Everneath by Brodi Ashton

GoodReads Summary:
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…
Review:
I have to start this review by saying that I have read this book before. I know that I have read it, but I didn’t remember any of the story while I was rereading (which is the whole reason I reread it). Everneath was a very run of the mill 2012 paranormal YA fantasy story. I think the concept was better than its execution, but for a debut novel, it could have been much worse. I don’t want to talk too negatively about this book because I had fun while I was reading it but there were definitely some issues.
The pacing was pretty good. Each chapter started with a certain about of time left until her ‘return.’ But there were also flashback chapters that counted down until when she first vanished. I thought this was a fun way to tell the story.
There were a few things that I thought could have been further explained when it came to the world-building. I understand that we only got to know as much as Nikki knew, but I still think there were certainly more opportunities to fill out the world. I was left with too many questions.
The love triangle was…weird. It wasn’t really a love triangle because it was clear who Nikki really cared about. It was a little annoying too with Cole constantly trying to tell Nikki that he loved her, but never really showed it. I liked all the characters well enough, but I think the best friend Jules could have been further developed. I’m hoping we will get that in the next books.
Finally, I wish the author had shown more than told. There were a few times within chapters where there were mini headings that stated the location. Times that could have been shown to us rather than told in this way. There were a handful of other parts of the story that were told when they could have been shown.
Overall, this was a book that I enjoyed despite the things I didn’t love. It was a pretty average read for me. I will continue the series because I own all three books and I’m still a bit curious as to how things will turn out for our stubborn little Nikki.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

ABC Book Challenge |E|

Hello, Bookworms!

This week we will be talking about books with the letter E. For those of you that are new here – here’s the deal, each week we post about books beginning with a specific letter of the alphabet starting with A and ending once we’ve gone all the way to Z. We’re going to mention one or sometimes a few books that were super memorable with the letter of the week and also books that are still living on our TBR lists. So without further ado.

Read last week’s post here.

This week’s letter is – E.

Most Memorable Books 

Amanda

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas – This book was absolutely incredible. The way that it ended was just mindblowing and heartbreaking at the same time. I might even say it was my favorite of the series, but I could change my mind when I do my reread this fall in anticipation of the final book.

Earth’s End by Elise Kova – Book three in a five book series that I read as a boxed set on my Kindle. This whole series was incredible and probably one of my top ten new reads of the year (you’ll see it pop up all over with the other book tags and bookish lists I post.)

Antonia

Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout – I’ve loved her books ever since I picked up Obsidian on a whim. This one is the last book in The Dark Elements series. It has a really well done angels vs. demons theme and the most swoon-worthy bad boy.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini – This was one of the first books I really obsessed over. The end of the series was so bittersweet and a little devastating but I’ll always have such pleasant memories of this book. (No one even think about mentioning the movie.)

 

Books Still on Our TBR Lists

Amanda

(An) Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir – I’ve read this book before but I honestly don’t remember anything about it. The third book came out recently so the whole series is on my TBR list with the first two books as a reread.

(The) Emerald Sea by Richelle Mead – The third and final book in the Glittering Court Trilogy and I am beyond ready and excited to see what’s going to happen in this series conclusion.

Antonia

Everneath by Brodi Ashton – I just got all three books in this series and am really excited to see how the Orpheus/ Eurydice myth ties into it.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon – I saw the movie trailer and thought it was interesting before I ever knew it was a book. After Amanda’s review of it, I knew it had to go on my TBR list.

 

This is what we’ve come up with for this weeks letter! Do you have any memorable books that start with the letter E? What about books that you haven’t managed to read yet? Feel free to answer in the comments and thanks for reading!

Antonia’s July Book Haul

Amanda, terrible influence that she is, recently introduced me to the site Book Outlet which sells really cheap books. The only problem is it’s a little random what books they have in stock and they’re usually in very limited quantities. Amanda got a gorgeous boxed set that was gone by the time I looked for it that I’m a little disappointed about but I still went a little crazy and bought twelve books. I won’t make this post too long but here’s my beautiful new treasures:

 

I was lucky enough to find two full series (it can be kind of hit or miss with Book Outlet). Both of these I initially looked at because of the pretty covers.

The Everneath series by Brodi Ashton sounded like a cool Hades/ Persephone retelling though looking at reviews now that part is a little misleading. Most people are saying it’s a little more like Orpheus/ Eurydice which I certainly don’t mind.

The Revenants series by Amy Plum caught me with the revenants idea. The summary doesn’t exactly explain everything so I’m really excited to see exactly what kind of supernatural creature they are.

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen is a series I keep going back to since I first saw it years ago but I never got around to actually getting it. Recently I’ve seen a few reviews that convinced me to finally get into them. Unfortunately the website lied to me so I got books 1, 3 and 4. Hopefully I find the second book soon.

The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband by Julia Quinn I got because Quinn’s always been an auto-buy author of mine. I love regency romances and Quinn’s are always laugh out loud funny.

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones is a story of a girl and a goblin king; a bit like the movie Labyrinth, though I’ve been assured by other reviews that the differences outweigh the similarities. I’m extremely excited for this one even though I couldn’t get the second book.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Amanda’s been talking about this one for so long that I had to get it. It seems like a really cool concept and I just have to know what all the hype is about over the Darkling.

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab. I thought the good vs. evil and how to decide which one you’ll be was really interesting. Amanda highly recommended this author as well so I have high hopes for this one.

Well that’s all my new babies. Have you read any of these books? Any suggestions for other new books I should get? Leave your thoughts in the comments and thanks for reading.

-Antonia