Author: Brodi Ashton
Release Date: January 24th, 2012
Publisher: Harperteen
Pages: 370
Edition: Hardcover
Source: For Review
Goodreads: Link
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..
As I do when I do negative reviews for some reason...LIST TIME:
1. The plot for this book really is intriguing. Nikki has been taken down to the Underworld by Cole who is an Everling, someone who can live forever as long as every 100 years, they take a human and suck out their emotions/soul. But when the century passes and Nikki is released, she isn't a shriveled piece of dust, she's still herself! So when faced with the opportunity of immortality, she chooses to go up to Earth for 6 months to see her family and the boyfriend (ex?) she left behind, Jack. And since it's a Hades and Persephone-ish retelling, I was so excited!
2. Sadly, I felt like the world wasn't as fascinating as I expected it to be. I think it mostly because I wanted all this crazy mythology and when you really read it, all you do is scratch the surface. Which really isn't the problem considering it's a trilogy, but I just wanted more. Maybe it's the hype monster, but I had high expectations.
3. I've said before that for me, characters make a story. Your plot can be lacking but if you have captivating, interesting, and strong characters, I can forgive a lot of things. Sadly, Nikki didn't hit the mark for me. I never really connected with her or was invested in her story, even though I read the whole thing through. I felt like an outsider and i'm not a particular fan of it; I must prefer to immerse myself completely, feel just how much the heroine has to lose. And she kept saying how selfish she was for going up when she was going to have to go back down again but I wanted her to do something! Act before she had to go! And until about the last month, nothing really progresses besides her strange relationship with Cole. (more on that later)
4. Jack was a problem for me because i'm immediately expected to love him and I just...didn't. We're trying to be convinced through flashbacks that he's this mega-player turned super faithful boyfriend after being with Nikki for three months, and he just had this...air to him that I didn't find appealing. Plus, the whole reason him and Nikki separated before she went down made me SO MAD. It's not the fact that he did it, which he didn't, but the fact that he said if the opportunity had presented itself, he likely would've. UH WHA? Intention is everything. And I feel like everyone just brushed over that and that just sealed my dislike for Jack.
5. Cole, on his own, was an amazing character. Conflicted, slightly evil, and delectably tortured, I wanted to see just exactly was going through that head of his as he started to slowly wear his humanity on his sleeve. But as a love interest? I don't think so. Maybe it's just because i'm tired of being stuck in the "Bad Boy vs. Noble Hero" love triangle and he wasn't good to Nikki at all. But simultaneously, I understand their connection considering he fed off her for a century.
6. I think the main problem was when I was reading through, I was itching to just keep turning the pages, and not in a good way. I wasn't captivated by the story BUT everyone else seems to like it so you certainly don't have to take my word for it!
Happy Reading!
