Title: Lies Beneath (Lies Beneath #1)
Author: Anne Greenwood Brown
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Published: June 12th, 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Published: June 12th, 2012
Pages: 303
Genre: paranormal/fantasy romance (mermaids)
Audience: young adult
Source: library (Randi) library(Becky)
Rating: 4 I'd go for a romantic moonlit swim with this book 2 I'd stuff this book in a glass bottle and let it drift away to someone else.
Goodreads Summary:
Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans and absorb their positive energy. Usually, they select their victims at random, but this time around, the underwater clan chooses its target for a reason: revenge. They want to kill Jason Hancock, the man they blame for their mother's death.
It's going to take a concerted effort to lure the aquaphobic Hancock onto the water. Calder's job is to gain Hancock's trust by getting close to his family. Relying on his irresistible good looks and charm, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter Lily. Easy enough, but Calder screws everything up by falling in love--just as Lily starts to suspect there's more to the monster-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined, and just as the mermaids threaten to take matters into their own hands, forcing Calder to choose between them and the girl he loves.
One thing's for sure: whatever Calder decides, the outcome won't be pretty.
Our Thoughts
Randi in black. Becky in blue.
Let me start by saying that there is one major thing about this book that really annoys me. Just one? The fact that the second book in the series doesn't come out until March 2013! Haha. :) Anyway, I wasn't really that excited about reading a mermaid book, but this one at least sounded interesting. Turns out, I loved it. I was excited, and turns out I did not even like it. I remember loving "Sirena" as a teen and I was eager to try another aquatic tale. These aren't your "little mermaid" mermaids. They're lethal and scary and ruthless. Ok, I do love evil portrayals of mermaids and I liked how dark this story made them. If only it could have stuck with that atmosphere and focused more on the killing lol. And I absolutely love Calder. Ok...me too. He has a very appealing helpless-killer vibe that vampire fans will love. Everything is explained in this book - why the mermaids kill, the transformation (why they can walk on land), why they return to Lake Superior, and how they create new merpeople. Well, some of it is explained but since it is through Calder, who is really in the dark, I'm not sure how much of that explanation is real. Why did they have necklaces, again? The lore with this series leaves nothing out; I'm actually really curious to read more books about mermaids now because I want to know if this is traditional mermaid lore or if Anne Greenwood Brown actually created this entire lore (either way, it's awesome, but I'm still curious!). Yeah, I was fascinated by the folklore she added. It was my favorite part.
Calder is believable as a somewhat repenting mermaid who has resigned himself to help his sisters get their revenge on the man responsible for their mother's death. I think he actually wants to kill that guy, just no one else. You can't help but like him even knowing that he'd probably kill you given the chance. I feel like he's the kind of character you wouldn't mind killing you, lol. His sisters are...interesting. Maris comes across as...unhinged. Pavati is gorgeous and cruel. And Tallulah (love that name) is sympathetic toward Calder's desire to "leave" the family and break their family bond so he can be independent. I wanted more from the sisters. We barely spent any time with them, and they were potentially so interesting. Part of the problem is that we are always seeing through Calder's eyes, and he's always off by himself. I love Lily's character (hated her); she is not another wishy-washy "Bella" character (yes she is); girl's got substance. I thought Lilly was the flattest of all the characters, lol. She really ruined the book for me. The details meant to give her a personality only highlighted her averageness for me. It's kind of like hipsters thinking they are really unique. Again, we only see through Calder's eyes, so that didn't help. She likes Victorian poetry for crying out loud! Oh puhlez, who doesn't? That totally scored her points in my book. And Yeats references? Yeats is one of my faaaaves. Me too :), but she was such a helpless little lamb. She had potential when she initially resisted Calder, but she gave up wicked-fast and just became a flailing maiden. And her little sister thinks she dresses weird haha. I would have liked to get to know Lily's mom, dad, and sister (Sophie) a bit more, but that's really the only thing I would change. Calder, his sisters, and Lily are all very well-developed (something that pleasantly surprised me!). I entirely disagree, lol. Part of what jerked me out of the story over and over was wondering, why Lilly? What was so special about her that Calder fell in love with her so fast and defied his family and nature? I just couldn't buy it. I'm sure some of the other girls he killed liked weird clothes and read books. He often killed pretty girls, so that couldn't be it. We see definite character growth with Calder. Though the relationship between Calder and Lily moves quickly, it never seems instalove-y; it is very well written! Omg, I thought it was the worst kind of Insta-love. Well, more like Insta-crush which later turned to "love" without much catalyst.
