Review of Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath
Author: Brodi Ashton
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 240
Source: NetGalley/Publisher
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★★

Summary from Goodreads: 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.

Greek Mythology is a huge trend right now in YA lit, and Brodi Ashton is the latest one to join the gang.  Everneath is a retelling/vamped up version of the story of Persephone.  Out of all the gods and goddess I'd choose to be, Hades and Persephone make the bottom of my list.  While I might not necessarily want to be them, but that doesn't mean their story is any less interesting.  In fact, it's quite intriguing because it deals with the Underworld or what Brodi Ashton calls the Everneath. 

Nikki went through what she thought was a traumatic experience and she wanted the pain to go away, so she decided to go to the Everneath to get all her feelings and emotions sucked away by Cole.  There was a lot going on in Nikki life at the time of her decision.  The driver of the car who killed her mother had just been found innocent, and there was a very cute and very popular girl trying to steal her boyfriend Jack.  I understand she's hurting, but she ends up jumping to conclusions and makes a decision that not only affects her but so many other people around her.  I felt like her decision was not only impulsive, but also very selfish.   

I'm not sure if it was the fact that Nikki was drained of all emotion but she felt really flat as a character for me.  In fact, I felt no real attachment to anyone in the story.  Cole is an interesting character, but we don't get to learn enough about him to become invested.  I did like Jack, but again I would have liked some more depth from him.  I actually enjoyed him more in Nikki's memories of before.  He seemed fun and full of life, then Nikki left and he fell apart.

The story itself was intriguing and it was quite a mystery with Nikki trying to find a way to not get sucked back into the tunnels. The story was a little anticlimactic until the end, which by the way...I was not a fan of.  I understand why Brodi Ashton ended the novel how she did and it was a bit romantic, but that still doesn't mean I have to like it.  

I had high hopes for Everneath and while it didn't meet my expectations, I still did enjoy the story and it was fun to learn a little more Greek mythology.