Evertrue (Everneath #3) by Brodi Ashton

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Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself... which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die.

Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?

In this stunning conclusion to the Everneath trilogy, Brodi Ashton evokes the resiliency of the human spirit and the indomitable power of true love.

I cannot express enough how much I’d been looking forward to February knowing that this final in the series was coming out. I can remember clearly how I felt at the end of Everbound when Nikki made her solemn vow to destroy the Everneath. There was so much emotion, anger and bitterness tangled up in her simple statement which made me feel edgy as to how she would carry it out.

Once again, Cole and the Dead Elvises are nowhere to be seen as Nikki and Jack formulate plans with what combined information they have of the Everneath . They’re still very much in love, their commitment to each other intensified by what they both recently went through. They may have escaped the Everneath but both are undergoing some peculiar changes. Jack’s strength and physical form are becoming more pronounced while Nikki is slowly becoming weaker. It’s not until Cole finally returns that they understand the reason for Nikki’s ailment – because she fed off of Cole three times in the Everneath, she’s turning into an Everling. She has to feed off of him in order to survive. Now she’s royally pissed off!  And worse, Cole and Jack, sworn enemies , are both determined to make sure that no matter what happens, Nikki makes it through unscathed, even if it means she does become an Everling.

What’s great about this series is that Nikki never once stands back to wait for solutions to appear. She’s clearly a force to be reckoned with and doesn’t back down easily. Jack is the stalwart boyfriend who is her partner in this battle. Cole, as usual, is as arrogant and insufferable as ever. So of course, I puffy heart him. Ashton does introduce a nice little twist involving Cole which becomes an advantage to Nikki in her fight against the Everneath.

Nikki is waging war on two fronts – the outside war against the Everneath and her internal conflict regarding her feelings toward Cole. She’s constantly reminding herself about how he had betrayed her by making her think he was her friend when he was apparently manipulating her into serving his ultimate purpose, that of overthrowing the Queen.  At the same time, she’s reduced to feeling sorry for him because of his current predicament. However, this will not prevent her from reaching the ultimate end game. This time around she’s the one who’s doing the manipulating.  Even though she feels a pang of guilt about using him, she resorts to her arsenal of bitterness and betrayal to remind herself why she's doing this.

Evertrue is splendid! I devoured in within a day and a half and went through a mourning period when it was over. There’s really only one way it could end and Nikki stayed true to her conviction and the things she loved most to make it through.  Thank you Brodi Ashton for a wonderful series that introduced me to new mythology and a complicated world below!

~ Bel

Everneath by Brodi Ashton

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Available January 24, 2012

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 best friend, 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 goodbyes she can’t find the words for; six months to find redemption, if it even exists.

Nikki longs to spend these precious few months forgetting the Everneath completely 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 to the mortal world.  Cle wants to take over the Everneath’s throne and is convinces 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 all of her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: finding a way to cheat fate and remain on the surface with Jack, or returning to the Everneath and becoming Cole’s queen.

So there I was desperately looking for a book to read. Wait. Let me restate that. I had plenty of books to choose from but when I finally came across Everneath, I was suckered in. 

This intriguing debut infuses Greek and Egyptian mythology into a modern day romance. The Everneath is a place between the mortal world and hell, where Everlings (immortals) Feed on the emotions of humans, or Forfeits as they’re called. Once fed upon, the Everling and the Forfeit are tied together. By the time Nikki wakes up, she’s been asleep for one hundred years in the Everneath with the Everling, Cole. But in the mortal world she’s only been gone six months. Cole wants her to stay but Nikki feels a strong pull to return to her former life. Because of her choice, she has been physically  marked by the Shades that reside in the Tunnels. Choosing not to go with Cole means she has only six months before they come to claim her and Feed upon her for the rest of eternity. Yikes!

But returning to her old life isn’t so easy when so many things have changed. She used to be vibrant and outgoing but now with all her energy drained, she barely resembles who she was. So she hides from crowds and avoids contact with people, including Jack, her boyfriend, who was the only thing tying her to the mortal world while she was in the Everneath. It was his image she kept seeing during her hundred years sleep. Though she returned for him, she finds it hard to reconnect with him and her friends knowing that questions will come and explanations are in order. All the while, she counts down to when she must return to the Everneath.

This may come as a surprise to some of you, especially BiblioJunkies Nat – this time I did not find myself swooning over the “bad boy”, Cole. He’s a hard one to figure out. The push-and-pull connection Nikki feels with him only complicates her last six months. He comes off as very self-serving and untrustworthy. He has moments of kindness, plenty of snarkiness and his few hostile moments are a bit unsettling.  

Jack on the other hand is someone to root for.  He is so in love with Nikki and was so devastated by her disappearance. He’s so heartbreakingly patient with her as she tries to recover from her ordeal. No matter what she does, he waits for her cue and then follows suit. He’s just so sweet and handles her so delicately. His reassuring nature provides Nikki exactly what she needs – a safe haven. 

With Everneath, the first in a trilogy, Brodi Ashton delivers a very emotionally stirring and tantalizing tale. Each chapter is a countdown clock that only emphasizes the urgency Nikki experiences. It's so gutting to see her endure all the pain she's going through as D-Day draws closer. If she becomes an Everling herself, she’d have to Feed upon humans the way Cole did with her. Is that something her conscience can handle? Or is she brave enough to face the Tunnels for eternity? Either way people get hurt and she has to decide between the lesser of two evils.

~ Bel