Thursday, January 19, 2012

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Release Date: 2nd February, 2012

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books

Pages: 370pgs

The Story

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 . . .

The Review

A big thanks to Simon & Schuster Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

I wouldn't be the only one to admit I was first drawn to this book only because of it's beauty - the uber-amazing-red-dressy-smoke-surrounding cover that is. I mean, would you look at it! It's really pretty on the computer screen but it's also even more captivating when seeing and touching the cover in person (yes I touched the cover which was super soft and again very pretty). While most young adult novels with beautiful covers aren't exactly the way to go when looking for and/or buying a book, since most can become disappointments to readers, but for this book in particular that theory alone doesn't count one little bit. For once, the eye-catching cover model actually paid off BIG TIME! And boy did I love it even more!

Instead of taking my time with this book, I flew right through it in one sitting! It's rare for a book to do that to me and in this case I'm glad. From the very first page I was enthralled with Nikki's journey of grief, sorrow, pain, and happiness. It was . . . WOW. Impressive. Just when you're thrown in one direction, you're immediately thrown into the another and contining to question what's going to happen to these characters and to Nikki herself. Some readers may say the storyline sounded cliche but it's far from it. It's unique. It's edgy. It's dark. It's light. It's everything you could possibly want in a young adult paranormal book - one with brilliant mythology set behind this story and one with awesome characters.

Plot-wise EVERNEATH's plotting was fantastic. The pacing itself was perfect in every way. The mythology - the strongest point I found - was very interesting and it never went to the overload stage . . . thankfully. Even the scenes were written extremely well and there was not a single scene that I was bored with because I wanted more and more of them. It was that good readers and that discovery of mine came as a big surprise considering there are mixed reviews for this book title. Of course, at first, I was a bit hesitant in reading EVERNEATH especially when it came around to the constant change of time periods - from the present times to Nikki's sometimes-confusing-but-completely-necessary past flashbacks - but Brodi Ashton handled them so well in a way which ended up making the book both enjoyable and whole. But with a fantastic plot you need fantastic characters.

There's no other way to say this but I loved every single character inside this book. I had no issues with them whatsoever despite their faults. Nikki, the main protagonist for example, was such a great character and I had a fun time reading about her times in the Feed, on the Surface, and hell, even with the boys. She was perfect. Honestly there's not enough praise for this girl of ours - she's stronger than most heroines, she's compassionate despite her own doom-and-gloom, and what I loved most about her was the way she handled her time left on the Surface . . . before well . . . you know. And as for the boys, they were just as good. Seriously.

Jack, Nikki's 'sort of' boyfriend, was such a shining star in this novel. I love him so much with a million love hearts! He's what every girl wants in a boyfriend. Not only is he super supportive and understanding, but he's courgeous, he isn't a jerk, and he truly loves and respects his girlfriend. Not even her rejection gets in his way. That's what we need more of in our young adult literature! He's so . . . wonderful. *bows a few times* As for the second boy toy Cole, the devious dude who was the cause of this Underworld catastrophe and of Nikki's fate, was such a delight to read about as well. He's . . . what's the word . . . spunky. Cole is the town's new resident bad boy who wants Nikki as his Underworld Queen and I'm sure a lot of ladies too will be tempted by him and it's certainly a love/hate relationship. But while Cole is swoon-worthy but my heart still lies forever with Jack!

As the plot unfolds and where both secrets and lies are revealed, all I can say is I had a very hard time putting this book down. While that's good and all, but talk about a frustrating and breathless cliffhanger! I, of course, saw it coming a few chapters beforehand, but the ending was so, so sad and I couldn't believe my predictions cam true! Not cool Brodi Ashtion. Not cool at all. I'm still crying over here and wishing the book wasn't over! My emotions are over the place right now readers and I can't believe I have to wait yet another year for its sequel. Much like Nikki's character, I just want the pain to go away and never come back. Oh . . . the ending!