This book flies by. I read it in a day with quite a few breaks to do other things. I forced myself to pick it up, but never managed more than 50 pages at a time. It will be a quick read for those who enjoy this type of book, though. And it's relatively short at just over 300 pages. The end: there is a big twist. Don't hate me, but I saw it coming from the very beginning. I swear I don't try to guess these things. Well, a couple of them really. But luckily, I didn't think the ending was a cliffhanger at all. I want the next book so I can find out what happens next, but the loose ends are tied up at the end, so no pulling my hair out waiting for the next book. ;) I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who already loves mermaids but also to people who like paranormal fantasy in general, even if they think *cough* that they don't like mermaid books. I'd recommend to anyone looking for a candy read or liked Hush Hush or the Iron King series.
Calder is believable as a somewhat repenting mermaid who has resigned himself to help his sisters get their revenge on the man responsible for their mother's death. I think he actually wants to kill that guy, just no one else. You can't help but like him even knowing that he'd probably kill you given the chance. I feel like he's the kind of character you wouldn't mind killing you, lol. His sisters are...interesting. Maris comes across as...unhinged. Pavati is gorgeous and cruel. And Tallulah (love that name) is sympathetic toward Calder's desire to "leave" the family and break their family bond so he can be independent. I wanted more from the sisters. We barely spent any time with them, and they were potentially so interesting. Part of the problem is that we are always seeing through Calder's eyes, and he's always off by himself. I love Lily's character (hated her); she is not another wishy-washy "Bella" character (yes she is); girl's got substance. I thought Lilly was the flattest of all the characters, lol. She really ruined the book for me. The details meant to give her a personality only highlighted her averageness for me. It's kind of like hipsters thinking they are really unique. Again, we only see through Calder's eyes, so that didn't help. She likes Victorian poetry for crying out loud! Oh puhlez, who doesn't? That totally scored her points in my book. And Yeats references? Yeats is one of my faaaaves. Me too :), but she was such a helpless little lamb. She had potential when she initially resisted Calder, but she gave up wicked-fast and just became a flailing maiden. And her little sister thinks she dresses weird haha. I would have liked to get to know Lily's mom, dad, and sister (Sophie) a bit more, but that's really the only thing I would change. Calder, his sisters, and Lily are all very well-developed (something that pleasantly surprised me!). I entirely disagree, lol. Part of what jerked me out of the story over and over was wondering, why Lilly? What was so special about her that Calder fell in love with her so fast and defied his family and nature? I just couldn't buy it. I'm sure some of the other girls he killed liked weird clothes and read books. He often killed pretty girls, so that couldn't be it. We see definite character growth with Calder. Though the relationship between Calder and Lily moves quickly, it never seems instalove-y; it is very well written! Omg, I thought it was the worst kind of Insta-love. Well, more like Insta-crush which later turned to "love" without much catalyst.
This book flies by. I read it in a day with quite a few breaks to do other things. I forced myself to pick it up, but never managed more than 50 pages at a time. It will be a quick read for those who enjoy this type of book, though. And it's relatively short at just over 300 pages. The end: there is a big twist. Don't hate me, but I saw it coming from the very beginning. I swear I don't try to guess these things. Well, a couple of them really. But luckily, I didn't think the ending was a cliffhanger at all. I want the next book so I can find out what happens next, but the loose ends are tied up at the end, so no pulling my hair out waiting for the next book. ;) I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who already loves mermaids but also to people who like paranormal fantasy in general, even if they think *cough* that they don't like mermaid books. I'd recommend to anyone looking for a candy read or liked Hush Hush or the Iron King series.
I really enjoy your Twice Baked Thursday reviews. It's so interesting to see how each of you react to a book in different ways, but I tell you, it also makes it hard for me to decide if I want to give the book a try. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you :)! We love doing them and we'd also love to have you as a guest co-reviewer if you ever feel inclined. I'd always advise you to go with Randi's review if you know you like romantic elements or uplifting, enjoyable, less gritty reads. I tend to lean towards horror and villainous characters where everyone is unhappy at the end, lol.
ReplyDeleteAwesome review ladies..as always I love your twice baked thoughts. This was a fun read and I look forward to book two.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kimba! :) We love our twice baked posts - they're so much fun to write!
DeleteI think that Calder sounds great personally :)
ReplyDeleteI love your review style and seeing the two different perspectives.
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
Thanks, Brandi! Calder is absolutely lovely. :D Book two will be interesting since it's from a different point of view. So maybe we'll get more details on Calder. ;)
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