Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

From the Back Cover:

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:

After serving a hundred years as a feeder in the underworld--the Everneath--Nikki survives, which apparently never happens, so Cole, the immortal who lured her to the Everneath, wants her to stay and make a power play for the throne with him. But only six months have passed up on earth and Nikki just wants to go home to the boy she left behind. The Everneath lets her go for six months, at the end of which she either has to come back as Cole's consort or she'll come back to spend eternity in the limbo of the tunnels. Either way, the Everneath is taking her back.

So now that she's back on earth she wants to spend her remaining six months making up for lost time--except she doesn't. She wastes a lot of time feeling sorry for herself, assuming she knows how the people around her feel, assuming they'll all be better off when she leaves for good. Time she could be spending making up with Jack. Sweet Jack, so devastated when Nikki disappeared without a trace, thinking she'd been abducted or murdered. Now she's back to be with the boy she couldn't stop thinking about in the Everneath and she won't even talk to him. So that was kind of annoying. Lucky for her though, Jack's persistent, and he keeps at her until she finally confesses all. Jack is actually quite swoon-worthy, and if I read the sequel it will be because of him.

The build-up of suspense and tension throughout is superb--I was dying to find out what happened between Jack and Nikki to send her spiraling into the arms of Cole and the oblivion of the underworld. However, it turns out to be pretty predictable, nothing too original, and of course, Nikki over-reacted. I also found Cole's obsession with Nikki to be not quite believable. He's an immortal rock star who could have anyone in the world but he spends his time stalking a little mouse of a girl who hardly talks to anyone and who can't even work up the energy to try to find a way to keep from going back to the Everneath. I think I needed to see more out of Nikki to make his feelings seem more natural.

I also thought it was odd how Nikki's dad didn't seem to question where she'd been. Yeah, uh, hey, so where've you been these past six months? If that conversation took place, we never heard of it. Yeah, he makes her do some community service as penance, but we have no clue where he thinks she was all that time. And I think the story has a lot of holes like that. For example, it's never explained who these immortals are or where they came from. The Hades/Persephone myth is referenced a lot, but the author spins this into more of an Orpheus/Eurydice tale, which is cool, but but the story world is not based on the myth at all. Wrapped in a cocoon for a hundred years while a dude sucks the life out of you and then banishes you to tunnels filled with wasted up humans who provide battery power for the Everneath? There's nothing romantic or mythical about that set-up.

So this gets a thumbs up for being absolutely unputdownable and for having a worthy hero, and it does have a killer cliffhanger ending too. It's not a bad read at all, and I've seen lots of glowing reviews. But I had some believability issues, and I didn't find it different enough or memorable enough to stand out from the crowd.

My Rating:  3 Stars out of 5

*Please note: This review references an advance digital copy received from the publisher via NetGalley, and therefore the final published copy may differ. Though I received this book from the publisher, these are my honest and unbiased thoughts, and I was not compensated in any other way for reviewing this book.