Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

From Goodreads: 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 Rating: 4 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: While I was initially tempted to read Brodi Ashton’s Everneath simply because of its pretty cover, I knew I had to read it once I heard that it was a retelling of the myth of Hades and Persephone because I love Greek mythology. Everneath, however, wasn’t a strict retelling. Rather, it’s more like Ashton was inspired not only by the myth of Hades and Persephone but also by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice; and then created her own interesting Underworld (which I feel like there’s still more left to be learned about).

The book opens with the reader being aware that Nikki willingly went with Cole to the Everneath, but the circumstances around her decision are revealed slowly throughout the book. Thus, I found it hard to connect with Nikki at the beginning, especially because she was stripped of all her emotions in the Everneath. Through flashbacks interwoven seamlessly into the main narrative though, it became easy to care about her and understand how and why she could just leave her family and friends behind. As time ticked by, I couldn’t help but hope that Nikki would somehow escape the Tunnels.

What I liked about Nikki was that she wasn’t perfect. She had insecurities and if you think about it, she’s a little selfish for coming back when she knows that she’ll disappear again in six months. (Then again, if I was in her position, I’m sure I’d want some sort of closure too.) I also really liked that Nikki was willing to face the consequences of her decision; but she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

The romance was nicely done as well. Although there’s a love triangle in Everneath, it didn’t annoy me because it didn’t feel like one. Ashton does a good job of making both Jack and Cole equally complex and having Nikki distinguish her feelings about the two. Cole may be the antagonist in the story, but he’s not just a simple villain who you’ll hate outright.

Cole and Nikki may have a bond because of their time together in the Everneath, but she genuinely loves Jack. In fact, so did I! I’m normally a fan of fictional bad boys but Jack managed to win me over in Everneath. The relationship between Jack and Nikki was just so sweet and real; and I really liked that not only was there a shared history between the two but that they had some ups and downs as well.

A paranormal novel that manages to have a unique concept, Everneath was released in January 2012 by Balzer + Bray.

Comments About the Cover: The colours of red and black look very good together, and it does seem as if the model is coming up from underground. The whole girl in a gorgeous dress idea though doesn’t logically make sense because who runs away dressed like that?

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (HarperCollins) for free via NetGalley.