#a duet with the siren duke

[erionmakuo]

Cover illustration for A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova

[gabrielleragusi]

Hey, long time no post! Here's the reversible dust jacket I illustrated for Faecrate's edition of A duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova.

I've painted a lot of underwater scenes this year (:

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[bythenineshards]

I'm about halfway through A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova, and it is doing everything Acotar tried to do. Fmc recovering from an abusive relationship and trying to save her family from ruin. I wish Elise Kova's books were more popular than Maas. Her characters don't feel skin deep.

It never made any sense to me to make Feyre's sisters the way they are. It works so much better when the motivation of the protagonist is endearing to the reader. But the only way Maas knows how to make her protagonists "likable" is to tear everyone else down.

[housebaylor]

A Duet with the Siren Duke (Married to Magic) by Elise Kova

Expected publication August 10, 2023

(art by Erion Makuo)

[meeghanreads]

July 2024 TBR

Hello friends!! Welcome to the July 2024 TBR. A post where I will attempt to intuit what I feel like reading for the month of July. If you cast your mind back to my June TBR post, I drafted it with the assistance of ChatGPT. And… I absolutely failed. I read a grand total of one book out of the ten that AI picked for. Although, to be fair, it was the ONLY 5-star read for June that I had. Which…

[blueberryshelves]

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Book Review

Title:  A Duet with the Siren Duke Author: Elise Kova

Series: Married to Magic, book #4 - standalone

No. of Pages: 554

ISBN: 9781949694413 

Synopsis:

She sold her soul to a siren and now he’s come to collect.

Victoria risks everything to leave a dangerous marriage and gain a second chance at life. But when her escape goes awry, she finds herself caught in the strong embrace of a mysterious siren, forced to choose: temporary salvation or immediate death.

And so, a cursed deal is struck.

Five years later, Victoria is alive—and the world’s finest ship captain. But her debt to the siren looms while her conniving ex has demanded a king’s ransom as the final price of her freedom. Victoria refuses to cause her family to suffer any more on her behalf, and is determined to make things right before her time is up. But that time is cut short.

The siren comes for her. Six months early.

Taken to the magical and deadly Eversea, home of the sirens, Victoria discovers she’s the sacrifice upon which all sirens pin their hopes. If they want to appease an angry god and save a world on the brink of destruction, then they need her. Which gives her the perfect leverage.

Victoria strikes a new bargain: the Siren Duke will help save her family, and she’ll fulfill his demands. It’s a good bargain until a flicker of passion ignites in the scarred remnants of Victoria's heart, threatening all she's worked for. As the sacrifice for the God of Death, she’s meant to give up everything that draws her to the world of the living. But that’s impossible when all she can think about is how this handsome siren’s song, and his hands, make her feel very much alive.

In a realm of ancient magic, submerged secrets, and forgotten gods, can love find a place among shattered hearts as they race against time and the blossoming of forbidden desires? Or will the delicate songs of their hearts be silenced once and for all?

A Duet with the Siren Duke is a complete, *stand alone novel*. It’s for readers looking for a fantasy romance with deep lore, second-chance love, sacrifice, forbidden and slow-burn romance that sizzles on the page, and a happily ever after where love triumphs over all.

While it is set in the Married to Magic universe, readers can start with this book as all Married to Magic novels are stand alones.

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What did I think of the book?

A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova My rating: ⭐ 1.5 of 5 stars Disclaimer: SPOILERS It's not often I dnf a book, and I definitely wasn't expecting to do so with this one. First couple chapters start off pretty strong, promising a tension-packed story while following the growth of a young woman becoming her own self after escaping from abuse. For a while I actually enjoyed it, and I even liked a couple of the characters, especially Ilryth's child-like fascination with the human world and treasure collection (very much like Ariel from The Little Mermaid). But after the big spicy scene, I put the book down at chapter 36, and didn't touch it again for months. There was just no way I was getting through all 53 chapters of this story. It drags, and drags, and drags to the point where I wanted to strangle the book when I realized I still had 17 more chapters of this to go. The writing is unnecessarily melodramatic, and the story is choked with too many boring details and cringy dialogue. Most of the characters lack substance, and a lot of the tension and so-called "romance" feels forced and unnatural. The actual plot of the book doesn't get much better either after the first few chapters, it was like the story had a clear direction at first and then nose-dived into chaos and confusion with too many ideas fighting for dominance. Maybe it got better in the ending but from what others have commented, I don't have high hopes.

