Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath by Brodi Ashton (January 2012)

(clicking the cover takes you to its Goodreads page)

Goodreads 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...

My Thoughts:

I've heard tons of good about this book, so I was excited to read it, espeically because it's in the mythology genre and I've enjoyed the other mythology books I've read in the past. This one was okay... but there were a few things missing for me.

The characters:

I had no issues with any of the characters. None of them were annoying, but they weren't exactly unique either. Though they did all sort of lack personality. Jack was... well, he was the typical hot-quarterback-falling-head-over-heals-for-the-awkward-girl love interest. Cole was much more enjoyable, and I was totally rooting for him too, but no spoilers here (Team Cole! :P). Nikki was just another selfless heroine to me. I just didn't find it realistic how she'd choose suffering in hell over ruling it. Who is that selfless? Which leads me to my issues with the plot.

The plot:

Okay, well, here's the main thing I'm wondering about: if Nikki's only problem is not being around the people she loves... why not just become an Everliving? Because as far as I could tell, Everlivings can live on earth (take Cole, Maxwell, and the rest of his band for example). So then why not become an Everliving, not say goodbye, and not have eternal torture while living on earth as an Everliving? Sure, she'd outlive those people, but she thought just months was enough to say goodbye, so why not add a couple more decades onto that? It was never really clarified. I think it's a loophole in the plot, or I could just be missing something. I understand that she doesn't want to drain people of their emotions, but you don't have to kill the person, right? I'm confused...

And then a minor thing I was wondering about. Why do people just assume Nikki has memory loss when she shows up? Jack keeps asking her if she remembers him, but when did she ever indicate that she didn't? She disappeared and came back, why does that give him and everyone else the idea that she doesn't remember anything? It had me a bit confused. It's not as if they knew she went to the Underworld for a century.

But apart from that, the plot was engaging enough. The end wasn't too much of a shocker, though it had a good build-up. I'll definently be reading the next one to see how it all works out. I'm a sucker for cliffhangers. (Or half-cliffhangers, I guess.)

Overall:

If you like mythology, you should check this one out! I know most people loved it, and I thought it was alright. Who knows, this book may be just your cup of tea.

3/5