Thursday 31 May 2012

Review: Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Title: Lies Beneath
Author: Anne Greenwood Brown
Publication date: June 12th 2012
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 2/5
Buy: Amazon


Description:
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.
My thoughts:

On the surface, Lies Beneath appealed to me. The premise sounded wonderful. A murderous mermaid family? A male protagonist? A revenge plot? And not to forget an absolutely beautiful cover. There was no way I could not jump at the opportunity to read this book. It sounded very different and I couldn't wait to dive right in. Needless to say, I started it with very high expectations.

Perhaps my expectations were too high because honestly, I wasn't that impressed by this one. It started out okay, albeit a bit creepy. Our protagonist is a murderous merman- certainly not something you see every day in YA literature! However, it just began to drag on from there. I felt like Calder was a seriously repetitive and he didn't feel all that real to me. His voice just didn't stand out as unique enough for me to really enjoy his character. I also really wasn't feeling the romance. I just didn't think there was a spark there at all! It felt so flat and dead to me and I couldn't bring myself to really care about it.

I think this book just wasn't for me. I know it will appeal to some readers and they'll probably gobble this up! It's a very interesting idea and will certainly stand out amongst the many other paranormal YA books out there right now. Calder's sisters are incredibly interesting characters and I would have loved to have had more of them in the book! They were great! I may have rated this far higher had it been about his sisters, and not him. As it was, I just found it boring.

Would I recommend this? I'm not sure really. I didn't like it and it's made me feel very wary of this new mermaid craze that appears to be taking off. This was just a miss for me but maybe will be a hit for many people. The more time that passes (I read this back in January), the less impressed I am by it. I don't think I will continue with this series but I will probably read something else by this author in the future. Lots of potential there; this book just didn't quite reach it for me. I still adore the cover though- so eye catching!

24 comments:

  1. Totally splendid review, Nicola! <3 Most of the time, books about mermaid are miss to me too! It's too bad that you think the romance is flat. I read some stunning reviews about this book so maybe I'll give this book a chance first. And it sure has such pretty cover I love! x)

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  2. Thanks for giving us such an honest review, Nicola! To be honest, this doesn't appeal to me because I am yet to enjoy a mermaid books (I think they must all be cursed) and I trust your opinion so I will definitely be skipping this.

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  3. This book is a series? I thought it was a standalone! I know there seems to be this crazy phase with mermaids, they're popping up all over the place! I'm sorry this one didn't work out for you as much as you'd hoped, hopefully you're next read (or mermaid read if you decide to pick another one up) will be a lot better!

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  4. Oh, dear, I am a racist reader or whatever (*shudders* I never thought I'd use that word to describe myself), but I'm just not interested in books about mermaids int he least! There's nothing even remotely appealing for me there.
    I'm sorry this didn't work for you at all.
    Lovely review, Nicola.

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  5. I love mermaids and I think this one sounds interesting, but if it becomes repetitive and a bit of a drag, I might not bother picking this one up. Thanks for such an honest review, Nicola & I'm sorry you didn't enjoy this one. I might not pick up any mermaid books cos I don't want to end up hating them because of it :(

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  6. I started this book a couple of weeks ago and never finished it. It just didn't grab me. I'm not sure if I'm just not a fan of mermaids in general or if it was specifically this book. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with those feelings though. Great review!

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  7. I just finished this...and I really liked it. I liked Calder and Lily and I hated the sisters LOL. This is the first mermaid book I've read, but in this, I didn't necessarily feel the whole mermaid thing. I think any supernatural could have been written into this story actually. I felt there were a lot of similarities to Twilight, which is probably the reason I enjoyed it. I will be posting my review at the weekend.

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  8. I've yet to read a mermaid book that has managed to blow me away. They are all either good, not great, or terrible. I love the premise for this book too and I can understand why your expectations were high. it's a shame the book didn't quite live up to it. Still, great review! :)

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  9. You know I've been seeing a lot of Meh about this one and I think I will skip it. I'm behind and this one is coming up and really, you don't point but anything that motivates me lol. Plus I've had my fill on mermaid books I think.

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  10. I liked it a lot better than you did but I went in with the opposite expectations. Mine were super low. Maybe that played a big part for me? It was also my first mermaid book so that may be it as well?

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  11. I have read 4 mermaid books this spring and while Lies Beneath was one of my favorites because I liked the darker aspects of it. Maybe you woudl like The Vicious Deep or Of Poseidon?

    Kate @Ex Libris

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  12. I haven't read a mermaid book yet, and I've debated about which one should be my first. I think it's safe to say this one won't be it. I'm glad you gave an honest review, Nicola :)

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  13. I know some people like this and some don't. Mermaid books are hard. The only one I have liked so far is Of Poseidon. I have this to review myself. I hope it isn't an awful read for me.

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  14. Hi Nicola! Sorry this didn't work out for you. Funny thing, I'm currently reading this. Now I'm a little scared. I just started it and I don't what to think knowing that our main character is a murderer. Don't care for his sister Maris at all. I'm only 12% in so I guess we shall see. Great honest review. :)

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  15. I have only read one mermaid type book, Wrecked by: Anne Davies and I didn't love it either, I was hoping to find a mermaid book to redeem it but maybe I will just have to keep looking, Nice Review!

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  16. Bummer! I just started this right now but so far it's been pretty good. Then again, I'm only on chapter 5 so there's plenty of time to change my mind.

    The trend in mermaids has been a hit and miss with me. I liked The Vicious Deep but hated Of Poseidon. Now I'm reading this one :)

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