Yay for YA: Promise Bound, by Anne Greenwood Brown

I am never quite comfortable with reviewing sequels.  If you've been reading my reviews for a while, you likely know I don't give spoilers, and do not appreciate spoilers.  Thus, to review something in a series after the first book is a bit difficult.  You either have to paint broad strokes about it and drop hints, or just say what happened in previous installments.

On the other hand, when I take the time to actually read through an entire series, I would like to give props to the author, because I don't typically indulge in reading to completion.  In this line of work, one needs to have a vast knowledge of what can be recommended to patrons, which does not bode well to moving beyond the first book of anything.

So, let me tell you about Promise Bound, the third in the Lies Beneath trilogy by Anne Greenwood Brown.  I'll also briefly touch on the second book, Deep Betrayal, as I read it while on hiatus.

Statistics
Checkouts (series): 4 at the school library
Typical reader: Fans of the series
Source: Snowbound Books

Synopsis, Deep Betrayal: Told from Lily's perspective.  After graduating from high school, Lily returns to the lake to find Calder and her father spending too much time together, thanks to the events of the first book.  And someone - or something - is killing tourists and locals alike on the lake.

My Goodreads rating: 4 stars

Synopsis, Promise Bound: The chapters alternate between Lily and Calder's perspectives, plus additional voices near the end.  There are a lot of things going on in this one, with Lily dreaming of being Nadia, her grandmother (and Calder's adoptive mother), Calder's sisters vying for control, a mermaid's baby, and old promises that must be kept.  Will all the turmoil tear Lily and Calder apart?

My Goodreads rating: 4 stars

Deep Betrayal pleased me.  Lily's voice was perfect in this book.  It was just as I would have imagined it.  The lore in this rendering of the world was explored more.  The thriller elements of the book stayed fresh and gripping.

Promise Bound had a lot going on, yet it also felt like a finisher for the trilogy.  It didn't really add to the experience, but wrapped things up - including elements added in this book.  There were a couple of points I want to address in it, though.

1. The plot twist halfway through the book.  Initially, I was shocked by what seemed like an odd, out of left field, crazy plot twist.  Lily makes Calder promise to do something that he doesn't want to or feel the need to do - but promising compels merfolk in this world, so then he has to.  It flummoxed me.  But I came to terms with it.  It did fit, somewhat.  While it was rash and impulsive, Lily is a teenager, and teens (perhaps especially Lily) can certainly be rash and impulsive.

2. I have a much harder time with the character of Chelsea.  Calder meets her at the reference desk of (a branch of) the Thunder Bay Public Library.  She should not exist.  Harsh, yes.  But what library lets high school students work the reference desk?!  You don't find that at a small town's reference desk, much less in a city of more than 150,000 residents.  She could have been a college student and I would have bought it.  But not a high school student.
And then what the heck is up with her not only giving Calder the addresses, let alone driving him to the addresses, of patrons?  It wasn't even as though he had used his powers on her.  She just up and violated patron confidentiality to an extreme.  I had a little conniption fit over that.

But, overall, I enjoyed this series.  It was a fresh, different take on merfolk, and offered elements of other genres beyond paranormal romance.  The protagonists were interesting, as was the world-building and lore.  And I appreciated the setting - not quite Michigan, sure, but Lake Superior is visible from my apartment.

Marvelous Michigan Month: Lies Beneath

I heard about the book Lies Beneath this summer and was really excited.  It's a book about mermaids in Lake Superior!  I could not find anything that said where in Lake Superior this YA mermaid tail took place, but I thought it would be a great inclusion in the collection and, as the idea for Marvelous Michigan Month formed, in this feature.

I'm disappointed that the story takes place around the Apostle Islands, which are part of Wisconsin.  *deflates*  Well, nuts.

But I'm still going to feature Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown in this month's merriment, because dang it, there are mermaids in Lake Superior, and YA novels set in Michigan are hard to find.

Statistics
Michigan connection: The Apostle Islands are part of Wisconsin, but are close to Michigan.  And there's a shipwreck on the Wisconsin/Michigan border that's featured in the story.  Lake Superior mostly falls in the jurisdiction of Michigan.  Yeah, I'm stretching things.

"A" is for Apostle Islands. They are part of Wisconsin. Boo.
Screenshot of Google Maps.

Checkouts: New to the charter school library
Typical reader: A tough call, since it's not fully in the paranormal romance genre and the protagonist is male, but I'll wager that teen girls will read it most.
Source: Snowbound Books

Synopsis: There are murderous mermaids in Lake Superior!  Calder and his sisters have vowed revenge on the son of the man who killed their mother.  To lure him into the water, Calder has taken on the task of getting close to one of his daughters.  He doesn't expect the teenager, Lily, to be resistant to his charms - or that he could fall in love with her.

My Goodreads rating: 4 stars

I loved the lore-building in this book!  The facts of Ms. Brown's take on mermaids are smoothly woven into Calder's narrative.  And it all makes sense.  Old lore from Greek and Native American sources are used, explained, or referenced.  Mermaids ran ships aground and killed sailors; Calder will tell you why.  Characters speculate as to whether the manitous of local Native American lore.  It made me happy, how much thought and research the author put into her paranormal beings.

Calder is a bit of a mixed bag for me.  It's nicely different to have this story to be from the point of view of a male, and of the "bad boy" at that.  His name is perplexingly unique.  It also would fit someone tied to a volcano better.  (Calder makes me think caldera, a large volcanic crater.)  He's a bit cocky and arrogant.  But more importantly, I abhor the trend of stalker types in paranormal romance.  I'm a good little librarian and don't say anything when tweens and teens check out the Twilight series, but ye gods, I want to give them a lecture about how they should never let someone treat them like Edward treated Bella.  Stalking is wrong.  Hurting your partner is wrong.  Manipulating your partner is wrong.  Breaking into your partner's bedroom and watching them sleep is just plain creepy.  Let's get something straight right now, okay?  Edward was abusive and a lot of what he did was illegal.  Why do we let this be considered romantic?

*puts soapbox away*

Anyway.  Calder is a bit of a stalker, but at least he only trespasses and hangs out in the Hancocks' hammock, or gets a job where he knows Lily applied.  Does he think about hurting her?  Yes.  But he's not exactly a good guy in this story; he and his sisters want to kill Lily's father.  Does he reform for Lily, or does he go through with the plans?  Read and find out.

Lily, on the other hand, more or less made me happy.  She's pleasantly nonconformist, reading Victorian poetry and dressing in a style all her own.  She is intelligent and witty.  Perhaps best of all, she's not taken by Calder's somewhat magical charms, and is skeptical of his motivations.  Nor is she keen on the advances of the local, normal dude, Jack.  Honestly, the way she looked at Calder's sisters in the coffee shop at one point in the book, I had the passing fancy that maybe she'd totally turn a teen paranormal romance novel on its ear and turn out to be a lesbian.  No such luck, but her reluctance to fall for Calder's advances and her suspicions about what was going on were endearing.

This is far more than a paranormal romance, though.  (Which, if you know my tastes, is a good thing.  I don't like pure romances.)  It is really quite the thriller.  There are some great twists to the plot.  And the murderous mermaids that are Calder's sisters turn out to be a bit different than what he'd thought he'd known.  Maybe I could have guessed at what ends up happening, but I really enjoyed the ride and the surprises.

There will be a sequel to this; it's due out next spring.  Interestingly, it's from Lily's perspective.