Overall, EVERNEATH was a fantastic debut novel that lived up to the much hype it has been receiving lately and by god it was brilliant. With plenty of mythology, action, romance, and of course that damn heartbreak of super intense emotions (trust me here there's a lot of heartbreak in this book), I'm sure this 2012 debut will help kick start the year of amazing books and it's one of my favourites so far! I'm still blown away by its amazeness!

The Rating 5/5 stars

16 comments:

  1. Heee. I think many of us have stroked this cover just a wee bit too much than appropriate :D IT'S SO PRETTY!! <3 Hahaha awww Erin. You're making me all mushy for Jack. But hell.... then you mention Cole. Bad boys do baaaad things to me.

    I love the greek mythology elements, so I'm really intrigued to see how Brodi weaves them into the story and just.... asdhjfgsjhsdfjkgsdg. Stupid amazing reviews. I want to drop what I'm reading and dive into this RIGHT FREAKING NOW! Brilliant review, as always :D

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    1. Jack is ashjdlglsajg. There's no words to describe how much I adore him. I know how you feel about bad boys! No matter how much we want to stay away from them we just . . . can't!

      I love greek mythology too. Brodi writes it so very well. Can't wait to hear your thoughts about this book!

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  2. I think this cover is just beautiful too! It's one of the nicest I've ever seen, I'd say :) SO glad that the contents are just as good - I'm definitely going to have to get a copy of this now. Fantastic review!

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    1. For once I don't have to say, "Don't judge a book by it's cover" because you can judge the cover and get the same beautiful result. x

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  3. The cover was the first reason why I wanted to read the book. Afterwards, the summary was so intriguing I knew I had to read it. I love greek mythology so I hope I'm going to enjoy this book as much as you did!!!!! Awesome review, Erin!! Glad you enjoyed it! :)

    Celine @ Forget-me-not

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  4. The cover is so pretty. Mythology, action, romance? What an awesome combo! The mc sounds awesome, and the boys...yum! ;) Great review.

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    1. Thanks. I hope you enjoy this book. It was AWESOME!

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  5. YES! Hitting the nail on its head yet again. I agree with every point <3 Everneath was amazing and I'm so happy to hear you loved it too!

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    1. Haha LOL. Everneath was amazing, wasn't it? I'm still blown away by it.

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  6. Ooh, two amazing love interests? I'm already torn! I do love bad boys, but you make a very convincing case for Jack :P. The mythology aspects sound fab too, and of course, that cover! So gorgeous! Dying to read this one now, awesome review! :)

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    1. You should feel torn. Both guys were great but Jack was amazing! Love him so much!

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  7. Oh my goodness, I have this one sitting at home, and I'm periodically picking it up and lovingly stroking its cover. SO so SO pretty and soft and tactile and lovely and, uh, I may have originally wanted it entirely because of the cover too--but it's awfully nice to hear it's AMAZING, too!

    Eeeeee, and I LOVE mythology stories. LOVE LOVE. I'm a total sucker for them. heh... I may have been addicted to Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess, as kid >__<

    I so mean to have read this already but so many things came up... and now I want to save it so I can read it all in one sitting! eek, I <3 this review. Thank you! xx

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    1. Haha I stroked the cover too. So soft and gorgeous! It WAS amazing. You'll have to read it soon . . . it was again AWESOME. :) Hope you enjoy the book Sarah!

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  8. This is one awesomely long review. It sounds great, btw--but I know I'm going to hate the cliffhanger once I get to it. That's when it pays to be behind in a series.

    The cover kind of feels like the purple Elixir cover, velvety or something. I like it.

    The time jumping has been putting me off reading this, but I will get around to my copy sometime in the next month.

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    1. I didn't mean for it to be long . . . but just HAD to express the awesomeness. I think everyone will hate the cliffhanger - so not cool. Yes! It does feel like the Elixir cover. Love it.

      The time jumping isn't too bad. The past flashbacks are short which I'm thankful for. You just sometimes have to pay attention.

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