Everneath by Brodi AshtonExpected Publication Date: January 24th, 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Page Count: 384 pages
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
My Rating:
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*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and no monetary goods were exchanged*
From Goodreads: Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath, where immortals Feed on the emotions of despairing humans. Now she's returned- to her old life, her family, her friends- before being banished back to the underworld... this time forever.
She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.
As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's...
Upon first inspection of this book, I really thought it was going to be an awesome read. I absolutely love the cover, the faceless girl in the flowing red dress is pretty enchanting, but somehow it just didn't measure up to my expectations. I really didn't connect with the characters at all and the story seemed somewhat jumbled and confusing. It was definitely a quick read (it took me about 3 hours to get through) and I'm looking forward to reading the next one because I really want to know what happens, but I just didn't love it like I wanted to.
The characters were pretty bland in my opinion. Nikki is basically a mess, returned from the Everneath for 6 months to carry out some unfinished business with her family and boyfriend Jack. Cole was pretty awesome, he has that bad boy spirit I love so much, but he's obviously not a good guy. However, I was definitely rooting for him more than once. Jack is alright, he's a sweet guy and he obviously loves Nikki, but their relationship just seemed kind of off to me.
The story itself was kind of mismanaged and confusing. Nikki spends 100 years in the Everneath (which is only 6 months in the real world) and then she comes back for 6 months. This is where I started getting confused because I have no idea why she had to come back. Also, the story is written alternating between before she went into the Everneath and after her return to the surface. It gets kind of annoying, constantly switching between the past and the present, and I just became really overwhelmed at one point and had to put the book down. Some other things didn't make sense to me either, but I'll let that go for now.
Overall, I wasn't too impressed with Everneath although the ending definitely has me wanting to read the next one. I liked it enough to keep reading, and it was a good enough read. I probably wouldn't recommend it to many of my friends, but if you're a mythology or paranormal lover than you might like this one. I wasn't wow'd by it, but I'm glad I read it nonetheless.
