This was a good debut novel. It was a little confusing and hard to follow, and the main character was a little hard to sympathize with or relate to, but it was enjoyable.

Thanks to Librarything Early Reviewers for the ARC.

Our protagonist for this book is Aglasia, an immortal man-eating siren, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the book gets quite gory and dark in places. Aglasia lives alone, seducing and eating one carefully chosen (for his unacceptable desires) man per month. Her carefully controlled life is suddenly upended by the arrival of another siren, Rossa, who enters her life and refuses to leave. Rossa wants to follow an ancient ritual to turn a man into a siren as a companion. As this seems to be the only way to get her to go away so Aglasia goes along with it, and there we have our main plot. The ‘B’ plot is a romance between Aglasia and a barman named Hunter, which is in turns fun and terrifying (there always seem to be other sirens around who want to eat him).
The book was an enjoyable read, but it took me a long time to warm up to Aglasia. She doesn’t remember much of her past and without this, there’s no real explanation why she has qualms about eating men while Rossa doesn’t. I didn’t feel I understood her motives, and I felt more investment in Rossa getting her man than I did in Aglasia’s own story, because…what did she want, other than to be left alone? The sisterly relationship between Aglasia/Rossa seemed to be the core, but I just didn’t really fully feel it. For that reason I enjoyed the story but I didn’t love it. ( )

Thank you to the author for this early edition! For a debut novel, I was pleasantly surprised! I really liked the concept and tone of the story, however the pacing was kind of tough for me. It felt like not a lot was happening, while also all over the place? I was confused as to why Hunter was so infatuated with her, it felt like I needed more from them and that story line. It did pick up in the 2nd half with the introduction of more characters and answers things I felt lacking in the beginning. I enjoyed this, and will be on the lookout for future books by this author. ( )

Thank you so much to thee Author Lauren Elizabeth for this ecopy of Anthesis. Anthesis is so different from other siren/mermaid novels I have read. This takes on a more horror, gore and romance aspect. Aglasia our main character lives on land and has a strict routine. She only feeds once a month and she never hunts in the same place, she keeps herself away from being found out. All this gets put into jeopardy when a mystery woman comes onto the seen - Rossa. She's like an angast teenage brat that implants herself into Aglasia's life. Oh and she has no discipline whatsoever. The combination of these two characters are great as they play off each other. The carefree against the strict regime. I loved how even though Aglasia is a siren she still feels the turmoil from the killing she needs to do - also the descriptions of these killings are on the gory side and definitely paint a picture. The way Anthesis is written is fantastic in the way that it's relatable with the emotional turmoil, the found family trope and the added mythology. The characters are all beautifully carved out, each having a slot where they fit. This world that was created is so different from anything else and I think that's a great accomplishment. I loved this storyline, it had me tapping the pages to find out what was gonna happen next, the mayhem Rossa could cause and how the friendship progressed along with everything else (can't say too much without spoilers). I really enjoyed reading Anthesis! *check Tw before diving in. ( )