Review of Everneath

Goodreads Summary: "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."

I absolutely love this cover. In fact I'd go so far as to say its one of the most beautiful book covers that I have ever seen...and intriguing! But after having read the book and discovered the connections I am just completely blown away. True story.

As for whats between the covers...

I am so glad that this one was rec'd to me when it was! I had only just received this book last week and had every intention of letting it get buried in my TBR pile for awhile as I played catch-up. Sort of like a reward for good behavior. But then a really good blogger friend of mine [Aneeqah @ My Not So Real Life] squee-d over the title and convinced me to give it a go. So I started reading...and found myself only stopping because I was either in class or in the car [can't read there any more, nowadays I get motion sick!].

I'm a sucker for mythology and Everneath does it right. It weaves together several classic fables/myths into a coherent plot with a focus on the underworld...one of the most interesting places I think. But the author doesn't stop there, not only does she weave all of these myths together and explain why there are various myths regarding a similar story but she gives it her own twist. A super fascinating one at that. And just YES.

For the most part I found myself loving the cast, though I wish some characters had been far less peripheral than they were in this particular volume...here's to hoping that more of them stand out in the sequel. Nikki had me won over from the very beginning. I was hooked on her. Jack has yet to completely win me over, I feel like he's almost Ken-ish. In the doll sense that is. I'm hoping to get a better feel for him in the sequel. Jules is a doll, and one of those characters I'm hoping to see more of...and in the ultimate show of loving a bad boy, I'm a sucker for Cole. There is just something about him...I think he's going to end up surprising everyone.

The story was completely intriguing, I couldn't stop reading, even when I had thought I had figured something out if the actual characters hadn't arrived at the same conclusion I found myself second-guessing my own ideas and coming up with multiple others...and even when my mind wasn't playing those games I eagerly read on because I HAD TO KNOW IF I WAS RIGHT.

Overall I really enjoyed this one and devoured it in a single day, proving that my reading slump has in fact been completely cured and I can lay off the adult romances for awhile. And pine for Everneath's sequel.