Series: The Watersong Quartet #2
Don’t miss the next chapter of Watersong, a bold new series that will enchant you, entrance you, and hold you captive under its spell
Now that Gemma Fisher has inherited Penn, Lexi, and Thea’s curse – and all the strange new powers that come along with it – she has no choice but to run away with them. Devastated that she has to leave everyone she loves behind, she’s still determined not to give in to the unspeakable hungers that plague her.
Unfortunately, they’re growing stronger every day, and she’s not sure how much longer she can resist.
Harper won’t give up on finding her sister Gemma, vowing to get her back no matter what the cost. The search draws her closer to too-gorgeous-for-his-own-good Daniel, and tests her fiercely guarded independence like never before. She’s always been the strong one who everyone else depends on…. Can she let herself depend on Daniel?
As Gemma and Harper plunge deeper into a magical world they barely understand, it becomes painfully clear that Gemma’s old life may be lost forever. But can she still hold on to her humanity?
2.5 Drink Me Potions
Lullaby picks up right where Wake left off. No, seriously. The cliffhanger from the previous book? It’s like an hour passed and that’s where this book starts. I’m starting to wonder how the timeline of this series is going to go. Wake was like only a few weeks at most, if not less. Boy, do relationships change fast. Is this series going to last the timeline of a few months before summer ends? At least, that’s the first thing my brain asked upon starting this book. But I digress.
Here is what I thought about this book…
The pacing
I wanted to scream in frustration at this book sometimes. Honestly. If this was a show instead of a book, this book would be considered a “filler episode”. Nothing much happened in Lullaby. Sure, Gemma is figuring out how to be a siren with her new “sisters”, who are rather creepy and very bee-yotchy. Harper, Daniel and Alex are frantically trying to find her. I swear though, this is how the first part of the story goes.
Gemma’s POV: at some location with the sirens, particularly Penn being an ass and taunting her to “feed” on some poor man soon
Switch to Harper & Alex’s POV: makes Facebook page/missing posters/calls the cops/worrying incessantly = pretty much most of their POV for like a good half of the book
Oh, and what’s worse? Daniel doesn’t pop up as much until later into the book because Harper’s avoiding him. I love that girl, but man, I wish their flirtation would take the next step already. She has got to see how much he cares for her and accepts her even when she’s in one of those cold-hot mood swings. Overall, there wasn’t a lot happening. At least, not as exciting with the level of pacing it was written in.
The sirens
My goodness, I wanted to punch Lexi sometimes. She’s so whiny and needy at the same time. It’s like she’s in some power play constantly, wanting to be Penn’s favourite but also wanting to have that kind of power for herself as well.
Penn is her usual bossy yet scary self. She doesn’t like to share her men, both as toys or as food, and she’s so manipulative of her sisters. Of all villains and mean girls out there in other stories, I think Penn wins the award for “Most Hated Character”. I got to give kudos to Hocking for making such a flawed and easily hateable villain.
Thea, I feel, has potential in being more than what her sisters seem like at the surface, which is self-centred, cunning, heartless men-eating monsters. To put it nicely. I feel there would be a lot more to her role in the sirens’ past….just not in this book. My biggest question left from here would be Why the heck would she let Penn boss her around like that when she’s the oldest sister?
Last thoughts
I wouldn’t say to let Lullaby deter you from reading the series. It does push the story along a little bit, and there were very cute romantic moments with Harper/Daniel and even Alex/Gemma. It was just slow and sometimes felt like Hocking didn’t know what to do to fill up this sequel with. I only kept reading at such a fast pace ’cause I desperately wanted to see something exciting happen. I guess I’ll be waiting for Tidal for that to happen.
Overall Recommendation:
Lullaby honestly feels like the middle book syndrome but magnified by 10. There weren’t a lot of things going on in this book. Not much of the mythology aspect progressed, most of the protagonists were just searching for Gemma and not doing anything else exciting, Gemma was preoccupied with her new siren abilities, yada yada yada. At most, this book’s goal was to slowly move the plot forward, but it barely did even that. There wasn’t much excitement to it, which was a disappointment considering Wake most definitely had that going for its intriguing plot. Hopefully this means that the series can only go up from here, and maybe some answers will finally be given. One can only hope.
Down the Rabbit Hole 