Book review: EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath (Everneath #1)

Author: Brodi Ashton

Series: Everneath

Page count: 370 pages

Book blurb:
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's 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 precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is 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 queen.

Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

MY REVIEW

I do have a great interest in Greek mythology. I have to admit, I grabbed this book from the bookstore when I read it's a retelling of Persephone's myth. Persephone is one of my favorite mythological characters. Honestly, I swear that if ever I'd be blessed with daughters, I'd name my children Persephone and Penelope (just sharing hehe).

I felt great sympathy over Nikki. She turned to Cole made rash decisions that brought her to Cole's world, Everneath -- the world of the Everlivings. She became a Forfeit (humans where Everlivings Feed on their emotions to become immortals) and spent a century under, letting her forget about her family, her friends, her life. That is until she decided to go back to the Surface and try to fix and patch things up with the people from her past.

But she only has six months to fix things up. After that, she would be sucked down to the Tunnels, or go back to Everneath with Cole and be his queen. And on her Return, her emotions were completely gone (or is it?) but what made her survive unlike any other Forfeits who also decided to return is her endless love for Jack -- her boyfriend from the Surface.

“I dreamed of you every night. It felt so real. And when i'd wake up the next morning, it was like your disappearance was fresh. Like you'd left me all over again.”  - Jack

Jack is the kind of guy who would never give up until he finds all the answers to his questions, especially on why Nikki suddenly disappeared and returned again. In this book, he is the perfect symbol of hope.

On the other hand, Cole, who is an Everliving was quite possessive of Nikki. He, too, never wanted to give up on convincing her to go back to Everneath and be his queen. Well, I was really touched when he said:

“Sometimes... Sometimes our hearts...crack a little.” - Cole

I loved the pacing of the story. The flashbacks are perfect. Questions were immediately followed up by the answers, which made me want to dig deeper into the story. I also had a little doubt in my mind -- whether to hate Cole or not. I do love his bad boy image. I love him, and I hate him.

I also loved the twists in the story, especially how the author connected it with the myths we knew about. This is one of the best books I ever read. I truly enjoyed the characters and the story. I would definitely recommend this for book lovers out there! Next read: Neverfall (Digital Novella) all the way to the next book, Everbound! :)

My Rating:

(Rating System)

“If you're gonna leave, I wish you'd just leave. Why do you keep coming back if you're not going to stay? Because even when you're gone, you're never really gone... I won't get over it if you keep coming back. Losing you once was hard enough. And now you're here again and everything's coming back. I'm going to get screwed. And I can't do it again.”