Everneath
by Brodi Ashton
384 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins / Balzer + Bray
Release Date: January 24, 2012
Source: Review copy
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Book Summary
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…
Book Review
What do you get when you take Greek mythology, sprinkle in some paranormal, some ancient Egyptian elements, and transport it to modern day society? You get Brodi Ashton’s Everneath. I enjoyed this book so very much although in the beginning I was quite confused and it took me a while to figure out what was going on. The book starts out with the main character, Nikki, coming back from the Everneath (a world between worlds, between life and death, where you could live forever) and constantly changes point of view, from the time before she was gone and what led up to it, and what happens after.
Nikki is a 17 year old girl who one day just up and disappeared without a trace. Six months later, she comes back, looking very different and acting very strangely. What no one knows is that Nikki has been gone for a century (in Everneath, and not human years) and is only back for a few months before she has to go back. She also didn’t come back alone. A boy named Cole who was the one responsible for her going to the Everneath is back looking for her, trying to lure her back and not taking no for an answer.
Nikki’s time on the surface is limited and she uses it trying to mend relationships that were severed upon her mysterious disappearance. Her relationship with her father after her mother’s death, her friendship with BFF Jules, and most importantly her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Jack since that was the biggest reason for her returning. Once her time is up, she must choose to either return to the Everneath with Cole, where she can be an Ever-Living all the while draining energy from unsuspecting humans in order to survive, or go to the tunnels, she she will be stuck forever in darkness.
I felt very heartbroken for Nikki once it was revealed what was the series of events that led to her demise, and now that she was back she was trying to hard to get her life back, all the while knowing that she couldn’t really stay, no matter what she did. She wanted to be with the ones she loved, but at the same time didn’t want to build their hopes up at her return, because she knew she wasn’t going to be around for long.
The love triangle in this book is sort of unique. Nikki is not head over heels over Cole, she actually hates him, but is tied to him in very profound ways. He will not leave her alone and becomes her shadow, when all she wants is for him to go away and leave her alone. Jack, on the other hand, is the boy she actually loves and cares for, and he’s the one who she came back for. He had a lot to do with her disappearance and he will do anything he can to get her back, the problem is that Nikki is keeping her distance, so as not to hurt him. Can she trust Jack with her truth? Can she escape her fate of going back to the tunnels or to the Everneath? Can she actually get her life back?
I highly recommend this book. It was very well written, the words flowed, and the plot had very nice progression. Although you got bits and pieces at a time, you actually felt like you were going to get the whole story eventually. I’m glad I stuck with it. 4 Stars.