REVIEW: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath
Brodi Ashton
370 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: January 24th, 2011
Source: ARC from Publisher
Rating: LOVED

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...

   Everneath, Brodi Ashton's young-adult debut, puts a modern twist on a Greek myth that is bound to leave you craving for more.

  Going in, I wasn't sure what to expect from Everneath. The buzz surrounding the winter 2012 release was low, so my expectations were likewise. Luckily for me (and you), Everneath's interior is just as gorgeous as its exterior.

  Despite the fact that readers will be bouncing back and forth throughtout the book (we don't see Nikki's life before, after, and during the Feed in chronological order), Brodi Ashton's writing simply flows, carrying you from one line to the next with elegance.

  Nikki Beckett's angst ridden life has made her a Forfeit - a person who's emotional pain and depressional is cause for making them a perfect candidate for an Everliving to feed off of. Every one hundred years, Everlivings must venture to the Surface and bring back a Forfeit for the Feed. They feed off their emotions, depleting them of their feelings, their memories, and ultimately, their lives. Along with the weight of the traumatic death of her mother, Nikki lets herself become a Forfeit, and realizes her mistake too late - one hundred years too late, which translates to about six months on the Surface (Earth). But Nikki is determined to make life right, to make amends with her father, brother, and Jack, who's face she could never bring herself to forget. 

   But at the same time, a seedling of hope plants deep within her, growing with every day that takes her closer to her Return - could she actually find a way to remain on the Surface forever?

  Nikki's sure will and hope is tangible through the words Brodi Ashton weaves within the mere 320 pages of Everneath. It will no doubt leave you wanting the next installment in the planned trilogy, because the ending, is purely heartbreaking. There aren't enough words for me to describe how much I enjoyed Everneath. The fact that it surprised me, flipped my expectations upside down, made it so much more to me.

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