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Young Reed Sinclair is about to have one of the most important years of his life. He’s about to start his junior-high career as an 8th-grader, along with his best pal Pete MacNamara and their friends Cecil and Wally. Maybe they’ll even start a band together… if Reed can make time for band practice between schoolwork, his parents’ dysfunction, talking to the ghost of his older brother Hal, and protecting Pete’s cute little sister Samantha from the evil fairy or ghost or vampire or whatever-she-is that stalks Reed and who feeds on tragedies… Is she even real, or is she just a manifestation of Reed’s troubled mind as it heads into the dangerous waters of puberty? (She must be real– Hal’s ghost wouldn’t steer Reed wrong…!)
See the world of Song to the Siren from Reed’s point of view, and all the secret dangers from which Reed protected Sam, in A LOVERS’ CONCERTO, book 2 of the Song to the Siren series…
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“STTS 2 is the kind of coming-of-age novel that grabs you by the collar and refuses to let go. It’s nostalgic without ever feeling sentimental, heartbreaking without trying too hard, and emotionally honest in a way that feels almost dangerous. The writing has this dreamlike, literary quality that reminds me of the feeling of discovering a favorite book as a teenager and realizing stories could actually understand you.
Reed Sinclair is an incredible protagonist. Sharp, vulnerable, rebellious, funny, deeply empathetic, and haunted in ways that make every conversation feel layered with emotion and dread. His relationship with Samantha is the beating heart of the story. Their bond feels authentic, tender, and painfully human in a way most coming-of-age fiction never quite captures. You believe every moment between them, whether they’re talking about books, music, growing up, or just trying to survive the suffocating hypocrisy of the adult world.
What really blew me away is how the novel balances so many tones at once: suburban Americana, ghost story, fairy tale, psychological horror, first love, school drama, and musical coming of age narrative. The supernatural elements feel eerie and mythic without overpowering the emotional core. Belle is genuinely unsettling, less a monster than the embodiment of growing up, desire, fear, and loss of innocence itself.
The dialogue is phenomenal. Reed’s observations about adulthood, friendship, loyalty, art, and adolescence feel painfully real, and the chemistry between the characters carries the entire novel effortlessly. There’s also something beautifully tragic about the way the book treats creativity, music, art, books, imagination, as lifelines for kids trying to survive a world that constantly misunderstands them.
This feels like if Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and S.E. Hinton collaborated on a haunted coming-of-age rock-and-roll fever dream. A deeply emotional, literary, and atmospheric novel that understands the terror of growing up better than most horror stories understand monsters.”
–Michael Stinson, author of BITEMARK
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“Remember all of the angst associated with middle school or junior high or whatever the 6th-to-8th segment of your education was called? Of course you do. It’s that awkward age when you’re just starting to learn who you are, but you don’t have the confidence to become that person. Our voices crack– half of us get our first periods– and bullies are just around the corner. Each of us longs to be our own person, but we still have to please our parents.
A Lovers’ Concerto perfectly captures all of the actions and feelings of that time of life, and gives you characters that you care about. All of the characters are multi-dimensional. The winners are losers and the losers win sometimes. The bullies are still basically children, and the adults, as we have long suspected, are figuring it out as they go along.
But there’s more to this story than a fascinating dive into the human psyche: there’s also a supernatural element, and it’s a very believable one. While an outstanding read on its own, if you have read the first book in the series, Song to the Siren, and it left you satisfied, yet wanting to know more about the characters, this companion book is a must-read (that could also work on its own).”
–Carol Seufert, Educator