Review: Deep Betrayal by Anne Greenwood Brown

Title: Deep Betrayal
Author: Anne Greenwood Brown
Series: Lies Beneath #2
Genre: YA/Mythology/Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 12th, 2013
Pages: Hardcover, 335 pages
Source: Purchased
Purchase: Amazon US | Kobo | B&N | Book Depository | iBooks

Synopsis:

     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 really enjoyed the first book. There was a shroud of mystery through most of the story, and I really liked reading a book from Calder's perspective. This book was written from Lily's, and I think that's why this book wasn't as good, for me at least.

Lily, more than once, came across as pretty self-righteous, and that annoyed me. There was also far less dealing with the mermaids, and more to do with their back lore, which made the book a little better. I would have actually preferred to know more about what was going on with Lily's dad.

Lily's sometimes annoying narrative aside, this book was really engaging. and I flew through it, and I wish I hadn't already spent my book-buying budget for the next couple of months so I could get the third book. The way this one ended, it leaves enough open to speculation that I expect and hope, that if it's the final book that it wraps things up nicely.

(2021 edit: I have no idea why I didn't write an actual review for this book like I did for the other books)