The hardest promises to keep are often the ones you make to yourself. How many people have promised to stop biting their nails and haven't? Sirena, a mermaid, finds it even harder when she promises herself not to sing.

Mermaids start out mortal and the only way for them to become immortal is to make love to a human being. Immortality is the one thing that Sirena and her ten sisters most want. So they spend their time making themselves beautiful and looking out for passing ships filled with sailors. Like many seventeen-year-olds, the sisters' fondest desire is to be in the company of men.

She wants him to love her for what she is.

When a ship comes the mermaids sing enchanting songs, luring the ships onto the rocks. They hope the men will then fall in love with them but, in the past, most of the men on the ships died when they crashed into the rocks. Those remaining blamed the mermaids and even tried to kill them. Sirena realizes that it is pointless trying to entrap more ships, but the rest of the mermaids ignore her warnings. Sirena swims away, unable to participate any more.

She settles on another island and trades immortality for the right to want to live. Even though she is no longer looking, she finds an injured man on the beach. Sirena is attracted to him but always cautious, afraid this man will be like the others. She vows not to seduce him with her song because she wants him to love her for what she is. She is, unfortunately, unable to keep her promise. She gains the immortality she used to want so badly at the risk of losing what she now wants even more.

It could have been about any normal person's struggle to do what they believe is right while everyone around them does what is wrong.

I don't normally read fantasy books and when I saw this book was about mermaids, I thought it might be just a fairy tale and not relevant to real life. But I really enjoyed it because it has many links to real life: in the way the characters act and the way they think, even though they are mermaids. The mermaids spend all day making themselves beautiful, getting ready to seduce men, and many seventeen-year-olds do the same. The story is a mixture of legends and real life.

I also liked this book because the main character has strong morals, which I admire. I learned that while there may be an easy option for some things, it isn't always the right thing to do. It could have been about any normal person's struggle to do what they believe is right while everyone around them does what is wrong. Everyone has this struggle at some point.

And finally, Sirena showed me something that is another real world truth: there are no shortcuts to true love.