review: Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown
June 12, 2012
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Young Adult | Paranormal
Lies Beneath #1
Pages: 303
Source/Format: NetGalley/eGalley
Rating: ★★★★
Author's Website | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound


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, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge. They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls. Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

REVIEW:

You know, I liked Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown. But dear god, I did NOT want to write this review. I don’t know if it’s because I’m in a not-reviewing-mood or if Lies Beneath was just a meh type of book for me.

I liked the plot—I love revenge, fall for the girl/boy plots because THEY ARE SO FREAKING INTERESTING and add conflict! So much conflict! And I liked the mermaid twist; you know, I think this is the mermaid book I’ve been searching for. Maybe. I liked that they were killer mermaids! I’m tired of the happy ones.

However, we had a problem, Lies Beneath and me, in the beginning. Calder is such a creep when he’s stalking Lily; and yeah, it isn’t the usual I’ma stalk you because I’m in love with you thing YA does. It’s I’ma stalk you because I’ma eat your father for REVENGE! Mwahaha. But it was still really weird, you know? Especially since he helps them move in and what I got was somebody sent him there, but he wasn’t part of the moving company? I don’t know. I must have been half-way asleep when I read that because I don’t remember the exact details on it. It was weird because I’m a control freak and would NOT let some stranger help me move. Besides the movers. Anyway.

While I liked Lily, I wasn’t really into the romance. I mean, a lot of the time I am, wanting the characters to kiss and admit that they like each other, but with this one there was no heart racing, when will they freaking KISS?! moments. It was just one of those things that was like okay, and you dismiss it.

I did however like that Calder narrated Lies Beneath. I love a male POV and was really excited to see it! But I heard the sequel is from Lily’s POV? And that didn’t make me excited at all. I mean, I’m sure it’ll be good, but guys, it was CALDER. NARRATING. A male! Something that is rare and barely seen narrating in the YA wild. And I really wish it would have stayed with Calder’s POV. We’ll see how I feel when (if) I read the sequel. :P

I really do think Lies Beneath is a fascinating, new twist on mermaids. Guys, these mermaids are fresh water mermaids! Interesting, right? Also, I absolutely adored the ending. Twists! Galore! You all know I love my twists. And I think YOU all should check out Lies Beneath and tell me what you thought of it.  

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