Everneath by Brodi Ashotn

Goodreads Blurb

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 friends- before being 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 months reconnecting with her boyfriend, Jack, the one person she loves more than anything. But there's a problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who first enticed her to the Everneath, has followed Nikki to the mortal world. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back- this time as his queen.

As Nikki's time grows short and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she's 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...

Everneath captivated me from start to finish, leaving me with tears in my eyes and heart in my stomach. Nothing could’ve prepared me for what happened and nothing could have left me more shell-shocked. A bittersweet ending, a heartbreaking realization, and a dark tale mixed into this retelling of Persephone.

Nikki has been with Cole for one hundred years in the Everneath, really on six months in the mortal world. We start off with Nikki waking up in Cole’s arms after the Feed, an event where Cole fed on Nikki’s energy for a century. But once she wakes up, one face haunts her mind: Jack, the boyfriend she left six months ago. She gets six months on the surface with her old friends and six months to make everything right before she has to go back in Cole’s arms or get sucked in by the Everneath, the hell in this story. She goes back and everything’s changed. Her friends stay away and Jack keeps his distance. No one can pretend that she hadn’t disappeared for six months, especially not our protagonist.

I admit, it was a bit weird reading about a girl with the same name as me, but I got over that uncertainty once I passed the first five chapters. I have to say, I couldn’t have been prouder if some other character shared my name. Nikki Becket has definitely risen up in my top heroines list. She was strong enough to resist the temptation of Cole’s promises, immortality, and the promise of being a queen all for the boy she loved and loves. It was a beautiful, tragic romance that I absolutely could not get enough of. This is definitely the best take on Persephone I’ve read in a while and trust me, I’ve read a lot.

Let’s talk love interest. Cole is alluring in that typical bad boy way, but Jack is the sacrificing, broken one whose situation just tugs at your heart, urging you to pay attention. I’m sure it’s obvious who I’m leaning towards to. Cole may be the supernatural one in this love triangle, but he never shows that he actually loves her. Jack almost gave her up just so she could be safe. Like I said, sacrificing.

Everneath didn’t have any bad points in my perspective, and speaking about perspective, another thing I loved about Everneath was that it switched from the past to present, giving you a hint on just how deep jack and Nikki’s relationship was, making you feel all the more heartbroken. Heartbreaking really is the perfect word for this. In other words, it was a perfect book (for me at least) in all ways.

Pages: 370

Series: Everneath #1

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Rating: 5 stars

'Have you figured out a topic? A moral conundrum?'
'Yes.'
'What is it?'
I heard Jack's chair creak.
'It's about how there's no such thing as redemption,' I whispered. 'How you deserve what you get, and no higher power can save you.'