Review: Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown

Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown
Publisher: Random House/ Delacorte
Release Date: March 12, 2013
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

It's been thirty days, two hours, and seventeen minutes since Calder left Lily standing on the shores of Lake Superior. Not that she's counting. And when Calder does return, it's not quite the reunion Lily hoped for. Especially after she lets her father in on a huge secret: he, like Calder, is a merman. Obsessed with his new identity, Lily's dad monopolizes Calder's time as the two of them spend every day in the water, leaving Lily behind.

Then dead bodies start washing ashore. Calder blames his mermaid sisters, but Lily fears her father has embraced the merman's natural need to kill. As the body count grows, everyone is pointing fingers. Lily doesn't know what to believe—only that whoever's responsible is sure to strike again. . . . 

My thoughts:
I loved loved loved Lies Beneath.  It was my first mermaid book and I was captivated by the whole killer mermaid storyline.  Deep Betrayal started out strong, but by the end I was really kinda disappointed in the turn the story took and I am not sure if I totally buy it all.

The story takes off about 30 days after Lies Beneath ended.  Calder is off trying to figure things out and Lily is left in Minneapolis having been barred from the lake.  When Calder finally shows back up and Lily decides to tell her Dad that he is a merman, Lily gets her wish and she returns to the lake.  Knowing that Calders sisters still pose a threat, Lily agrees to stay out of the water.  When the pull of the water is just too much for her all hale breaks loose and things get exciting.  Angry mermaids, bodies washing up on shore, and an absent dad all come crashing down on Lily and all she knows is that she has to stop the killings and bring her family back together again.

See the story sounds good and for the most part I was enthralled with it, but in the last few chapters things really fell apart for me.  I didn't like who the killer turned out to be at all.  That whole thing came out of nowhere and I kinda wish that the person we are led to believe would have been the killer.  It would have made a better OMG storyline in my opinion.  Instead we are left with a weird killer and a new bit of history that again didn't really belong in the story.  It felt like the author wanted to sidetrack the reader with a history lesson and the whole time all I could think about was Ursula from The Little Mermaid.  I didn't think the story really needed it since the murders were strong enough to hold the readers attention.

I was also more than ticked at Lily for driving off without Calder when she really could have used his help. Calder let her tag along to every dangerous stunt he had to endure but the minute the tables are turned Lily leaves him!  I was infuriated over her decision and it didn't make any sense why she would leave him.  Calder wasn't weak and certainly could have held his own so it was just irritating.

Even though I wasn't fond of the ending I did enjoy several parts of the story and with the way this one ended and I am more than a little curious how the next book will be.  The author leaves us with a bomb so I will definitely pick up the next book hoping that my killer mermaids come back in full force.

3 snowflakes

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Review: Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

 

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Publisher: Delacourte Books for Young Readers 

Release date: June 12, 2012

To purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Blurb(GR):
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 irresistible good looks and charm on unsuspecting 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

I have to say that I am really starting to like the dark and scary creatures that are crawling out from under all the romanticized ones. I mean killer mermaids?? What more could a girl ask for??!
Calder is a merman and to survive he has to steal emotions from humans, yes, this means he kills them. *shivers* From the beginning when I read this I was completely hooked. Like I said I am into the scary right now. So anyway, back to the plot.. Calder and his three sisters want revenge on the man that caused the death of their mother. They have been looking for him and hoping that he returns to the water so that they may avenge her. When this happens, Calder isn't prepared for his targets daughter and this throws a huge wrench in his plans.
Yes, there is a romantic plot thrown in, but I don't think it took away from the overall creepiness. It showed another side to Calder. I think if it had been ignored, it would have made him seem too cold. Calder and Lily were amazing and I loved how Lily didn't give into Calders charm right away. She stood her ground and that is hard to find in books these days. I also want to point out that Calders three sisters were just awesome. I know I am supposed to hate them and all, but you gotta love the twistedness of them. They were creepy and dark and I am very curious what will happen to them in the next book.
I think the author did a fantastic job interweaving old myth into the story. It was easy to understand and I felt myself believing every word she wrote. She really did an amazing job and I cannot wait to read the sequel!

                                                         4 Snowflakes
                                           

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