The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren
by Roxy Zimmerman is a Band Geek, and an ugly one at that. All she wants is to date Zach Parker, the hottest guy at school, but there’s no way he’s going to fall for her. Well…until she turns sixteen and turns into a Siren. Oh yes, Sirens are real. Roxy’s now the one of the most beautiful girls in the world, and with only a few notes of her flute, she can get any guy to do pretty much whatever she asks. Pretty sweet, right? There are two rules. One: don’t tell anyone. Not that hard, but Roxy doesn’t like lying to her friends. The second? She can’t fall in love. But what if she does?
This book is so cute. It’s well written with fun, if stereotypical, characters. It has a fun plot and moves along nicely. It’s fluff and predictable, but still definitely worth reading.
Four stars
Sounds very, very enjoyable!
Comment by felicity12 — March 10, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
i’ve been meaning to read this…. sounds like a fun book!
Comment by The Story Siren — March 11, 2008 @ 1:33 am
Ooh… looks great!
Comment by bohae — March 12, 2008 @ 11:39 am
I think your last description about being fluff but still lots of fun describes most of the books in this series. I’ve enjoyed most of them and can read them in an hour or so.
Comment by Em — March 12, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
ooh, i actually have two copies of this book. yet i havent read it yet…..
Comment by Rachael — March 15, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
I read Wendy’s book many a time. We are in the same critique group - Eden Writers. I loved this cute YA story from the start and just knew that it was going to sell. Every so often, when I read and critique a book, the story starts ‘playing’ in my mind - as a movie. This happened with Wendy’s ‘Siren’ book! I can totally see “Secret Life of a Teenage Siren” as a movie. Wendy has the knack of bringing lots of humor to her writing and her characters just sparkle.
Drienie.
Comment by Drienie Hattingh — March 15, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
I have to take issue with the term fluff - without going through all the potential definitions I presume you are using the definition meaning shallow and superficial. Did we read the same book? Of course, this is a quick read,. I found it compelling and as every plot has already been written in the Bible and, Greek mythology it has similarities to those genres. But it is not predictable other than a desire to see a happy ending.
Fantasy books, other than time travel, usually bore me. But this could happen. (Ok, Buffy could happen, too.) There is an historical reference that opens a door to how this could occur and since I am Roxy I think It would be totally cool for it to happen to me.
I loved the characters. I loved the discussion of clothing and the incredibly unique changing room at the store. Wendy writes like we talk and think. She has that unique ability to bring our loves into the novel.
Wendy’s back-stories make sense and she ties up loose ends and doesn’t let anything dangle except our imagination.
I completely disagree that the characters are stereotypical. When I read a book I try and picture in my mind the character and who would play it in a movie. These characters are real- these are girls I know. I have been there (not tooting a flute) but having friends who I hurt and who come back because they are friends. Loving to buy clothing and feeling bad that a girl friend can’t afford some of the clothes I buy.
This is an allegorical tale that is as old as Greek mythology and current as today’s modern girl.
I bought some of these books for my best girl friends my age and some for friends of my grandpa who is ancient. Everyone loved them and each had a different perspective.
Sorry- Fluff NO. Not belly button lint, or fluffing a pillow, or some sexual reference I don’t understand.
This isn’t Les Miserables but it is supurbly written for us for today.
Comment by Anna R Haze — March 17, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
Anna: Once a girl basically called my feelings fluffy. She meant “shallow” and “superficial”, and it really hurt. One of my friends started listing all the good things that are fluffy. Marshmellows…slippers…pillows…Comforting things. Good things. “What would the world be without fluffiness?” she asked me.
Now, to me, “fluffy” is a good thing because I think of it the way that friend taught me to.
When I call “The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren” fluff, I mean that it’s well-written and lots of fun and I think that it would be quite difficult to hate it. Because I certainly adored the book. I thought it cute and completely entertaining and highly recommend it. It’s a book that if you’re in a horrible mood will cheer you up. It’s a book that you can just sit down and read and not have to set the book down and think “What does that mean?”
However, I did find it predictable. Very little in the book surprised me. That’s okay. I wasn’t expecting otherwise, and I picked that book because I knew that it would be lots of fun and enjoyable. I wasn’t sure what the writing would be like or the characters, and when I finished the book, I was impressed with both.
Many characters do tend to be stereotypical. If Zack hadn’t been what you’d expect from a jock, then he wouldn’t have been stereotypical, but if Zack hadn’t been stereotypical, the book wouldn’t have been as good. Yet he’s not a flat character. He’s fairly well portrayed, and that’s the important thing to me. As long as the characters are realistic. And stereotypical can be realistic; the stereotypes have to come from somewhere, after all. I really liked all the characters; they were mostly three dimensional, and I totally loved Roxy.
I did not find “The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren” to be either shallow or superficial. Such descriptions are reserved for “Private” (which I love anyway). No, I did not take away much from “The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren”, but if I had, I think I might have been a little disappointed. I wanted something that would be delightful in all ways for a car ride to Vermont. And “The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren” gave me that and even went beyond what I expected. I loved it more than I thought I would.
Please understand that everything I say on this site are my opinions and nothing more. You are welcome to disagree, and I thank you for your indepth response. However, I must say that you seem to have disregarding what positive things I had to say about the book and jumped to “stereotypical”, “fluff”, and “predictable” rather than seeing “so cute”, “well-written”, “definitely recommended” and “four stars” (out of five, and I won’t give a lot of fives).
I loved “The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren”. Not in the way that I love some books, but because it was completely entertaining.
Comment by Anilee — March 17, 2008 @ 9:20 pm