⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I LOVED getting to read more of Gabi Burton's beautiful writing and finding out the conclusion to this compelling story! Sing Me To Sleep was one of my absolute favourite reads of 2023, so it was very exciting to get to read the sequel a couple of months early. I was both eager to find out how Saoirse's adventure would end and sad to have to leave this world behind!

After the events of the first book, siren Saoirse is a wanted criminal and the newly-crowned King Hayes is forced to send her to the other side of the magical barrier surrounding their kingdom... both to keep her safe, and to look into what is really happening over there. Saoirse is flanked by her once-best-friend, now-betrayer Carrick, who is doing all he can to get back on her good side and proves fundamental to her mission. What she finds leads to a lot of confusion and doubts over what to do, what is right for her Kingdom and even whether Hayes is the right person to lead it. How can Saoirse help her kingdom and keep her beloved sister safe, without breaking her own heart?

The plot was engaging for the entirety of the book and kept me guessing about characters' intentions and ideas. There were lots of unexpected plot twists that kept things interesting and tense, all the way until the final resolution. I wish more time was spent on the actualisation of the final plan, which was much anticipated and then... somewhat already over? But otherwise I loved the way it was all wrapped up, which was creative and definitely not what I expected! Drown Me With Dreams was less heavy on the action than Sing Me To Sleep, as it focused more on planning, political intrigue, subterfuge and development of relationships. I enjoyed the intricacies this brought to the plot, especially when it came to the government that Saorise gets to encounter on the other side of the barrier!

The main characters were explored in even more depth, with new layers being uncovered. I feel like I got a deeper understanding of Saoirse and Carrick throughout the book, and partially of Hayes too, although he was less central. The romance was a smaller subplot compared to everything else happening, but gosh did I love the scenes between Saoirse and Hayes! The (platonic!) relationship between Saoirse and Carrick was a great one to read about, too - their shared history, the difficult-to-overcome resentment and their unbreakable bond despite everything bringing a delightful warmth to a rather dark story. While the side characters weren't particularly developed, they served their purpose well and supported the story where needed (I definitely would have loved to know more about J'siiri, though!).

Sooo, I'd definitely recommend this duology to lovers of dark YA fantasy! I was absolutely enraptured by both books and could barely put this sequel down. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review!

The Sing Me To Sleep duology was so addictive! I absolutely loved the first book and this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

Saoirse is an incredible main character; strong, resilient but with a softer side that shines through in her protectiveness over her family. Her connection with Hayes was my absolute favourite and he was a really interesting character. Their chemistry was so believable and I adored watching them navigate the new dynamic in their relationship.

The different characters are what kept me engaged in the story, but I felt the plot was really rushed at the end with the conflict resolving unnecessarily quickly. It also felt quite repetitive or almost copy paste of the first book in some areas, but appreciate that may just be the authors writing style. I also wish we could have had an epilogue, but I think I just wanted to spend longer in this world.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable YA romantasy.

I loved this book. I really like the writing, and the story just drags me in and makes me want to just read more. I have so much love for these characters and my only complaint is that I wish I could spend more time with them

Following on from the events of SING ME TO SLEEP, Saoirse, a siren - and a wanted fugitive - is forced into hiding in the palace. Hayes, now King, is struggling to gain support and live up to his promises for a better Keirdre. Things take a further turn for the worse when Saoirse is accused of another crime, and she and Hayes are forced to send her beyond the barrier. But the only way for Saoirse to escape is to team up with her ex-best friend. Together, they discover the world beyond the barrier is not all they were led to believe. And as they learn more about themselves, each other, and the world around them, Saoirse must also come to terms if Hayes is the best choice for a better future for the kingdom... or not.

What a treat it was to return to the world of Sing Me to Sleep! Gabi Burton continues with the captivating world and characters of her previous novel, picking up and building on everything from the first book with no slump in sight. Once again, Saoirse is the stand-out, a badass, morally-grey MC whose internal struggles keep you turning pages. The redemption arc for Carrik is also brilliant, and a real highlight for me. I would love to see more of his character!

The worldbuilding continues to amaze, especially all the different creatures, and the plot was again, tightly-woven and propulsive. I loved the intrigue and mystery side of this book, especially the feeling of thinking "Ah yes, I know what's happening now" and then boom, another twist.

Overall, a brilliant conclusion to the duology and I can't wait to see what Gabi Burton does next!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free eArc!

I really enjoyed this book! I fell in love with the characters in the first book, so it was so nice with to read about them again. I loved the chemistry between the main characters and that there was a lot happening throughout the book. The ending did feel a bit rushed for me, so I almost wish there was a third book in this series. The ending was well wrapped up, but at the same time I felt like something was missing.

I loved sing me to sleep and had such high expectations for this one, sadly I was disappointed. I felt like this series could easily have been split up into 3 books as this felt very rushed.

✅All Black Cast of Characters
✅ Revenge
✅ Betrayal
✅ Even More Female Rage

Writing and pace

The writing is just as good as I remember from singe to sleep. Sharp, crisp and easy to fall into.

The female rage is just as pungent as book one but takes a new direction.

For a duology book two was perfectly paced and I didn't not experience any drag within the plot.

Plot

Listen I WAS NOT READY for the way this plot unraveled. The betrayal, the secrets, the lies, deception, and political stakes were taken up a notch.

It reminded me how important it is to protect your history from being rewritten. Our history has a large role to play in how we see ourselves and how others see us.

Setting and world building

The world expanded and while I wish we explored more of it (maybe another book set in this world or a novella 👀👀 ) I absolutely adored what we got and what we learned about the world beyond the barrier.

Characters

Hayes is more forgiving and patient than me truly he is a man of the Lord because the amount of wrongdoing this man ensured !

