Review: Rise of the Melody (Siren of Shehan #1)

Rise of the Melody (Rise of Shehan #1)
Wendy Higgins

Publication Date: March 4, 2024
Date Read: March 17, 2024
Genre: YA – Urban Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 290

From Goodreads:
From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the YA paranormal Sweet Evil series comes a modern fantasy romance of mystery with Celtic and Gaelic mythology.

Seventeen-year-old Colette “Letty” MacIntyre has everything going for her: a great life with her Aunt Lorna in Brooklyn, a promising singing career, and enough distractions to forget the tragic disappearance of her parents. She’s banking on a bright future in the city until strange things begin to happen. People are suddenly having peculiar reactions to her singing voice, and a giant wolfhound starts following her like a lost puppy. But the cherry on top is when the mayor of her long-forgotten birthplace, Shehan, a town on a mountainous island off the craggy northern coast of Maine, shows up on her doorstep with an impossible revelation: the folklore stories she grew up hearing are real. Letty is the last land siren on Earth…and he needs her help.

An escaped kelpie—a monstrous water horse—is terrorizing Shehan, and Letty’s voice is the only thing that can stop it. Despite the shock at learning her heritage, Letty returns to the island, which is filled with as much mystery as it is fog. She wants answers to her parents’ disappearance as well as a chance to prove herself. But in a race of mighty druids and formidable Scottish witches, Letty’s power is an anomaly, feared and reviled by the mystic community. Her lineage must be kept secret. It becomes even harder to fulfil these tasks when a new enemy threatens her—an alluring, powerful druid boy filled with darkness who would just as soon kill her as kiss her.

Will her deadly melody be enough to save the town and herself?

I have been a huge fan of Wendy Higgins for a long time. I fell head over heels in love with her stories back in the early 2010’s with her Sweet Evil series. As a huge YA Fantasy lover, I was so excited to see that she was writing another YA novel. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, and I was super excited to dive in. Rightfully so as well, as this book was absolutely fantastic. I loved every single moment of this book.

Rise of the Melody follows the story of Letty, a young girl who loves to sing. But when her singing teacher has a very strange reaction to her singing one day, lots of secrets start to come out. She is exposed to a whole hidden world of magical creatures. As her and her Aunt go back ‘home’ she discovers more about her history and her role as the last Land Siren. But not it all as it seems and things are more dangerous than she could ever imagine.

I truly loved everything about this book. I love the Scottish and Irish Folklore influences that are expertly woven throughout this book. I loved learning about all of the different creatures of this folklore along with Letty. I think Wendy has done an absolutely amazing job of having the main character not knowing anything about this world, as the reader gets to learn all of this alongside her. I really enjoyed this aspect, and it really made me feel connected to Letty a lot more.

The characters in this book were definitely one of the things that made it so amazing. Whether it was Letty and her discovery of who she is or one of the amazing new magical friends that she makes along the way, there is a whole cast of amazing characters for you to connect to. I loved the friendships that were really vital to this story. Female friendships are so important and to see Letty find her found family in them was just such a joy to read. I really loved it so much.

Rise of the Melody is such a fantastic first book in a series. It is fast paced and action packed, filled with phenomenal characters and a hint of mystery and intrigue. I loved every single second of it, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book in the series. Wendy Higgins is well and truly back and I can’t wait to see what she does next!