Book Review: Everbound by Brodi Ashton

Image (c) Simon & Schuster

Everbound (Everneath #2) by Brodi Ashton
Published: January 22nd, 2013
Format: Library Book

Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.

In this enthralling sequel to Everneath, Brodi Ashton tests the bonds of destiny and explores the lengths we’ll go to for the ones we love.

It's been a while since I've read the first book in this trilogy, Everneath. But lets do a short recap just so we can have a good idea what happened before jumping back into its sequel. Hopefully this will help recollect my thoughts before we jump back into the actual review. With that said, if you're reading this I assume you've already read the first book, but just in case... there might be spoilers. Beware! Not for the sequel for it, though, no worries!

Nikki has been gone for quite a while and no one knew where she was. Then, all of a sudden, she re-appears back as if nothing has happened. But a lot has... and now Nikki has six months to reconcile with everyone else. But she can't let anyone know... cause where she's going is a place no one else knows even exist and she'll never be able to return back from it. The Everneath.

She would have never found out about this place if she hadn't befriended Cole though. Cole: who became her friend, who takes her pain away, and who introduced her to the Everneath in the first place.

But despite all the pain and research, after the six months, Nikki isn't taken. Instead, Jack- her boyfriend- decides to leave for the Tunnels instead in place of her. Nikki is saved- but at what cost?

Now Nikki wants her boyfriend back and she's determined to get him to return back to her. She still sees Jack in her dreams but it's not enough. It's never enough. She knows she's running out of time to save him. There's only so much a soul can take before they start to forget everything and start fading away. But she refuses to forget about him. She refuses to live without him and, no matter what, is determined to retrieve him. Even if it means trekking back into the Everneath on her own.

She communicates with Cole, at first, to request for him to be a guide but after that doesn't work out she steals some of his strands of hair and returns back to the Evernearth on her own. Being inexperienced, she didn't get quite far, but it's that determination and Nikki's cleverness that convinces Cold to finally lead her back through the Everneath to find Cole.

Or so she thought.

Throughout this story we get to learn a little bit more about the relationship between Jack and Nikki and why she cares so much about him enough to risk her life for him. In the first book, it would have been so easy to feel like they were just a couple just for the sake of being a couple. Typical Young Adult trope, yeah? But this book expanded on them and brought a bit more perspective to what they went through before Cole came into the picture and before Nikki's sudden disappearance. I still feel like the whole 'Jack's ex still wanting him back' though didn't help from the last book so this was nice.

Overall, though, it shown them as an actual realistic relationship.

Throughout these memories, though, are Cole's plans to survive with Nikki and Max through the Everneath and to make sure her emotions doesn't make her 'soul food'.

It's a pretty creative story, in my opinion. I like the idea on how one's suppose to keep their emotions together by focusing on merely one thing (at least that's how I recall it... please correct me if I'm wrong, my memory tends to be fuzzy at times). On top of that it can be used as a tether to help find the one person/ soul that she's trying to find. On top of that, I like that there had to be trials to get through everything to even get close to Jack to save him.

Although, I have to admit, the ending I didn't like that much. I won't mention what happened, to avoid spoilers, but part of me can believe it happened but another part of me... can't. It's not the end, but it's close to the end. I'll just say that it feels like it involves information that Nikki should have never connected together, especially so quickly, with such little information. I call BS on that completely and, honestly, I think it was just used to keep the book at its page length. It made no sense to me at all. It's lazyness and I don't like it.

I also didn't really care much about Cole still pushing himself towards Nikki despite the fact that she clearly told him, many many times, that she loves someone else.

Overall, it's a good book. If you like a relaxing read, this is the book for you. After all, who wouldn't like a book related to a retelling of the Persephone myth? It's not my favorite book, though. Check if out if you feel like this is a book for you OR if you just feel like catching up on one of the old series (well... 2012 is fairly old, right?).

What's your opinion on this book, if you have read this already? Or, at least, what did you think about Everneath? Let me know in the comments below- I like to hear your guys' opinions! :D

(Originally posted on A Court of Ink and Paper, previously known as Cosying Up With Books)