**REVIEW** Sirens by Janet Fox

When Jo Winter’s parents send her off to live with her rich cousin on the glittering island of Manhattan, it’s to find a husband and forget about her brother Teddy’s death. But all that glitters is not gold.. 
Caught up in the swirl of her cousin’s bobbed-hair set—and the men that court them— Jo soon realizes that the talk of marriage never stops, and behind the seemingly boundless gains are illicit business endeavors, gangsters, and their molls. Jo would much rather spend time the handsome but quiet Charles, a waiter at the Algonquin Hotel, than drape herself over a bootlegger. But when she befriends a moll to one of the most powerful men in town, Jo begins to uncover secrets—secrets that threaten an empire and could secure Jo’s freedom from her family. 
Can her newfound power buy her love? Or will it to ruin Jo, and everyone around her?

  I will freely admit that I had no idea what I was getting myself into with this one.  Not a single clue and I was okay with that.  Truth be told I bought it because I pulled it off the book store shelf and realized I had seen it on a fellow bloggers Hoarders post(Joy from Joyous Reads). Just let me say that sometimes these impulses blow up on me.  This time however it didn't and I was pulled into a world of flappers, gangsters and one hell of a mystery.  Maybe I enjoyed it because I needed to know what was going to happen or maybe it was because I could never quite put my finger on if I was on the right track or not.  There's also the little thing that I totally believe I could have been a flapper in a previous life...  Who knows?

Josephine aka Jo has lived a quiet life for the most part with her Ma and Pa.  The thought of flappers may not appeal to her but the short hair and the freedom does.  When she is sent to Manhatten to live with family she has no real idea why but has her suspicions.  When Jo realizes that the secrets she holds may mean more to some than her life and the ones that she loves, she has a huge decision to make.  Who to trust and where do you go when the one hunting you runs everything?

  Jo was an intersting character.  To start I was a little detached when it came to her but as I read on she showed just how determined she was.  This is a time where woman's rights were developing but in a way things were the same.  Jo had dreams and ambition, both trait that I admire in a character and in people I meet.  As I read more about her I realized that she was going to to stick to who she was and not fold into what everyone seen her as.  Yes she did cut her hair and wear the dresses but that didn't mean she would change who and what she was.  There was a certain amount of agitation when it came to her blind spots.  For example because of her situation and trying to protect her brother and family she couldn't see who was trying to help her and who was against her.  This however can be forgiven because in the thick of her situation I may or may not have made the same mistakes.

  You will also meet the other girl, Louie. She's a moll.  Don't know the word?  Well you can pick this book up and find out or look it up.  Cruel I know but it's part of the fun right.  Louie was kind of th other side of the story.  The one behind the curtain sharing little bits that you wouldn't see without her.  To start I thought her weak and even in the end I'm not sure how I felt about her.  What I did enjoy with her was her strong emotions.  Be it love, hate, jealousy that girl did it good.  Even when she couldn't decide exactly where she stood and what to do.  Swinging emotions may seem a little irritating but when you're in a situation like hers, I don't find it that unreasonable.

  The relationships in his book are mixed and all over.  This is 1925 and a time where being free meant something to everyone, even if it was something different to everyone.  To Louie it was her relationship with Danny and all the lavish things that came with it.  Though she was no more than another thing to collect to him.  She was still to be seen and not heard, well unless she had something intelligent to say.  From there you have Jo and Charlie.  They weren't all over each other because well it's the 20's freedom is in and being a floozie comes as a label with the life style but some girls still want to hold on to their olde values.  Even more than that Charlie believes that Jo is above him and it broke my heart to know.  These two couples couldn't be no different but they created such a contrast with each other, they complimented each other.

  Sirens was such a fantastically and artfully written novel.  My mind was a million miles away from me as I read.  My heart believes afte reading this that if I could have I would be a part of this world, though what part I would play is still untold.  This one will take you away to another time, another place and pull you through with its mystery.  I will admit that I was wrong most of th book.  I believed things that I thought I had figured out frequently, only to hav it thrown out the window within the next few chapters.  Not realizing this was the third in a series has me left in wanting for the first two books.  However do not let this detour you from pickin it up as they don't seem to be connected and I had no problem reading this one without having read the others.  Though this is a first for me when it comes to the roaring 20's but let me tell you it won't be the last!

Quotes

A simple haircut wasn't enough to turn a girl into a flapper, right?  Modern and smart, sure.  But not a flapper.  The last thing I wanted was to be taken for a fool.

My voice trembled."I'm not ready to get married.  I wan to finish out the school year.  I have plans.  And my plans don't include becoming a floozy."

She had this funny thing going on, Jo Winters.  She was innocent but savvy.  She thought she knew what she wanted, but it was stuff right out of a fairy tale.  I wanted to shake her and say, "Wake up, baby."

Cigarette girls in skimpy outfits and jaunty caps paced the floor between the tables, and couples leaned toward each other over their iced drinks.  Smoke rose in spirals; the ceiling was adrift in clouds of smoke.

I bet he had no idea why Connor wanted me followed.  I wished, in that instant, I could jump into Charlie's arms, safe and secure from this menacing man sitting opposite me, one arm trailing over Lou's shoulder, but whose eyes were fixed on me.