Early Review: Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown

Title:  Deep Betrayal (Lies Beneath #2)
Author:  Anne Greenwood Brown
Publisher:  Random House
Expected Publication:  March 12, 2013

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My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

It's been thirty days, two hours, and seventeen minutes since Calder left Lily standing on the shores of Lake Superior. Not that she's counting. And when Calder does return, it's not quite the reunion Lily hoped for. Especially after she lets her father in on a huge secret: he, like Calder, is a merman. Obsessed with his new identity, Lily's dad monopolizes Calder's time as the two of them spend every day in the water, leaving Lily behind.

Then dead bodies start washing ashore. Calder blames his mermaid sisters, but Lily fears her father has embraced the merman's natural need to kill. As the body count grows, everyone is pointing fingers. Lily doesn't know what to believe—only that whoever's responsible is sure to strike again. . . .

 

"I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all."
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam

In order to keep this review completely spoiler-free, I can’t talk too much about the story; but I want to share what I loved most.  I absolutely loved Lies Beneath and the fact that it was told from Calder’s POV. I knew that Deep Betrayal would be from Lily’s point of view, and I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed her perspective also. Lily is one of my favorite female MC’s. I adore her intelligence, her love for reading and writing poetry, and just her eccentricity in general.

Even her wardrobe choices make me smile:

“I rolled out of bed, threw on a Fleetwood Mac T-shirt, an embroidered skirt, and combat boots, and headed for town.”

　

She is so refreshing!! Even though this is Lily’s POV, Calder is very present in the story and undergoes tremendous character growth while still managing to thrill me with his words and humor.

Lily: “‘And what does it matter to you? Where have you been for the last thirty-two days? Probably traipsing-‘

Calder: ‘I never traipse.’”

While watching Jaws:

“Calder groaned. ‘That’s so fake. A great white would never act like that. They’re normally very sweet.’"

I think I fell for him even more in this stunning sequel. The pacing in Deep Betrayal was perfect and completely engrossing. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next and whether my suspicions would be confirmed or not.

“‘Mermaids are only in it for themselves. They take, take, take.
If they give us anything, it’s only a tease so we stick around
long enough for them to take some more.
They don’t care about us, Lily. And they’re all the same.
Don’t. Trust. Mermaids.’”

  

In Lies Beneath, Calder’s sisters were terrifying and I couldn’t imagine anything scarier than their thirst for vengeance... but that was before I realized how frightening a mermaid’s grief could be. I finished this installment of the series with a very different take on the sisters, and I really liked where the author took this sequel.

  

There are several fascinating characters to love or love to hate.  I’m very intrigued by Jack, but Sophie is a favorite of mine.  She is so adorable and precocious.  The author really captured her sweet innocence as well as reminding us just how intuitive children can be.

  

“‘I wasn’t scared when I figured it out.’

‘And why is that, Sophie?’

‘I guess no one told me I was supposed to be.’”

  

As someone who's afraid to go into the water, I'm shocked at how much Anne Greenwood Brown’s words compel me to do just that. I love the underwater scenes and especially Lily's descriptions of the lake’s effect on her. I can feel the sand between my toes as well as the hypnotic pull to dive under the surface...

“But the water looked so inviting.
Intoxicating.
I rocked back and forth from my heels to the balls of my feet.
This was stupid.  I should listen to Calder.
But, as melodramatic as it sounded, the lake called to me.”

Ms. Brown writes so beautifully and with such vivid detail that, when she describes the underwater swims with Calder and Lily, not only can I see it perfectly in my mind's eye, but I feel as though I'm there - a captive audience to their story.

A brilliant sequel with a stunning ending that left me yearning for more.

I look forward to the next Calder fix installment, Promise Bound, which will release in 2014. 

"No Coward Soul have I."

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

*Quotes are taken from the ARC, but have been compared to the final copy and approved by the author.