The world building is incredible, it eases you into it with such amazing descriptions but also moves the plot along at the same time. The main characters are unlikeable. The magic system is underdeveloped and makes no sense. It’s gross to have a 12-year-old child seducing adults. The leads have no romantic chemistry, yet they have an inherently toxic relationship. Wild idea, if someone kills your best friend don’t forgive them, or be in love with them. The monarchy is evil for the sake of being evil. The villains are arguably evil for the sake of being evil. All of the book’s world-building is done through info dumping. The monarchy allows its prince to be guarded by literal children and the most unprofessional guards in the world after they’ve already had one son killed. The parents may as well not exist in this book for how much authority they have over their children. Saoirse doesn’t know, and it’s not her primary concern. She is more concerned with keeping her and her sister’s identity secret, for if anyone realizes Saorise is a siren, she’ll be put to death. For sirens are known to have an insatiable desire to kill. There was a fantastic plot at work in this book, all circling around Saoirse as a siren and her love for and need to protect her family. Who was Raze, the Resistance and the Spektral were all big questions in my mind and yet I didn't see that late plot twist coming...jaw drop.

Other tropes include grumpy/sunshine (she's the grump, he's the sunshine) and bodyguard/royal (she's the bodyguard, he's the royal), I especially loved the latter and that it was genderbent. Only fae, witches and humans live in the Keirdre kingdom. The fae are the superior ones led by the Royal family. Witches are second but mostly banished to the outskirts of the kingdom, and humans are the lowest class, working as servants. And then there is our main heroine Saoirse who is a siren in disguise as an ikatus (a fae in the looks only but with no real power or affinity for the elements) because sirens are dangerous, and their existence is illegal...... and she's the only one left. The Cruel Prince meets To Kill a Kingdom in the first in this dark YA fantasy duology, in which a siren assassin must join forces with the prince she hates to hunt a deadly killer – herself. It had a lot of complexity, and the world was filled with history and culture. The elemental magic system included Fae and other magical creatures. I adored Saoirse’s ability to taste emotions. It meant I could genuinely feel every interaction she had. Do you trust me? No. Then hey, maybe don’t enter a romantic relationship with that person. Maybe stop hanging around them.I’ve honestly been indecisive about giving 5 🌟 to this book because I honestly didn’t like the romance, but I loved everything else that in the end I decided for the max rate. First of all, I definitely need more books with mermaids because they make incredibly interesting and complicated characters. Saoirse knows she is a monster and that killing is wrong, but her nature makes it inevitable for her. She is very grumpy and protective with the people she loves even if it is almost impossible to trust others completely because she can’t reveal her true nature. Mermaids shouldn’t be present inside the barrier and she definitely doesn’t want to be discovered by the handsome prince that has given her a job as his personal guard. I say that I didn’t like the romance because basically for the prince it is love at first sight and he does everything to please her without the real connection that should be created in a relationship. Plus he is not even a prince that does everything to fight his father’s injustices, he know they are wrong but he doesn’t even care enough to act on it.. Saoirse on the other hand is a character I love because she is so very real, she struggles to contain her nature, she fails but you can see the good in her and you are inevitably connected. Of course, plot twists make the story even more good and it’s the kind of book where there’s not clear good and evil, everything has a mix of both as it happens in life and that’s what attracted me to it. This book was so disappointing. I'm not sure if it was rushed due to the hype of little mermaid or for some other reasons, but it needed a few more rounds in editing. There were so many plot holes or things just told rather than shown. I felt little to no connection to any of the characters and the relationship between the fmc and male love interest was so poorly written. That’s certainly the case for Saoirse, but she tries to temper these urges by working as an assassin in between her shifts as a guard. Things get complicated when she’s added to the prince’s guard, and he starts to investigate the disappearance of his best friend—Saorise’s latest victim. Caught between a rising rebellion helped by her assassinations and a growing love for the prince, Saorise has to fight her very nature to protect that which she loves most. I don’t care about this book. If it’s a series, you just know it’s gonna end like lol your brother isn’t dead. He’s ruling or a prisoner in the siren kingdom that isn’t destroyed. (I grossly overestimated how much plot this book would get to.) The other benefit of Saoirse’s ability to taste emotions is the incredibly detailed language that this allows Burton to infuse into the novel. Emotions have colors, scents and flavors — happiness is sweet, lust is spicy — and as the reader we are given another layer through which to experience this tale: taste. This level of sensory language and worldbuilding is not something that I have experienced much of in any books in recent memory, and it is a wonderful addition to the story that Burton is weaving, one that makes the book all the more enjoyable.

