Title: Lies Beneath
Series: Lies Beneath
Author: Anne Greenwood Brown
Published: June 12, 2012
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.
**note** This copy was provided by Net Galley, but did not influence this review in any way.
Celeste, Christina and Ana will put Lies Beneath on the second shelf!
Our Review: We were lucky enough to all get a copy of this book from Net Galley and, of course, we decided that instead of fighting over who got to do the review, we do it together!! 
The Beginning
Ana: This book caught my attention at the very first line. The description of the mer people surprised me but was good in that it helped me understand that these are not the mers of fairy tales. I liked Calder immediately and felt for him being tied to things and people that he didn’t want to be tied to.
Christina: This was my first venture into anything mermaid-related. I’ve never even read any mermaid books with the fairytale-ish aspect, so them being portrayed as evil was certainly unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I was pretty much sucked in from the beginning, but the plot definitely took a bit to move along. I did like the we knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into from the get-go, though.
Celeste: Me too! I haven’t read any mermaid/mermen books yet but finally gave in because the premise sounded great. Revenge + killing + romance = sign me up! I was curious straight away and loved that the book is from Calder’s point of view, it was really refreshing.
Likes
Ana: I think that the characters were well developed. I loved Calder from the beginning (how could you not love a sexy, handsome, sweet merman?) and really liked Lily’s personality. I especially enjoyed the fact that she was unique in her thoughts and how she presented herself. I loved to hate Calder’s sisters but enjoyed the fact that these mer were just a bit evil. The description of how they change from mer to human was very well done…it made me cringe every time. I really enjoyed that the book was written from Calder’s point of view because stories from a male POV are so rare.
Christina: Agreed on all points. I definitely liked (or liked to dislike) all of the main characters. Each one seemed relatively fleshed out and added their own bit of intrigue to the story, especially Calder’s sisters. There were a few like Lily’s little sister and the Pettit’s that kind of made me wish there was a tad more to them.
Another thing I liked about the story was that Lily didn’t completely fail for Calder the very first time she saw him. Yes, she was able to admit he was attractive, but she knew something was slightly off about him. She called him out on his stalking, tried to distance herself from him initially, and even when everyone was saying she was crazy, she still stuck to her opinion and instincts instead of going with popular belief.
Celeste: My biggest “like” was the angsty-ness between Lily and Calder. There was an undeniable attraction on quite a few levels right from the start. I liked the frankness between them, and may have even gotten the butterflies feeling myself. There was definitely some sexual tension but at the same time felt like a natural progression of a romance. (I didn’t feel like it was too fast! )
I also liked how Calder described Lily’s style of clothes “weird” but he thought she was still so beautiful. It made her have a fabulous whimsical feel and I loved it! She was a great heroine; strong yet gentle and passionate. The secondary characters were good too, I would have liked to get to know some of them even better, hopefully that will happen in the next book.
Dislikes
Ana: I felt that the relationship was too fast on Lily’s end – at first I didn’t think she really liked him all that much and then, suddenly, she’s in love (but I guess that’s how all these books are).
Christina: YES! Dear young adult writers, enough with the insta-love. Insta-lust I can understand, but you can’t have the characters go from this person makes me nervous even though he’s pretty to look at & then after one date, be an absolute goner. I want depth, general attraction built to more.
Ana: Not sure what the purpose of making Lily’s mom sick was…
Christina: Maybe to add guilt to Calder’s decision because she relied so heavily on the dad?
Ana: Could be. Also, I thought the sister situation was a tad creepy!
Christina: Agreed, but I guessed that pretty early on.
Ana: I also thought Lily’s younger sister would play a bigger role in the story but she was only there in certain parts to move the plot along. I would have liked to see more of her especially since I got the impression that she was very perceptive. She could have definitely thrown a wrench into a few of the situations.
Christina: What is it with the paranormal love interests/pursuers being so creepy and stalkerish? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but if I found out a guy was spying on me all the time, I’d be really skeptical and wondering if he was planning on locking me up in his basement and torturing me or something.
Celeste: The whole revenge thing. It was such a focus for Calder and his sisters that was all consuming and just didn’t make sense to me. I just wasn’t sold on it….till the end. However, I read paranormal stories all the time, so I made peace with it in the beginning and accepted the rest of the story (which I loved). But then it did all come together and make sense.
The End
Ana: The twist at the end was really unexpected! The book left me with a lot of questions about what would happen next and how the characters would move forward. I’m not sure how I felt about it… I was a bit confused by some of the details and how some of this could work. Maybe it’ll all be explained in the next book.
Christina: I also was a bit stunned by the revelation at the end. As for the continuation of the series, I’m curious to see how things will play out amongst the sisters when certain spoilery things are discovered. I read on Goodreads that the next installment will pick up where this one left off, but will be told in Lily’s POV. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet.
Celeste: Sealed it for me! I was kind of hedging around a 3-3.5 stars, but the ending was great and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. There was more than one twist and turn, which were outrageous! It totally got me past the focus of the merpeople’s revenge, and everything came together for me. I’m not sure how it will go forward, but I’m anxious to see how Lily and Calder can have a relationship, what happens with the sisters *bites nails….I’m sure there will be revenge*, and even what happens with Lily’s family. The story ended in a great spot though, no major cliffhanger, with the ends tied up enough for now, but I can see how it is nowhere near finished and I’m excited for the next installment.
