Chapter by Chapter

I fell in love with Lies Beneath by author Anne Greenwood Brown and have been looking forward to reading its’ sequel Deep Betrayal. Right after reading the novel’s description I knew that it would be a kick-butt story that would delve even deeper into main character Lily’s family relationship with mermaids and her relationship with the extremely hot merman Calder. Right from the first page I knew that I was in for a fun ride just like when I had been reading Lies Beneath.

 Deep Betrayal takes place basically just where Lies Beneath ended. Lily now knows about the existence of mermaids, knows that her father is related to a mermaid whose daughters are killers and is waiting for her merman boyfriend Calder to come back for her. When Calder finally does come back for Lily things start to spiral out of control. The two finally decide to tell her Dad about his true identity as a merman and that decision results in Lily’s Dad and Calder hanging out more than they should be. However as time goes on Lily’s Dad becomes more and more distant from her family, constantly near the water and she doesn’t understand why.

Then people begin washing up claiming that they were attacked by something in the water. Jack, still getting over the fact that Pavati hasn’t returned for him, continues to claim that there are homicidal mermaids in the water and that it’s only a matter of time before they kill everybody and anybody in their path. Soon there are bodies washing up on shore and Lily isn’t quite sure who is killing all these people. Could it be possible that her father who is coming to terms with his mermaid heritage is behind the killings? Or is it Calder’s sisters? Or could it be something or someone else entirely?

I can’t say which novel I enjoyed more but I do know that each one was equally as awesome. I got way more romance in Deep Betrayal but I thought that there wasn’t as much action until the end. But nonetheless Deep Betrayal is thrilling. As the mystery inside of the novel unfolds (Who is attacking all these people?) the story begins to get more and more dangerous. Suddenly readers are swept up into the mermaid mythology and into mermaid legends that Calder believes are behind the killings/attacks. There’s more ‘magic’ in the novel and I think that out of both novels Deep Betrayal has more of a fantasy feel.

Like I said before the romance in the novel is seriously upped. Now we see the quirks in Lily and Calder’s relationship and also start to see just how much Calder means to Lily. However there’s also turmoil between the two and the big question of if Calder really loves her back. If he does love her he would tell her right? There are so many questions that went through my mind about Lily and Calder that I was starting to get caught up into their relationship like I was Lily. Gotta say that I loved how much their relationship is tested in the novel.

My only real complaint with the novel would have to be the pacing. The start of the novel, I personally thought, dragged on. After reading the description I thought that we would be thrown into the action and murders, kinda like how inLies Beneath we were thrown right into what the description promised. It wasn’t until I was about halfway through that things started to get interesting but even then the pacing was off and I would find my mind wandering elsewhere. Other than that, a super awesome read.

I’d recommend Deep Betrayal to readers that have finished Lies Beneath and were left wondering what would come next. Readers who are big fans of the mermaid genre will fall for this modernized twist on the lore and fans of romance will be falling hard for #TeamCalder.