Lies Beneath by Ann Greenwood Brown

Goodreads Blurb

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

So I felt kind of bored this week and decided to write a surprise review! Happy Readings!



Calder is a mermaid. Or, a merman I should say. Along with his three sisters, he’s bent on revenge. And the chance for it comes in the form of Lily and Sophie Hancock, the daughters of the one man who should’ve died in place of their mother. And, they decide, the best way to get to the father is through his daughters. And that’s where Calder steps in. He’s to seduce Lily, gaining their father’s trust slowly, until they lure him to the water. And make sure he never wakes again. Calder’s up to it. He knows he can do it; after all, he’s been waiting all his life for this chance. But what happens when he falls in love with his prey? What happens when feelings that he can’t understand develops? What happens when secrets tumble out in a shocking wave? And what happens when it’s him against the world?

I’ve always liked mermaids, more so than angels or demons. Especially twisted ones. They just seemed all the more dangerous and even as a little girl I remember reading stories online about mermaids, sirens, and selkies. All sea creatures who lured and killed. I’m starting to think I had a few crazy genes. Anyways, when I heard of Lies Beneath, I was hooked. Evil mermaids, predator-falls-for-prey romance, and revenge all mixed into one? I’m there.

Anne Greenwood Brown really does know how to weave an edgy underwater story. And in a male’s POV? Talk about different. I really wasn’t sure if I would enjoy a male’s perspective simply because other books I’ve read with those haven’t exactly turned out great. I really shouldn’t have doubted. Lies Beneath does have some overused ideas, and yet, the way that they’re used makes it seem new and refreshing. Does that even make sense? I mean, Ms. Brown doesn’t really create her own species of mermaids, but instead uses the ones of myths and legends already there, and yet, they just feel even more vile (old word) than usual.

This book was fast paced and action packed, leaving me stunned and giddy. There were twists and turns, a really big one that I guessed, and I absolutely fell in love with our narrator. He was full of stubbornness, cockiness, and he was dangerous and knew it. I loved Lily, the love interest, because of her persistence and stubborn as well. Even better (spoiler)? She was smart enough to figure things out. Not many characters actually figure it out until someone tells them the big fat juicy (almost always) dangerous, life threatening secret.

After three paragraphs of fan girl sentences, here are some things I didn’t like:

·         The secondary characters.  There was no way I could actually imagine them as actually people. They were just a tad stereotypical, a bit too good to be true (or too bad to be true).

·         The ending. The book just leaves you hanging, and I get that there will be a sequel, but some things just didn’t tie up right, even for a first book.

·         Sophie suddenly just went from important supporting character to barely there at all. She was one of my favorites.

 Pages: 303

Series: Lies Beneath #1

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Rating:  5 stars

 "Forget everything you think you know about merpeople. Forget that freaking Ariel, think Silence of the Lambs, think Friday the Thirteenth."