Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Lies Beneath (Lies Beneath #1) by Anne Greenwood Brown

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.
A dark mermaid story (and you thought I'd say tale-tail! ha!) is something I spring toward. I enjoyed the character of Calder, the merman. He was strong and struggled with questions about himself. I also enjoyed Lily's sense of being different. She embraced it. The darkness of these mermaids being more serial killers than the preening waifs also really got my attention. Also there was a twist in the story, which was easily discoverable but no less enjoyable. However, despite all these accolades, I can't say I fell in love with this story.

It was the distance I felt with all the characters. I just couldn't connect with any of them. I also couldn't connect to the romance with Calder and Lily. And I can't tell you exactly why I just didn't connect with those things. I'd have to say that was more a mystery to me than anything else in this book. Despite that disconnect I will say that I was still intrigued enough to finish the book and would read the next. I would be curious to see if the problem I encountered in this story would be remedied. As I said above, it does have all the other elements that I enjoy.

In conclusion, I give this book 3 stars. It wasn't a bad book by any means. In fact I can see elements of the story coming together as the series continues that will end up satisfying me. I do hope that is the case.
I received this eARC from NetGalley and the publisher and no compensation for my review was given.

13 comments:

  1. What is the age difference between the merman and Lily? And did he ever love before?

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    1. I think he was about a year older than her. It wasn't quite that. Although he had more life experiences than her in some things, she had more experience with emotions... so no, he never was in love before.

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  2. I remember reading last year that mermaids were supposed to be this year's big thing but I haven't seen as many mermaid books as I had expected to. And the one that I did read didn't impress me at all (I can't remember what it was called) unfortunately this one doesn't sound that promising either if you weren't able to connect with the characters or become interested in the romance. I'll probably be passing over this book.

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  3. This isn't my kind of book but I wonder if it will all come together later in the series. I will be crossing my fingers for ya!

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  4. It's always difficult when you can't fully connect to the characters - but murderous mermaids? Sounds different...

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  5. Oh sorry for the characters, it's impressive you finished the book in these conditions. I hope your feelings will improve this the second one.

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  6. I love mermaid stories! This is so awesome. I will be adding it.

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  7. Reviews for this one are all over, I don't know what to think. I like the dark aspects and the male PoV part, but not sure about the rest. I have it for review so I will be finding out soon. I hope it is a decent read for me.

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  8. Creepy. I do not want to go and swim in that lake! *shivers*

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  9. Aww...not connecting with characters? Boo. :( Still, I have to admit that this whole story idea really intrigues me...though like what Blodeuedd said above, I do NOT want to be swimming in THAT lake! Lol.

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  10. Couldn't connect to the romance? Boo. That's no bueno. I think I might have to skip on this fish story. You thought I was going to say tail, didn't you? LOL

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  11. Well, you did get to mention the tail...even if in your own joke. ;D Sorry you didn't connect with the story and romance. But very kind review. :) Thank you!

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  12. Murderous mer-people - that is different! Perhaps because they're murderers is why you could not connect with the characters.

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