Everneath by Brodi Ashton

WARNING: Gifs overload and preaches. 

4.5 stars

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.

Goodreads

Series: Everneath #1

Published January 24th 2012 by HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray        

First off, the cover. Yes, hawt damn so beautiful. Those swirls had me at the first glance. Very suitable for the mythology-driven story. It’s a beauty to be deserved by my bookshelves. But the days when readers fear awesome covers where horrible monsters hid are a bit gone, cause my damsels, Everneath is a poignant, enchanting and heartbreaking retelling of Hades and Persephone’s/ Orpheus and Eurydice’s  story.

Everneath’s one appealing quality are the characters. The characters’ relationships were woven with thoroughness that pulls you in to the story. It was the feels, my damsels. A book’s ability to make the reader feel what she’s expecting is great but to make the reader go beyond that expectation? Exceptional. My thoughts about love may vary so much but I consider it as enduring. If only it’s possible also for enduring love to live forever in the world, we’ll be happy. And I thank Nikki Beckett and Jack Caputo for breaking free from the barrier of what’s often instant in YA, instant attraction and all that sh*t (do pardon my French). 

In the beginning, I had numerous issues with Nikki Beckett. She was an idiot, a klutz and gullible vetch.  What she did was worse than running away from home. It was the totality of the consequences that made it unfair to her family, friends and of course, to Jack. And all great heroines are like that in the start. They come from Hell (literally) and they emerge victorious to fix what was broken. Hard times make us strong when we have no other option but to be. What I adore about Nikki is that she did not give up. The love triangle was discreet, Cole oftentimes non-existent but it was a smart move. It highlighted Nikki and Jack’s awesomeness. But when Cole appears sayin this,

“Sometimes…” He paused and squeezed his eyes shut. “Sometimes our hearts … crack a little.”  

                                               *All Hell broke loose. Just sayin.

Let’s go then to the clever mythological twist. DAUGHTERS OF PERSEPHONE. They exist! I thought only Daughters of Aphrodite are here on earth. Kidding, my pretty damsels! The mystery of the bracelet was half-baked so I'm waiting... ;))

                                             

                                                  *Daughters of Aphrodite.. xD

The concept of the relevance of time running out was confusing for me at the beginning. Sometimes, I found myself flipping back to make sure my the images in my imagination about the story flow are on the right track. Haha. The time in the book gives you a certain kind of urgency to meet what was on the end of that journey during the last hundred pages. It was a brilliant and creative concept that added to the strong aspects of the entire book.

Now onto the boys, my favorite topic.

Cole Stockton: I want to know him more. Not just the jerk Everliving side. I don't want a one-sided argument because I know it'll spoil the hot bad guy persona. But my current reaction to him is... 

*NO PITCHFORKS PLEASE, YOU GUYS.

Will Caputo: Jack's brother is awesome in his own way. The fact that he help our desperate lovebirds in their last stand was really endearing. Plus ALL his convos when he's drunk? PRICELESS. 

Will noticed me for the first time. “Hey. A girl.” He studied my face for a moment, and then he gasped and stopped walking. “Nikki Beckett. You’d better get out of here before my brother sees you. He’d freak.”

He stared at me again. “Hey, you look familiar. 

Hey, Jack, ’member that girl—?”

“Yes,” Jack interrupted.

“You know, the one who totally messed you 

up—”

“Yes,” Jack cut him off again. His eyes met 

mine, and he gave me an apologetic grin. I felt

my own lips turning up. 

Will pulled up short. “Uh-oh.”

JACK FREAKING CAPUTO: The entire damseldom needs a man like you. Ya hear me? WE NEED YOU. So you better *sniffs*..you, b-be-bettter...WAAAAAAAAAAH.

                                            *My reaction exactly.

Overall, read Everneath and for once my damsel, feel the existence of ENDURING LOVE. 

“It’s always been you, Becks. Nothing will change that, no matter how much time has
passed.” He glanced down. “No matter if you feel the same way or not. You know that, right?”
I shook my head slowly, wanting desperately to believe him, but not sure if I could.
“How can you not see that? Everyone sees it.”- Jack Caputo