Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Series: Lies Beneath (bk. 1)

Genera: Paranormal Romance

Subjects: supernatural, Lake Superior, Wisconsin, mermaids, mermen, merfolk, love, revenge

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 303pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Random House: Delacorte Press

Summary/ product description: “Fans of Amanda Hocking's novel, Wake, will dive into this paranormal romance featuring mermaids--the killer kind--and won't come up for air!
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 and absorb their positive energy. Usually, they select their victims at random, but this time around, the underwater clan chooses its target for a reason: revenge. They want to kill Jason Hancock, the man they blame for their mother's death.
It's going to take a concerted effort to lure the aquaphobic Hancock onto the water. Calder's job is to gain Hancock's trust by getting close to his family. Relying on his irresistible good looks and charm, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter Lily. Easy enough, but Calder screws everything up by falling in love--just as Lily starts to suspect there's more to the monster-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined, and just as the mermaids threaten to take matters into their own hands, forcing Calder to choose between them and the girl he loves.

One thing's for sure: whatever Calder decides, the outcome won't be pretty.
"Riveting! A cold-blooded tale of secrets, revenge, and forbidden love that will leave you terrified to go in the water."--Gretchen McNeil, author of Possess
"Scary and spooky . . . I really enjoyed reading this."--USA Today
“A haunting tale of revenge and romance.”--Justine Magazine

 

My Review: This book makes me mad that we didn’t visit Bayfield last summer. I drove through Ashland, WI on our way to Superior, and Pattison State Park, but I never got to go up on the Bayfield/Apostle Island Peninsula. That goodness for Google Earth, because it has photos and street view.
I absolutely LOVE the setting of this book. I love the North Woods region, and I’ve been there twice. I've been to Lake Superior 3 times, but only last year was I old enough to really enjoy it. And I of course took a million photos, some of which are below. Sadley I'm not part of the whole YA Roadtrip tour. The 1st photo was taken in Superior, WI. Notice the red waves. They rest were in Pocupine Mountains State Park in Michigan. All  the photos are of Lake Superior.

 

 

Lake Superior is way cooler than Lake Michigan. It has better rocks (I found copper, prenite, thompsomnite, greenstone, agate and various other rocks, some fossils) and reddish to clear water. It has the most amazing lake shores and some dunes too. If I could move the UP or someplace near the lake shore, I would. But I hate biting flies.

 Here's some of the travel stuff I have on Bayfield and Lake Superior. I got the post cards from the Ashland visitor's center.

 

That said, I loved more than just the setting. The characters, dialogue and paranormal elements were also interesting. Calder and his 3 sisters were all different in personality and all had their own motivations. Tallulah was the nicest one, Pavati liked to manipulate and memorize people, and Maris was the tough-love leader, the one in charge. In part of the book, Calder stalked Lily a lot. I found it funny. And Calder’s narration reminded me of other books I read with guy narrators. The voice felt right-on.

Lily, the love interest of Calder, was very unique. She liked poetry and dressed in crazy outfits. Lily had a sister, Sophie and her mom and dad. There were also side characters, like Jack, who also liked Lily, and Jack’s sister, Gabby. There was fun dialogue and bickering between Calder and his sisters. And Calder and Lily.

The mermaids in this book were like energy-vampires. They can see aura, absorb energy when they drown someone and emit electrical shocks, like an eel. And they had tails, like the mermaid of fairy tales. But they’re killer mermaids. At least they don’t eat the people they kill. They also have a silver ring around they’re neck when submerged, and I wasn’t sure what that would look like.

I recommend this book to people who enjoyed the Siren series by Tricia Rayburn, other mermaid books, or the Beautiful Creatures series.

Cover Art Review: Love the photo. Looks like one of Calder’s sisters, probably Tallulah or Maris. The pink on the water’s surface looks like blood. I love how the light shines through the ripples. I don’t like the san-serif typeface they chose for the title.