solely constitute it. This isn't another Harlequin, not another aforementioned penny dreadful. You must know what I mean: boy meets girl, boy wants girl, girl finds a reason not to like boy, boy does something to win girl's heart, girl wants boy, sex, marriage, happy ending, boom. The end. Nope. None of that. The Siren has a story other than the expected romantic elements. As a whole, you could view The Siren as a love story, a very tragic, very arresting love story, but it could never be a romance. Romances are meant to make you feel good. The Siren will make you feel so empty, you will want to tear up the book's spine, but so affected, you will then want to make love to its ripped-out pages. I guess that's what separates erotica or erotic romance from erotic literary fiction; this is the kind of material readers will debate about and speculate on for the years to come, rather than binge on in one sitting and fail to ever recall again.

It gets better (or, I argue with myself, worse), though; you think I'm done with my review, hooo boy you're wrong. The best (and most painful) part about The Siren is that it's not about Zach's relationship with Nora. He is a mere passerby in her life, an extremely troubled one at that, one who is vanquishing his own monsters. That isn't to say his involvement with her is insignificant, because the way in which she helps him overcome his angsts will be indistinguishable from the method in which he will help her stave off her own. But once Zach proceeds, she will never be able to influence him again, and vice versa. The Siren is not a romance. Once the two briefly-acquainted lovers have saved each other in ways only they will ever have known, they will move apart, move along, and move on, in order to face (and hopefully fight) the bigger catastrophes they each have managed to push aside for the book's time being. This is one of The Siren's most tragic messages of all: life goes on.

I'm kind of a whore for purgatory when it comes to fiction. The more tragic, the more I grow attached. The Siren, to summarize, is brutal, twisted. It isn't a nice, pleasant story. Charming, wicked, savage, oh yes. But it's not a good story. It's gnawing, it's agonizing. It is hideous and immoral, but I am proud to say, I enjoyed every sentence of it; without one word out of place, The Siren is a true tour de force. Masochists, this one's for you.

The Siren is NOT for everyone, I'll be among many to confess. If you like wholesome stories, stay away. If you like morals, well-being, and happy endings, stay away. If you like missionary position, please—just stay the fuck away. I warn my readers: The Siren prances around topics like statutory rape, sexual violence (BDSM), polyamory, casual sex, sodomy, a wickedly clever pottymouth, and sins under the Catholic church... and well, to civility. Yes, it's an intense, brutal, blasphemous read, both in its harsh sadomasochistic scenes and emotional turmoil, BUT it absolutely will steal your breath away. I disclose not everyone will find The Siren palatable, but guarantee that no reader will finish it without having been thoroughly and salaciously impacted, and that much must be enough to make you want to at least give it a try.

Now, let's have a stupendous and thought-provoking one-way discussion about Nora Sutherlin, the female lead. While I refuse to name a definitive hero and heroine in this book, Nora is, no doubt, our frontwoman. She's as complicated as the plotline itself, and I couldn't love her any more for it. She is, essentially, the ideal female fatale. She is wry, cheeky, sexy, hilarious. Guys want her, girls want to be her... hell, to be honest, girls want her even more. But she also possesses fragility that isn't as deeply embedded into her skin as one would expect. Zach discovers it quite directly, actually. Nora is a masochist in only the most disturbing of ways, a masochist who not only enjoys the strike of the cane and the welts purpling her body, but also the pain arisen from heartbreak and perversion, that stems mainly from self-disgust. And the way to vindicate such vile sins? Well, a lashing or two; that ought to be punishment enough. Nora is a highly flawed character, a walking contradiction, and by all means, not a righteous one. Yet despite her brashness, charm, and impropriety, she is in desperate need of tenderness and care. She is strong, a renown Dominatrix, merciless, dangerous... but she is at the same time, the weakest character, the most miserably vulnerable, in that the worst of pain is always inflicted on her—not by others, not by Søren—but by herself. She is brought to life through Reisz's mastery of words, which almost make her a fantasy of a woman, and even with her mistakes, her awful hideous, selfish ambitions—she is a character I love, and loved even to the end. 

The supporting characters each have roles as great as Nora's, but I feel there isn't enough relevant information in this book to really say much about them. The Siren is anticipated to be a part of an eight-book series (Tiffany, babe, I loVE YOU), so I suspect the ensuing novels will focus on them more. To be quick (though by now you know I'm not a girl of brevity): there's Søren, a terrifying, overarching character. Not much revealed about him, but he's Nora's ex, the one who holds the reigns, the one she swears herself away from. But they're soul mates. Swearing away can only do so much. I'm so intrigued by their incomprehensibly warm and forbidden D/s relationship, and look forward to seeing more of it in The Angel. We've got Wes, Nora's baby-faced roommate, biggest fan, and most powerful authority (second to Søren, of course); he's mine, I love him, don't you lay a finger on him, I swear he's mine ok. Then there's the sexy Griffin, a coworker and former fling of Nora's, and of course, the mysterious, criminal Mr. Kingsley Edge, Nora's... let's call him her employer. Intrigued and confused? You must be.

I promise I'm wrapping this review up. Rather than summarize all katrillion plus ninety-six words above, I'll leave you with this: The Siren is a book that distinguishes hurting from harming, and reveals a broken character's most tragic purging of sins. The Siren proves that we can have fun and be sinfully sexy, naughty, and rogue, but in the end, we are all only just human. The Siren conveys the sheer importance of the craft of writing: bringing people back to life, resurrection with words; and does a little bit of reviving itself. The Siren reveals a grievous lesson: that in the end, if we're lucky, we all return to the people we love, and if we're not, we are destroyed by their persisting memory; and tells us a corrupt secret: that the only way to be cured of a broken heart is to break one back.

My fingers literally trembled as I turned the remaining pages of this one. I am outraged to have to wait until September for the sequel's release. Tiffany, you fucking sadist! You better not disappoint me.

Stephanie Loves: Yeah, so this is kind of against my religion, but I'm going to pick three quotes I revere, a little because I cannot be bothered to narrow down to just one (I already whittled my selection from six!), but mostly because this review needs to be graced by brilliance, pure brilliance, rather than solely that mad rambling you just read above: "She seemed to be trying to stare down the city. He had a feeling the city would blink first." and "'...sacrifice can only get you so far ... although two people can love each other deeply, sometimes love alone doesn't cut it. We can only sacrifice so much of ourselves in a relationship before there's nothing left to love or be loved.'" and "[Her book] felt like a melodrama to her. But then again most relationships falling apart often genuinely degenerated into melodrama. There was no dignity in grief, a truth she knew all too well." These quotes all show that Reisz is not only accomplished in the portrayal of flirting, love, and naughty sex, but also in relationships, in being human, and that makes her observances all the more beautifully and startlingly real.

Radical Rating: 10 hearts: I'm speechless; this book is an extraordinarily amazingly wonderfully fantastically marvelous masterpiece. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