Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Pages: 384
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 384
Age Group: Young Adult
Challenge: Debut Author Challenge 2012, ABC Reading Challenge, 100+ Reading Challenge, Read and Review Challenge
Buy this book: Amazon UK
Buy this book: Amazon UK
Synopsis [Amazon UK]
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...
The cover...
It was the absolutely gorgeous cover that drew me to this book. Everything about the cover is astonishing.
How did I find out about this book?
I bought this book for the Debut Author Challenge that I am participating in and the cover was one in which I couldn't resist.
What is this book about?
A seventeen year old girl named Nikki Beckett has spent a decade 'feeding' Cole in the Everneath. Once that decade is over she is given the choice to stay with Cole or be sent to the tunnels. Nikki chose neither but to Return to reality to see Jack, the one person she could never erase from her mind. In doing so she has six months (before she is taken to the tunnels anyway) to say goodbye and perhaps find a way to change her outcome to prove that her decision was the right one.
My opinion...
If you were giving the opportunity to have all of your pain taken away would you take it? Even if there were consequences to these actions? In a way it seems that Nikki is forced into this situation by Cole. She has the reasons to want this yet she still has something inside of her telling her that she should fight it.
The prologue of this book made me think that I wouldn't enjoy it. It seemed too far-fetched and there was something about the repetitive nature of Nikki's decade long disappearance (this being only six months in reality) that bugged me. It appears that in that decade that Nikki spent with Cole, all they did was lie next to each other and allow Cole to Feed? It just didn't make sense to me that this would be the case for that length of time yet at the same time you wonder what else would they do?
Cole's guitar playing is consistent and you can tell it is a significant part of Cole yet I find it extremely strange. It's like when he's around Nikki has a soundtrack to her life, however it's mainly on the occasions when he turns up in her bedroom. Is his guitar-playing not heard by 'normal' people? Surely, if he was playing a guitar within a short distance from Nikki's father, her father would be more suspicious than he already is of her return, no? From the start her father seems to be more Mayor than father but as the book goes on you find out why this is his reaction and how everything that has happened in the past year has affected him.
I was really unsure of Cole. One minute I liked him the next I didn't. I didn't know whether he would be a good guy or not. It just seemed like he was the way he was and there was no changing that whether he liked it or not. However, it would have been great to see him have a more interesting opinion on the matter. I guess I was the same about Nikki, she just seemed so vague to begin with.
Jack was my favourite character and I was quite disappointed that he was rarely mentioned in comparison to the rest of the characters in the first half of the book. Maybe it was the absence of him that made the heart grow fonder? Nonetheless I wanted to know more about him and felt a deep sympathy towards his reaction to Nikki's departure. Additionally, his connection with his brother Will was cute and just added to his many great qualities. Will brought humour into the equation of heartache and sorrow. Another great character was Mary, as soon as you hear of her you want to know her story and know that her role will be significant too.
I loved that the author had undertaken so much research to write this book. Although I don't know much about mythology it seems like everything is there waiting to be discovered and it is enticing making you want to know more. At first I felt that it was easy to put this book down but it soon came to a point where I was sucked in and couldn't wait to find out more which made this story an intriguing read! I hated the ended but I loved it at the same time and I just want that final statement to be answered.
If you enjoyed this book: what to read next...
A seventeen year old girl named Nikki Beckett has spent a decade 'feeding' Cole in the Everneath. Once that decade is over she is given the choice to stay with Cole or be sent to the tunnels. Nikki chose neither but to Return to reality to see Jack, the one person she could never erase from her mind. In doing so she has six months (before she is taken to the tunnels anyway) to say goodbye and perhaps find a way to change her outcome to prove that her decision was the right one.
My opinion...
If you were giving the opportunity to have all of your pain taken away would you take it? Even if there were consequences to these actions? In a way it seems that Nikki is forced into this situation by Cole. She has the reasons to want this yet she still has something inside of her telling her that she should fight it.
The prologue of this book made me think that I wouldn't enjoy it. It seemed too far-fetched and there was something about the repetitive nature of Nikki's decade long disappearance (this being only six months in reality) that bugged me. It appears that in that decade that Nikki spent with Cole, all they did was lie next to each other and allow Cole to Feed? It just didn't make sense to me that this would be the case for that length of time yet at the same time you wonder what else would they do?
Cole's guitar playing is consistent and you can tell it is a significant part of Cole yet I find it extremely strange. It's like when he's around Nikki has a soundtrack to her life, however it's mainly on the occasions when he turns up in her bedroom. Is his guitar-playing not heard by 'normal' people? Surely, if he was playing a guitar within a short distance from Nikki's father, her father would be more suspicious than he already is of her return, no? From the start her father seems to be more Mayor than father but as the book goes on you find out why this is his reaction and how everything that has happened in the past year has affected him.
I was really unsure of Cole. One minute I liked him the next I didn't. I didn't know whether he would be a good guy or not. It just seemed like he was the way he was and there was no changing that whether he liked it or not. However, it would have been great to see him have a more interesting opinion on the matter. I guess I was the same about Nikki, she just seemed so vague to begin with.
Jack was my favourite character and I was quite disappointed that he was rarely mentioned in comparison to the rest of the characters in the first half of the book. Maybe it was the absence of him that made the heart grow fonder? Nonetheless I wanted to know more about him and felt a deep sympathy towards his reaction to Nikki's departure. Additionally, his connection with his brother Will was cute and just added to his many great qualities. Will brought humour into the equation of heartache and sorrow. Another great character was Mary, as soon as you hear of her you want to know her story and know that her role will be significant too.
I loved that the author had undertaken so much research to write this book. Although I don't know much about mythology it seems like everything is there waiting to be discovered and it is enticing making you want to know more. At first I felt that it was easy to put this book down but it soon came to a point where I was sucked in and couldn't wait to find out more which made this story an intriguing read! I hated the ended but I loved it at the same time and I just want that final statement to be answered.
If you enjoyed this book: what to read next...
This book is part of a series. I haven't really read much on Greek Mythology and this book gives you an urge to read up on it especially the story of Orpheus and Eurydice!
