ARC Review--Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown

Once you dive into Deep Betrayal, the sequel to Lies Beneath, you won't come up for air!

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 received this e-ARC from the publishers via Netgalley for an honest review. I was in no way compensated for this review.


NOTE THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FROM LIES BENEATH, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Deep Betrayal is the sequel to Anne Greenwood Brown's Lies Beneath and this time around, Lily narrates. And it was an intriguing read. I cannot decide if I like Lily narrating more or Calder. It's a toss up honestly!

Deep Betrayal begins one month after the events of Lies Beneath. Lily has been sent back to Minnesota to finish her senior year and graduate. Which was odd, Lily is the only one who is send back while her parents and sister remain behind. If anything I would've thought her parents would send Sophie, her little sister back too since Sophie had been through some ordeals.

By a twist of luck, Lily is able to convince her father to let her return home. And Calder is there too. In fact it was Lily and Calder convincing her father that it was a good idea that allowed this to happen, and Lily revealing to her father that he is the child of a mermaid and human and he should've been returned back to his mother by the time he was one.

Calder agrees to help Lily's father, Jason with his new merman-ness. Teaching him the way of things. But all is not peaceful at home. Bodies are turning up dead, people are being attacked on the water by strange occurrences and yet some are living to tell the tale. Something evil is afoot. Lily and Calder suspect its his sisters' doing, but something doesn't ring completely true to this factoid. I for one thought it would be too easy for them to be the killers. The actual killer though came as somewhat as a surprise and I say somewhat because I should have been 100% all along when it fact this person merely just made my suspect list!

During the times Calder is gone, Lily is in the water, despite the warnings against going into the lake. If Calder's sisters were to know that she lived, it is highly likely that they would be back after her and her family again. But Lily does this anyway. I feel like Lily changes, or I suppose grows more. She isn't the carefree and inquisitive girl from the first book. She's grown is all I can say. She has more guts now too, I suppose. Since what she does is highly dangerous.

One of my favorite parts and yet at the same time, disappointing parts, was when Lily and Calder go on a date to watch a movie. It's not quite a drive in, but close. More like a movie in the park where the movie is projected on the side of a barn. The movie was Jaws, one of my all time faves! Yet it was pouring with inaccuracies of the movie. Lily paid attention the most in the opening scene which was true to the film, albeit some lines that weren't exactly correct, and the fact that she saw the shark fin during the attack, which soooo did not happen in the beginning! It was quite a while before we ever saw the fin or the shark itself. And also, it was mentioned that the movie was rated R. Another inaccuracy, the movie is rated PG. Being from the 70s I guess ratings were not as strict. I have the movie poster in my room, so I know what I am talking about here. 

But yes, that's hardly anything worth harping on. It definitely didn't detract from the book's storytelling. Just things that nagged at me since I love the movie so much!

Moving on...I felt like there wasn't as much romance in this one. Lily and Calder hardly spent any time together since Calder was always with her father, training him. Lily's family was falling apart as well. Her sister holding back on her own secrets, her mother in (emotional) pain daily as her husband was constantly "away". The times that Lily and Calder were together were pretty intense and not always in the emotional sense either.

This story is not done. I refuse to believe that, although it's too early to find out word if there's a definite third book. But this one's ending definitely makes me believe it's a likely possibility. There was a shocking revelation that's definitely going to add to the story. Plus there was some unanswered questions regarding Sophie, the younger sister.

The read was good. I read it in two days once again. Yet, I still felt like something was lacking. Not as much as in the first one. This one definitely has a little more going for it and the mystery factor was pretty cool too. Brown even incorporates some new mermaid lore into the story that helped liven it up some. If you were unhappy with the first book, I'd definitely say give this one a go! If after that you are still in the same boat, then feel free to jump ship--some bad puns I know, but it feels natural to use such sayings, especially with the book's theme!

Deep Betrayal was definitely more rich in a tale of mermaids and made for an exciting read. I will definitely be looking for a third book in the series! Hopefully, I'll find one too! It makes me wonder if the third book will have a new narrator or decide to narrate from both Lily and Calder, only time will tell!


Overall rating 4/5 stars


Deep Betrayal releases March 12, 2013