I personally think the plot in the beginning is solid and would have been a pretty great story if the book had stayed true to it, but there's just too much going on for the rest of the story after the siren takes Victoria (the FMC) away. The whole thing about "save the siren world by sacrificing the human girl" could have honestly been done away with entirely, because it's nothing more than a total distraction from the emotions surrounding family in the beginning of the book. If the plot had stayed focused on Victoria's fight to save her family from her scummy ex and the systems of her world, it could have been a really self-empowering story, and her romance with Ilryth would still have been possible, (and imo more enjoyable to read about as he helps her). But we just don't get to explore any of that in a meaningful way at all, and instead Victoria becomes a hollowed version of herself that is just so depressing to read about. That being said, I did enjoy getting into a new siren/merfolk story, because while so much was not great about this one, I loved the sirens and culture based around them in the book, and their underwater kingdom. It helped to rekindle my love of mermaids and the ocean, which is great because I really need to get back into swimming again. Favorite character/s: Ilryth, and partially Victoria - for the fact that I can relate in personal ways to both of their struggles (at least for some small parts of the book). What drew me to this book? I was in the mood for a water/merfolk themed book, and the gorgeous cover snatched my attention immediately. I'd give the book a place on my shelf just for the cover alone if the story wasn't so hard to get through. Stars: 1.5/5 stars. Certainly not the worst I've read. But while I enjoyed some things, there just wasn't anything gripping or exciting enough as the story went on that made it worth finishing. View all my reviews

[myhikari21things]

Read of A Duet With The Siren Duke by Elise Kova (2023) (440pgs)

[maepolzine]

My Thoughts On A Duet with the Siren Duke (Married to Magic, Book 4) By Elise Kova

Sharing my thoughts on the fourth book in the Married to Magic series by Elise Kova: A Duet with the Siren Duke

A Duet with the Siren Duke is the fourth book in the Married to Magic series by Elise Kova. It is standalone, so you can read this book without reading the others in the series. Each book is inspired by a classic fairy tale; this one was inspired by the Little Mermaid. Only he’s the mermaid, or rather siren, and she’s a ship captain. Granted, she wasn’t a ship captain when they met. And the tale…

[mermaidsirennikita]

spicy book recs?

alright let's see

Sierra Simone writes theee best erotic romance, some of my faves include:

The New Camelot trilogy. Kinky King Arthur--very literally a modern King Arthur retelling in which King Arthur is [drumroll] Maxen Ashley "Ash" Colchester, president, erstwhile war hero, and absolute panty dropper, Lancelot his VP Embry Lance (never forget his middle name is Lance) Moore, my favorite romance character ever, and his first lady is Greer Galloway, the girl who heard a prophecy that was like "please don't kiss anyone" and went "okay I'll kiss everyone". MMF, kinky, angsty, dramatic.

Thornchapel. Quartet about six friends who accidentally awoke a gothic looming horror thing as kids and then continue to awake it as adults with kinky sex rituals. Kinda like The Secret History x Picnic at Hanging Rock x Brideshead Revisited with a dash of occult. Two core romances, one is MMF (childhood friends to enemies to lovers and the girl they both love) and one is FF. TW for incest(?). Very kinky, much group sex and sharing occurs.

Priest. One of her more.... approachable books, about a Catholic priest who falls for a woman who tells him all the shit she's done in confession. Also kinky.

Salt Kiss. Just out, a spinoff from New Camelot that retells Tristan and Isolde but with Tristan as a bodyguard and Mark as his boss who he falls in love with before he meets Isolde, who he promptly also falls in love with. Salt in the Wound is a novella that should be read first, ab out Mark and Isolde. Kinky, queer, intense.

Grace Callaway writes really fun historical romances that lean towards the more erotic. Usually, there's a girl who boldly ventures into danger, and a hero who's like "my god I find her brash impulsiveness compelling, I must eat her out and tell her she's bad".

I really love her Lady Charlotte's Society of Sirens series, which is like, Charlie's Angels but Victorian.

Olivia and the Masked Duke. Age gap D/s romance, bratty heroine paired with a hero who's like "I'm your dad's friend, I can't do this"... but she's obsessed after seeing him spank another woman, so she's pretty determined to make it happen.

