Review: Deep Betrayal (Lies Beneath, #2) by Anne Greenwood Brown

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Kristilyn

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Title: Deep Betrayal
Author: Anne Greenwood Brown
Series: Lies Beneath, #2
Date(s) read: February 24 – March 1, 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal
Source: Publisher / Netgalley (ARC)

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. . . .

Thank you to Random House BFYR & NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book for review!

Without a question, I loved Lies Beneath, the first book in Anne Greenwood Brown’s exciting mermaid series. It had me gripped until the very end and made me hoping for the next book right away.

I’m sad to say that this book really didn’t live up to my expectations. I’m not sure what it was, but I moved so slowly through this book. I think part of what I didn’t like was the fact that we changed narrators in this book. Instead of Calder (who I loved in the first book!), we have Lily narrating. Don’t get me wrong — I do like Lily, but I found her to be really boring. I really missed Calder’s voice! I think Lily was just too … girly, for me. I loved that Calder had a grittiness to him, such a boyish quality that I found bold and interesting. Lily came off as too whiny most of the time. Also, while Calder seemed more dangerous and solitary in the first book, I found that Lily relied on him way too much. I really wanted her to be independent! Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: Croak (Croak, #1), by Gina Damico

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Kristilyn

croak
Date(s) read: December 20 – 21, 2012
Genre: YA Paranormal

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Buy Now From: Amazon

SYNOPSIS
Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex’s parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape.

But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach Lex the family business.

She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can’t stop her desire for justice – or is it vengeance? – whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.

Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

My Thoughts

There are books that some people tend to LOVE and rave about. This is one of those books. In fact, people going on and on about their love of this book is what led me to pick up a copy – which then sat on my bookshelf for MONTHS. When I received the second book in the series, Scorch, for review, I knew I had to get my butt in gear and read the first book. My fingers were crossed that this wasn’t going to be one of those books that everyone loved and I felt ‘meh’ about. Thankfully, it wasn’t.

Croak was FANTASTIC. I never know how I feel about books that are full of sarcasm and humour. Sometimes it’s something that either goes over my head, or it’s just not my idea of humour. Gina Damico, on the other hand, must have spent some time in my head. There were so many times while reading this that I bust a gut laughing. I just loved the main character and her trip to Croak. I loved her interaction with the people there and with her own family – even her extended family in Uncle Mort. Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: Into the Hollow (Experiment in Terror, #6), by Karina Halle

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Kristilyn

Date(s) read: November 17 – 22, 2012
Genre: Paranormal Horror

Series
Darkhouse (#1)
Red Fox (#2)
The Benson (#2.5)
Dead Sky Morning (#3)
Lying Season (#4)
On Demon Wings (#5)
Old Blood (#5.5)
The Dex Files (#5.7)
Into the Hollow (#6) Goodreads

SYNOPSIS
Perry Palomino has fought her demons – and won – but the battle is far from over. She’s now left broken and on her own, leaving behind her life and family in Portland to focus on giving Dex Foray – and the Experiment in Terror show – a second chance. But their past mistakes continue to tease and test their relationship, as does the wild and desolate terrain of the Canadian Rockies. The snow-covered peaks and ravenous forests hide an urban legend too unbelievably frightening to be true and the only way the duo has a chance of surviving is if Perry can let in the very man who sent her to hell and back.

My Thoughts

BIG thank you to Karina for sending me a copy of this book!

Excuse me for just a moment.

*flails wildly*

Sorry about that. But it had to be done.

I hadn’t planned on reading this book so early, but when Karina sent me a copy, I knew I had to dive right in. I am a HUGE supporter of the Experiment in Terror series, so there was no question when I put the story on my eReader that I had to read it right away. Continue reading →