How would that prove that it’s actually poison if it doesn’t affect her? Oh my god, these villains are so bad.

i received a digital review copy from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. this did not affect my rating. This book has a lot less water action that I was led to believe. I personally didn't mind that but I definitely think everyone who thinks they'll get lots of underwater and mermaid/siren action definitely needs to readjust their expectations. My biggest grape with this story is that the main character is a 17 year old siren. Sirens - that are known for using sexual persuasion to force their will over unwelling participants. are known for using sexual persuasion to force their will over unwilling participants. So, this is the story of 17 year old who uses the power of sexual persuasion to manipulate people to their death. Because the main character is UNDERAGE I Have a very difficult time getting into this story, it makes me uncomfortable. Saoirse Sorkova survives on secrets. As the last siren in her kingdom, she can sing any man to an early grave - but her very existence is illegal, and if her true identity were ever discovered, it would be her life on the line. Dami Olukoya does a brilliant job of creating a natural, authentic voice that conveys the content and emotions within this story. Besides this, the different character voices made the listening experience even more engaging and entertaining.

i’ve followed the author on tiktok for a long time, so i’ve been really anticipating this book! i love both mermaids and hidden identities, both of which this book had. i also love strong family relationships, and it was awesome seeing saoirse’s relationship with her little sister. Also, couldn’t you just sing a song and be like tell me your secrets and they would have to and then you could kill them? Wouldn’t that work? AD|GIFTED} SING ME TO SLEEP tells the tale of the last siren in Keirdre and her new role as bodyguard to the Crown Prince. Saoirse appears to be irritable, aloof, and arrogant but she represses a lot of her emotions due to self-loathing and the numerous secrets she is forced to keep. She's also a murderer (and sometimes an assassin) thanks to her irresistible Siren nature luring her to kill. It's hard not to feel sorry for a child/teenager left without any kind of training to control her impulses though. The writing and the pacing of this book were so good! It grabbed a hold of me and didn’t let me go. I believe I read the first 15% in two days and then the rest of the book in one sitting! The pacing was done very well, perfectly to keep me hooked. It was also a really nice balance between tension, action and character growth.Themes beautifully shared in this book are: prejudice, equality and acceptance, and the importance of loyalty and that it can signify family, not just blood. It is also about protecting your loved ones and reaching your potential. The plot was predictable although vaguely entertaining as I was just waiting for Saoirse to finally have to pay the price for her actions, which she didn't, so that was disappointing. Wow, that was really easy to unknot. Super convenient that they didn’t tie her hands together. This book is idiotic.

One of the greatest strengths of this book is that Burton has created a compelling protagonist who walks the fine line between what is right and what is wrong. When her sister, the one person she cares about most in this world, is in danger, how far will Saoirse go to protect her? Taste the Sea My Thoughts: This has taken me far too long to remember to review. This is an absolutely fantastic book. All those magical and mystical elements hooked me from the start. I adored Saoirse and her moral ambiguity. She may be a murderer, but I adore her. The interaction between Hayes and Saoirse was fantastic; they have the grumpy/sunshine energy, one of my favourite cliches. This book has it all: a slow burn, badass FMC, treachery, and antiheroes. It is well worth reading.Saoirse should hate Prince Hayes. After all, his father is the one who enforces the kingdom’s brutal creature segregation laws. But when Hayes turns out to be kind, thoughtful, and charming, Saoirse finds herself increasingly drawn to him―especially when they’re forced to work together to stop a deadly killer who’s plaguing the city. There’s only one problem: Saoirse is that deadly killer. There were some small aspects that I didn't fully love, but really nothing worth mentioning or pointing out, especially since it's YA and I'm an adult and I think the "bulk" of my issues came down to that, so I'm rounding up to 5 stars. That being said, I'm *especially* glad I read this gem. This book is honestly one of my favorite books of the year and I am sure will become a favorite series. It is a fast-paced story with a lot going on and a lot of tension brewing. The world building in this is so fantastic. We don't get info dump, rather we get a steady stream of info that makes it easy to follow the fantasy world and understand what's going on (I LOVE when authors can do this so seamlessly). This book has fae, witches, sirens, and a whole host of other creatures important to this story.