Pippa and the Prince of Secrets. Childhood sweethearts reunite after her shitty husband dies. Hero is scarred and runs a band of child spies (I died). They're both really into exhibition and ye olde sex swing.

Fiona and the Enigmatic Earl. Feisty diamond of the season girl ends up in a marriage of convenience with a stern earl. Both of them are basically spies undercover, but neither of them knows lol. She's very bratty with him.

Glory and the Master of Shadows. Heroine gets mentored in badassery by the hero, who's desperately trying to resist her because he's Tainted and she's Fresh and Innocent. At one point he eats her out against the wall while her parents are sleeping with the door open down the hall.

You want a mafia romance? Try Mila Finelli. Her Kings of Italy series kicks off with Mafia Mistress & Mafia Darling, a duet about a girl who is kidnapped to marry this mafioso's son, but the dad like "nah, I want you, be my mistress". My favorite in the series is Mafia Madman, which is about a fucking lunatic blowing up a bar to kidnap the heroine for Revenge. He chains her to his bed and they have an enemies to lovers situation because she keeps telling him he ain't shit and he's like "sadly I am entranced by her". Mafia Target is an M/M assassin/target book, most excellent.

In terms of "contemporary sex club" books, I'd recommend The Salacious Players Club, which is about a group of friends who start a sex club (with two additional installments about the most noteworthy patrons of the club). Each book deals with a different kink--praise kink with an age gap, femdom, voyeurism, "we think I'm a cuck but actually me and my wife and my best friend are just mutually in love with each other", daddy kink, etc.

Joanna Shupe (who is also Mila Finelli) writes pretty hot historicals. I would recommend especially

My Dirty Duke. Victorian novella, age gap, heroine falls for her dad's best friend and he takes sexy old timey pics of her.

Sold to the Duke. Heroine enters an auction for her virginity to save her sister from destitution, gets bought by her dead brother's best friend who's like "I'm not going to take what I bought" and she's like "oh yes you are dude.

Her Uptown Girls trilogy is about three sisters who bop around Gilded Age NYC, getting into trouble with 1) dad's lawyer 2) casino owner attempting to ruin dad because revenge 3) powerful gangster. Very hot and very fun.

Fifth Avenue Rebels is my favorite series by her. It starts off with a house party in Newport and then continues into all the drama after. Recommending reading in order, they're all good, and they lead up to one of my favorites, The Duke Gets Even, about the uptight duke and wild child heiress who've been circling each other for the previous books. Very hot, and they both enjoy rough sex.

S.M. LaViolette (who is Minerva Spencer) writes hot historicals. I just finished her Seducers trilogy, which follows three sex workers/former sex workers from the same brothel as they meet people and fall in love with much drama and high stakes. Hot and romantic as fuck. TW: all of the books feature trauma in the past, but little to none is on the page

Paranormals? Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark, which is full of vampires, werewolves, witches, and everything else falling in love and having lots of sex across the world. Long running and pretty violent, so check your TWs, especially for the older ones.

Passion by Lisa Valdez is a really wild erotic historical romance with a hero and heroine who start fucking as soon as they meet in the first chapter. Behind a screen the first go. She has a magic vagina that his massive cock can fit into as a miracle basically.

I mean... if you're willing to go, uh, bold as fuck, Tiffany Reisz's Original Sinners is very erotic. Everyone is polyamorous, everyone is bi, it kicks off with a British editor visiting a novelist to work with her, and oops, she's a dominatrix. The central three characters are that dominatrix, Nora, her long time on again/off again lover/dom Soren, who is...a Catholic priest with a sadism fetish... and Kingsley, who owns this kink club Soren and Nora are respectively the #1 and #2 top dogs at. There is a LOT of sadomasochism in this series, a lot of kinky shit, a lot of angst, dubcon and noncon. There's also... some shit I don't think would be written today, like a good amount of underage sex, severely morally questionable relationships, and I don't loooove some of the dynamics written (Kingsley and his long-term partner Juliette make me question much). The writing is beautiful, the characters and dynamics are fascinating, but it's definitely something you should dig into before reading.

But I can't lie, Nora, Soren, and Kingsley have a spellbinding dynamic. It's fucked, but it compels me so. I will add, there were 8 original books (not standalones) and then she revived the series years later. Stop at the first 8 (and their assorted companion novellas and short stories).

