Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown - Review

So this was the first ever ARC that I got approval for and I have to say, I was pretty darn giddy. I started reading this book as soon as I got it on my Kindle. I was also pretty stoked because this book was about mermaids and since I saw The Little Mermaid as a kid, I’ve loved them. Lies Beneath comes out on June 12, 2012. 

Lies Beneath is about Calder White who is a mermaid on strike. While he’s on hiatus from Lake Superior, down in the Bahamas, he’s trying to refrain from killing anyone for their emotions; which is how mermaids survive. They lure humans into the water and drown them for their positive energy. For the most part, Calder and his family of mermaid sisters choose their prey on a random basis, but they base their latest kill on revenge. Jason Hancock is the man that they blame for killing their mother, and they will do anything to take him down. It will take the whole family to take him down due to his fear of the water. Calder must seduce Jason’s daughter, Lily, in order to get him to come near the water. While everything seems to be going according to plan, there is a huge problem… Calder starts to fall in love with Lily. Calder must then choose between his sisters and their plight or Lily. Either way, it’s not going to be pretty.

I really, really wanted to like this one. It seemed like a fresh idea and a new take on a mythical creature that wasn’t a vampire or werewolf. I was a little disappointed. While I thought Brown brought forth a very well written piece, I was again struck with the “it seems too much like Twilight” blues. It was the same story of a creature going against his murderous nature to fall in love with an innocent human girl. To me, I guess I just felt like I had seen it before, too many times.

Another issue I had with the book was that it was told from a male’s point of view. While I thought this was a little bit of a break from the norm, it also made it really hard for me to get involved and connect with the story. I liked to see Calder struggle with his decisions and his loyalties, but it was hard for me to pull for the romance. I do like other books that are told from the male’s perspective like Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, so I don’t think that this was the main reason I didn’t dig the book. I may have to read the sequel, called Water Lily that comes out in 2013. This second installment is told from Lily Hancock’s perspective so maybe I’ll like this one a little better.

Overall, I think this will be a very popular book for a lot of people, but for some reason, I just couldn’t get myself wrapped in the book. I think it’s worth a try to read because it is about mermaids and it’s a little bit of a break to the norm.

3 out of 10

Happy Reading :)