Everbound by Brodi Ashton

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Pages: 368pgs

The Story

Two months ago, the Tunnels of the underworld came for Nikki Beckett. That night, Nikki's boyfriend, Jack, made the ultimate sacrifice. All Nikki wants is to save Jack before it's too late. All Cole wants is to find his queen - and he thinks Nikki is the one. Both determined, both desperate, Nikki and Cole form a tense alliance, leading them on a dangerous journey to The Heart of The Everneath.

The Review

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

EVERBOUND is one of those rare sequels that sends you on such an emotional roller coaster. I'm not kidding. One moment you're happily in tears and then the next you're truly sobbing over how terrible the world actually is and thinking, 'How could this talented and evil genius author do this to me?!'. It's just one of those things I find Brodi Ashton is really good at! So while the book didn't necessarily blow me away as the first book, Everneath, had done, but it's still a great continuation of this YA paranormal series and I'm dying to read more of it now!

Nikki, our main leading lady, continues to improve as a character and takes some pretty major leaps in order to get her boyfriend, Jack, back. Boy I really admired this girl in this sequel! Just when I thought she was super strong in the first book and couldn't get any stronger than that, I was clearly wrong because she totally kicked ass in this book. It's almost as if she's an entirely different person, so I hope readers who weren't a big fan of hers will come around in this book. Just - argh. Love her in this one!

As for Cole's character, that good old bad boy who wants nothing more than Nikki to be his underworld Queen of sorts (or so he thinks she should be), well what can I really say about him? He was just - to put it as simply as I can - awesome! After what occurred between him and Nikki in the first book, and the whole Jack being in the way dilemma, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor guy - even if I didn't want to feel anything for him because I'm all for Nikki and Jack's team forever and ever. But Cole . . . there's something really special about his character and I love seeing his much more vulnerable side in this particular book. It was such a real treat!

And as for Jack, oh my lord that boy! That boy! Gosh I missed him so much! I mean, part of the reason why I didn't enjoy this sequel as  much as the first book was because of the lack of Jack's character! He made not that many appearances so while I do realize he's 'missing' or rather 'gone' someplace else considering what happened to him at the end of the first book, but I just missed him terribly despite Nikki's dreams and flashbacks of him. Le sigh. But don't worry Jack fangals out there, he's still physically (well sort off physically) in the book and it will make you happy (well sort of happy hehe).

Overall, fans of Everneath will totally love EVERBOUND even though it yet again delivers another very cruel cliffhanger on the main character's part. So while those cliffhangers drive me crazy, but I got to admire the author for those crazy moments because I'm even more anxious to read the third book now! So I say bring me some more Nikki and Jack lovin' my way please!

The Rating

4/5 stars

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