[the-lonelybarricade]

I think you’ll enjoy Married to Magic. My favourite was A Duet with the Siren Duke; I won’t spoil it but let’s just say it’s very Feysand-coded. Dance with the Fae Prince is also great, and has an intriguing magic system.

Feysand-coded? Say less 😩

[readinthedarkpod]

If you thought we hated on BookTok before… girl, it’s about to get wild. But be sure to stick around, we also talk toxic (in a fun way) queer relationships, reading goals for 2023, and much more! Anybody up for a Frosty?

Books Discussed:

🥀A Ruin of Roses by K.F. Breene

🌹These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

Books/Series Mentioned:

🫀If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

🫀Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

🫀As Yet Unsent by Tamsyn Muir

🫀Unequal Affections by Laura S. Ormiston

🫀The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole

🫀House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Mass

🫀Sin and Chocolate by K.F. Breene

🫀The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black

🫀Captive Prince series by C.S. Pacat

🫀The Villains series by V.E. Schwab

2023 Upcoming Releases We're Excited About:

🩸The Gargoyle's Captive by Katee Robert

🩸The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

🩸Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson

🩸Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

🩸Dark Rise 2 (Unofficial Name) by C.S. Pacat

🩸A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova

🩸Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

You can follow the hosts at @figonas @hazelsheartsworn @laequiem @adxmparriish

[anonymousewrites]

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a wonderful 2024! You guys all rock!

Here's my plan for what I know I'm writing so far in 2024:

A Study of the Heart and Brain Book 3

Adolescent Antichrist Book 5

One Hell of a Love Book 3 (once the season comes out :))

Don't worry, there will be more than that, but right now that's the definitive plan.

Some possible stories I'm considering:

AOS Logos and Pathos

AU Dazai x Reader

New Father Figure x Teen! Reader story

Also, for fun, here is the list of the books I read in 2023:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair

A Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

Radiant Sin by Katee Robert

The Stranger by Andre Camus

We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

On Writing by Stephen King

The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle

League of Liars by Astrid Scholte

King of Wrath by Ana Huang

Furyborn by Claire Legrand

Hades by Carly Spade

Black Coffee by Agatha Christie

King of Pride by Ana Huang

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

Mrs. McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie

The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deon

Apollo by Carly Spade

Ares by Carly Spade

Eros by Carly Spade

Poseidon by Carly Spade

Zeus by Carly Spade

The Mystery of Three Quarters by Sophie Hannah

Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

A Duet with the Siren Duke by Elise Kova

Still Life by Louise Penny

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

L’Ultimate Notte Della Nostra Vita by Adam Silvera

War by Laura Thalassa

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny

King of Greed by Ana Huang

Kingsbane by Claire Legrand

Lightbringer by Claire Legrand

Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong

Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong

The Righteous by Renee Ahdieh

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson

The Blue Machine by Helen Czerski

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie

[thatwritergirlsblog]

A DUET WITH THE SIREN DUKE by Elise Kova | Spoiler-free Book Review

[haunted-vespera]

When you read your book too fast and now have nothing to read :(

A duet with the siren Duke is so good I'm sad I finished it

[meeghanreads]

WWW Wednesday — 12 June 2024

Hello friends!! Welcome to this week’s WWW Wednesday — 12 June 2024!! WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words, where you answer the three following questions: What did you recently finish? What are you currently reading? And, what do you think you’ll read next? Let’s see what I have been reading… (All images will link to Goodreads if you click on them.…

[lexacourtney]

Book Review: A Duet with the Siren Duke (Married to Magic #4)

Book Review: A Duet with the Siren Duke (Married to Magic #4) 4⭐️'s // Sirens. Slow Burn. An Angry Death God. A bit of Spice & a Badass FMC. #bookpost #bookblog #bloggingcommunity #bookish #bookreview #EliseKova #MarriedtoMagic

Title: A Duet with the Siren Duke Author: Elise Kova Pub. Date: August 10, 2023 Pages: 554 Pub: Silver Wing Press Genre: NA Fantasy Romance Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Goodreads She sold her soul to a siren and now he’s come to collect.Victoria risks everything to leave a dangerous marriage and gain a second chance at life. But when her escape goes awry, she finds herself caught in the strong…