Review Detail

First of all, I’m highly annoyed there’s a mermaid on the cover. Sure, I can understand that a merman doesn’t have quite the same draw, but that’s not the point. Boy narrator should equal boy on cover (if there must be a person). It’s just a simple fact.

Maybe it’s due to my ragey mood lately, but my past few reads have all managed to leave me with a vaguely annoyed and angry feel, and sadly Lies Beneath is no exception. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, though. In fact, I finished it in somewhere around 24 hours which is pretty rare for me. Basically I liked the core of the story, but a bunch of little things annoyed me.

Annoyances:
1) Transitions. Maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention, but I found myself going “wait, he’s wearing clothes now?” and “when did THEY get there?” pretty often. I don’t enjoy feeling lost when it’s unintentional.
2) I feel like the mermaid lore should’ve been explained long before it was. Heck, when it WAS explained I still had a lot of questions. At the beginning all this stuff is just thrown at the reader like they’re supposed to know what it means already and the rest f the book continues on in a similar fashion, at least where mermaids are concerned.
3) What’s with all the hate?! I mean, I know the hate and gloom and doom are part of their nature, but I couldn’t get on board with it. I couldn’t connect with it, so I was just left sitting here wanting to punch Calder and his sisters in the nose.
4) Really, Calder, you couldn’t see that way Tallulah felt about you?

All that aside, I really liked Calder and Lily’s relationship. In the beginning you can tell he’s just using her by his snarky arrogance and willingness to manipulate her. But then he slowly starts to warm up to her and despite how much he tried to deny it, ends up really caring for her

Then there’s Lily. When she’s first introduced I thought she was just going to be an annoying, depressed artsy girl but she definitely wasn’t. Instead of being all aloof and mysterious she straight-up tells Calder he makes her nervous. Plus, she basically tells him he’s a weirdo (which, considering his actions, is fair) over and over again. I also liked that though she starts t let him in she doesn’t fully accept him until near the end.

The Nutshell Lies Beneath had its annoyances for me, but I still found it to be an enjoyable read. The mermaid lore isn’t my favorite, but it’s worth reading for Calder and Lily’s relationship.

Near Miss/Hit