Everneath

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Nikki Beckett vanished from the face of the Earth six months ago, and now she's back. Nikki has been in an underworld known as the Everneath and she has Returned to the Surface to her old life for six more months to try and reconnect with people she left behind - her dad, friends and most importantly Jack.. her boyfriend the boy she loves more than anything.......

However the immortal who seduced her and took her to the Everneath, Cole, has followed her back to the Surface and intent on taking Nikki back to the Everneath for ever this time.

The book follows Nikki's journey back into her old life, her struggle to say goodbye to her family, to reconnect with her friends and most importantly work things out with Jack.

With her deadline growing ever closer Everneath beckons and Nikki is faced with the hardest decision of her life. Ashton has created a intricate world based on Greek myths and Nikki is a brilliant heroine which the reader follows with enthusiasm. The book is cleverly written and the reader is stuck from the first page, it is an easy read but when you look back on the characters they are surprisingly complex.

Nikki
Nikki, thank god, isn't the typical god awful pout in the corner that many YA female characters end up being. She has some real issues and she knows what happened in Everneath is her fault and she is searching for redemption, not for someone to blame. You want things to work out for Nikki because you can see her reasons behind her decisions and understand them but agree with her that they were wrong and be happy for her that she wants to change them.. You will definitely will her along and things to go her way!

Jack
Jack didn't give up on Nikki for the six months she was gone but now she's back he's wary, hurt and cautious. Jack is one of my favourite male characters in a long time he is extremely believable (you can see him being a real person and gawd you better hope there are Jacks out there 'cos you'll need them to battle the Coles!) He's also real sweet, understanding and funny!

Cole
Cole is the typical bad boy - he's immortal (sort of like a vampire who feeds on emotion!) and Nikki gave him the biggest feast of his life yet survived. So he's darn curious about this girl who is refusing his tempting offers and is attempting to reconnect with all her friends and family despite her impending deadline. However girls, you can't help falling a little for Cole, who, at least in the case of Nikki, does care for her and can be sweet and funny but also dark and dangerous.

Ashton creates a  love triangle with Nikki, Cole and Jack but Nikki is a strong female lead character who ignores advances from Cole and is stuck on Jack. Jack and Nikki's relationship is realistic with the good times sometimes shadowed with doubt and misunderstandings.

Now I warn you it is a trilogy so if you don't want to get dragged into a series stay away because the ending will leave you desperate for the second book which is out in January 2013..

I'd give Everneath 4 out of 5 it was extremely good, and I loved the interpretation on the Persephone myth but it wasn't quite there for me - I would have like a greater play on the love triangle perhaps with Nikki being more attracted towards Cole (I'd find that bad boy charm alluring even if I knew it was bad for me!) and a bigger play on their relationship.

It's published by Simon and Schuster and from Amazon you can get it for £6.29 or cheaper if it's been sold from a different seller new or used!

I really do recommend it!
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