Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Series: Everneath #1

Pages: 370

Received: Borrowed from library

Release Date: January 24, 2012
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Goodreads Synopsis:

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 really can`t believe I waited so long to check out this book, the story didn`t seem to interest me all that much. But once I started this book I didn't want to stop reading, prepare yourself to read this in a day (I did...) This is not a book that is filled with action but despite that this book was still heart pounding. It is a beautiful love story (this is the kind of romance I dreamed of as a kid).

I enjoyed the back and forth of past and present to tell the story, we get a glimpse of what caused Nikki to choose the path she did, and see what how her life is different now that she's come back. Ashton switched the time periods at a perfect time in the story, and everything lead up to that ending. I really enjoyed seeing the difference of everyone's attitude following Nikki's return compared to how she was treated before, it was realistic and genuine.

What really sets this book apart is the depth of emotion that you really get from the characters while reading this story. Ashton brings these characters to life and you can really feel every little thing from love to hate to indifference through her writing. Emotions play such a huge part in this book that I felt they were a character of their own at times. Nikki's emotions ring through the most and are the strongest and honestly at times I had goosebumps because I could just imagine everything she was going through.

I found myself putting the book down because I needed to do something else but then putting that off because my mind kept going back to these characters and I longed for more of their story. And even after finishing this book, I need more of them (I'm glad I don't have to wait long for book 2), also that ending killed me and I swear I shed a few tears for these characters at that ending.

Ashton really did a beautiful job with this story and brings a love story that really resonates with you long after you've read this. I will say for a book with very little action in it, this book has you jumping to finish it and yet yearning for the story to last forever.