Saorise FINALLY let some of her stubbornness go. PRAISE BE. There was growth and I'm happy she found new ways to channel her rage.

Bransprout (Rain) didn't feature as much but I will say her heart is pure and her capacity for forgiveness is something I can learn from 🥹.

Hayes mother, may she rot in hell 👋🏿, fast track to hell premium plus. She was described as short so she doesn't have a long way down, she's already close to him.

Thank you, Netgalley, and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

I won't say anything about the plot since this is book 2, but I really recommend reading book 1, sing me to sleep. It's about a siren assassin who does what she wants and only has one mission in life and will do anything to make that happen.

I loved this book. I really like the writing, and the story just drags me in and makes me want to just read more. The ending did feel a bit rushed, and at one point, I couldn't understand how everything was going to get sorted, but it did. There are still some unanswered questions, but that's fine. It was still solved in a good way. Except this book broke my heart a little.

I like how things are explained in this book. You are told what something is, and then when it's actually relevant to the story, you are told again. So you can remember easier, but it doesn't feel repetitive either. I really liked that.

4,5/5⭐️

Wow!!
This was a ride I didn't know I needed.
Firstly, this is the sequel to Gabi's first book,' Sing me to sleep,' and this book did not disappoint at all.

I loved that I didn't know or could guess where the story was going, each time I felt I guessed I was wrong. I loved the main characters and their feelings for each other.

I loved the writing of this book also, I felt the first book really set the scene for this sequel, and it was well captured.

I would definitely recommend this book to fantasy readers.

I received this book as an ARC fron netgalley.com .

Really enjoyed Sing me to Sleep when it came out, so was really excited to get a chance to read the sequel early.
Loved this one, such a beautifully written world, I love the characters, and the cover is absolutely stunning!
Will be keeping an eye out for future releases from this author!

DNF at 19%, I really tried with this book as I wanted to finish the duology but i couldn’t get into it. Nothing happens and I’m nearly a quarter through with no interest in finishing

It’s been a while since I read Sing Me To Sleep, but going back into this story was easy. The recollections of the first book were subtle enough not to be annoying and helped me get back on track.

The plot seems quite obvious. Saoirse has to leave Hayes behind and go to the other side of the barrier. She doesn’t know what’s waiting there – a people full of aggression against Keirdrens, an army big enough to destroy everything?
I expected so much action. While Saoirse as a siren and enemy of Keirdre probably has nothing to fear, she definitely wants Hayes to be safe. I expected her to fight for him on the other side, have the barrier come down, to have a full-on war.
But there was barely any action in this book. It’s much more on the intrigue side of things. Saoirse realises quite quickly that things are not as she (and I) expected them to be, but that doesn’t mean peace. There is so much scheming from basically everyone, so many hidden secrets. Multiple times I thought that we now know everything and then something knew got revealed.
It kind of fit. I had expected more action, but this way actually made so much sense and it wasn’t boring either.
Usually, I hate it when there is one revelation after the other, but in this case, it was so well done.
Unfortunately, this also made the book a bit confusing. I didn’t know anymore who wanted to do what and who had actually done what. But it did get cleared up before the finale.

One thing that did disappoint me, however, were the relationships. I wanted to see more of Carrik. He is so interesting! I really liked him and I was happy to see him in a huge part of the book, but he barely did anything. While he did get his moments to show his importance, it wasn’t enough. He could’ve played an even bigger role in my opinion. For quite a long time he felt like a pretty but unnecessary accessory.
I wasn’t quite happy with Hayes either. In a way, that made sense, considering the ending of Sing Me To Sleep. I would’ve been disappointed, if the two of them were able to overcome their problems without a second thought. But at the same time, it was so frustrating. Both of them lying, both of them not trusting each other. But at the same time Hayes is way too in love with Saoirse. He said some things that literally had me melting, but most of the time I just wanted to tell him that there is love and then there is stupidity. The way it got resolved was fine, but I feel like the two of them still have a long way to go. Them solving their problems could’ve taken even longer.
We get a couple of new characters and while they were interesting, most of them felt pretty one dimensional. They had their part to play and they did it well, but that’s it.

I’m still split about the overall ending. It was a bit strange and unrealistic, but this is a fantasy book, so who am I to judge? And at least it was something smart and different.

The writing style was good. I loved the descriptions and the emotions were very tangible. My heart broke for Saoirse over and over again. But I do believe that the pacing could’ve been better. The beginning was a bit slow, the ending seemed slightly rushed. I also wish we could’ve had more world building. Show me more of the different creatures, show me more of Pennex and how they all live together. There are barely any humans of importance, but all the creatures look like humans and never use their magic, so why even make the difference?

But it was a nice conclusion to the duology. I enjoyed it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Hodder&Stoughton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

✨4.75 stars✨

Wow wow wow!

I loved this book so much! I really enjoyed the first book when I read it last year so I was really looking forward to this sequel! Honestly I am so happy that it didn’t disappoint😂

The writing, the plot, the characters were amazing!

Just fair warning this is the conclusion to the duology… I didn’t realise this until the end because I didn’t even read the blurb before starting this!! I just want more of these characters and this world!

The only negative (whilst tiny) would be that it seemed to wrap up a bit too fast but maybe that’s me just being greedy for more!

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the first book and are intrigued by the how this story wraps up, and I would recommend this duology to fans of the ya fantasy genre with a really cute romance…Hayes😍 I can’t wait to get the finished physical copy!

I received an ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

This is not my usual genre but the cover and storyline drew me in instantly. It just seems so action packed and full of adventure . Love the romance aspect as well. Will be sharing a full review and thoughts very soon.