When the Siren Calls by Tom Barry

SYNOSIS: Restless and neglected, Isobel is suffocating in a stagnant marriage. Suave and charismatic Jay is fighting for survival. An invitation to visit Jay's resort in the hills of Tuscany sparks Isobel to imagine a life of freedom and excitement.

 Dismissing her husband’s objections, Isobel pursues Jay to Tuscany on the pretext of searching for a holiday home. After fighting anguished guilt, she abandons herself in a passionate affair, with her controlling lover encouraging Isobel to push beyond her sexual boundaries.

 But all is not as it seems in the idyllic Tuscan retreat, and Isobel finds herself trapped in a web of intrigue, deception, and betrayal. She is one player in a dangerous love triangle, unsure whether Jay is her savior, or her nemesis. As her world falls apart, she must choose between the woman she thought she was, and the woman she has become.

REVIEW: When the Siren Calls was a fascinating read with lies, deception, and sensual seduction. From the moment I began reading to the very last word, I was hooked. Throughout the book it bounces back and forth between the characters with the main focus being on Isobel. We meet Isobel in the beginning of the book where while she was shopping, she lost her way and basically ends up on the wrong side of town. And that’s where we first meet Jay, the handsome, brooding, saving grace. Though later he isn’t all what he cracked up to be, in fact he is the total opposite. Selfish, egotistical, deceitful, and player, Jay’s true colors begin to shine as the story goes on and you can’t help but begin to hate him. And then, in a blink of an eye, he tries to change and by then it is just too. The character who has the most overall developmental change is Isobel hands down. When we first meet her, she is a shy, quiet kind of woman just going through the motions of life and marriage. The thought of cheating or any kind of scoundrel was absolutely absurd, something she never considered doing. That is of course until Jay. In her passionate affair, Isobel discovers everything about herself she never knew and the things she never knew she wanted. Tom Barry does an excellent job providing an emotional, dramatic yet heartfelt journey from beginning to end. And the one thing that really surprised me is that the end wasn’t really the end. This book was only the first of a series, with a second book titled “Saving Jay” to soon follow. And I cannot wait to sink my hands into this book and see what happens next.