[Review] The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Title: The Wrath and the Dawn

Author: Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Published: May 12th, 2015

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Format: Hardcover, 388 pages

One Life to One Dawn.
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.

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Review

My thoughts:

This book was a hype-monster! Everyone and their mother had read it and loved it by the time I picked it up, so my expectations going into it were pretty high. 

Perhaps it was precisely for that reason that I felt a little disappointed going into it. I found the beginning to be quite slow and I had a hard time trying to connect with the characters. To be completely honest I think I didn't get the world at first... the cultural ambience was new for me and I felt overwhelmed by it at the start; the names drove me insane because I couldn't remember them and then there were too many names and roles starting with K and J for me to actually keep track of who was who or what. 

So I actually had to stop and go read something else before I started hating on the book just because I wasn't getting it. Thankfully, when I came back to it, things started to pick up and after two or three chapters I went from not caring to being unable to put the book down. 

The story is about a girl named Shahrzad whose best friend, Shiva, had to marry and then was killed by the king of Khorasan. But Shiva is only one of many brides that the king has taken and killed merely a night after the wedding, so Shahrzad takes it upon herself to end this cycle of death and find out why the king is killing his wives and hopefully, find a way to make him pay for all the pained he's caused. But in order to do that, she has to volunteer as the next bride and do whatever it takes to stay alive every dawn. 

I loved Shahrzad strategy for staying alive: telling the king a never ending story so he would let her live each night in order to finish it. I've never read the original A Thousand and One Nights, but I more or less know what it's about and I really enjoyed Ahdieh's take on it. At first I thought it was going to be like the center of the story as if it were a retelling, but it wasn't the case. The plot had a mind of its own and it moved forward without the help of the stories after a while. 

Once I got past the initial confusion, it was quite clear for me that the characters were complex, especially Khalid and Shazi. Both of them were multidimensional and had light and shadow within them, which made it hard for me to make up my mind about them. Mot of the time I was reading, I didn't know if I actually liked them or not,  or if I wanted them to fall in love and be together or if I would rather for Shazi to stick to her original plan, but in the end I was rooting for them.

The secondary characters were interesting too. I loved Jalal, with his lightheartedness and ready sarcasm at every occasion, no matter if he was talking to an inferior or to the Caliph himself. I didn't care for Tariq all that much, but I liked his friend, Rahim. 

The one thing I never quite got in the story was the way magic worked. Who had the magic? Was it something you inherited? Was it something you could learn? Was its existence common knowledge or only people from certain circles knew about it? I would've liked to learn more about it since it seemed to matter a great deal to the story.

Overall, I liked it and I would like to read the next one, but it was a tough one to get into. I wish the amazingness that went down near the end could've lasted more. I felt like when I was finally coming to terms with the way of things and I thought that everything was right with the world, the whole thing just exploded on my face, and truly, the ending kind of broke my heart. I'm really hoping that in the next book we'll get back somehow, to that perfect place where we  were before everything went to hell. Fingers crossed!

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About the author

Renee Ahdieh lives in North Carolina (Go Heels!) with her husband Victor and their dog Mushu. Her YA fantasy novel, THE WRATH AND THE DAWN, is available wherever books are sold. In her spare time, she likes to cook, dance salsa, and wreak havoc on the lives of her characters.

She's also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, as well as an active member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

[Mini-Review] The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall

Title: The Conspiracy of Us

Author: Maggie Hall

Series: The Conspiracy of Us #1

Genre: YA Contemporary Mystery/Thriller

Published: January 13th, 2015

Publisher: Putnman Juvenile

Format: Hardcover, 336 pages

A fast-paced international escapade, laced with adrenaline, glamour, and romance--perfect for fans of Ally CarterAvery West's newfound family can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace, and can just as easily order a bombing when they want to start a war. Part of a powerful and dangerous secret society called the Circle, they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy. Some want to use her as a pawn. Some want her dead.To unravel the mystery putting her life in danger, Avery must follow a trail of clues from the monuments of Paris to the back alleys of Istanbul with two boys who work for the Circle—beautiful, volatile Stellan and mysterious, magnetic Jack. But as the clues expose a stunning conspiracy that might plunge the world into World War 3, she discovers that both boys are hiding secrets of their own. Now she will have to choose not only between freedom and family--but between the boy who might help her save the world, and the one she's falling in love with.

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Review

My thoughts:

This is Maggie Hall's debut novel and the first installment in a series and I thought it was pretty great overall. It's marketed as a mixture between Dan Brown and Ally Carter, both of them authors that I love so kind of big shoes to fill in. I could see some elements of both authors, sure, but the plot wasn't as thick as Dan Brown's books and the main character is not as bad-ass as Ally Carter's characters usually are. 

But even if it wasn't absolutely perfect, it was a really fun read and it kept me on the edge of my seat with anticipation throughout. The plot is well-done and the clues and revelations move it forward flawlessly.

The main character, Avery, was not my favorite, she was a little too erratic for my taste, and the love interest wasn't my cup of tea either, but they make kind of nice pairing. What made the characters department, at least for me, were the interesting secondary characters, like Stellan and Luc. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Stellan in the next book!

Another aspect of this book that I enjoyed were the romantic scenes, they were really well-paced and you could feel the sexual tension while reading them, without them being too forward or feeling rushed. 

Overall, this was a great debut novel for the author nd I'll be sure to pick up the next one on this series.

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About the author

Maggie Hall is a traveling, decorating, champagne-drinking, USC-football-watching YA author. She is currently traveling the world for an indefinite amount of time with her husband, which means right at this moment, she might be on a beach in Thailand, drinking wine in Paris, or anywhere in between.
Her debut novel, a YA international thriller, was released from Putnam/Penguin in 2015.She is represented by Claudia Ballard at William Morris Endeavor.

[Review] Goddess by Josephine Angelini

Goddess by Josephine Angelini
Starcrossed #3
Published May 28th, 2013
HarperTeen
Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count.To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores.In Josephine Angelini’s compelling conclusion to the masterfully woven Starcrossed trilogy, a goddess must rise above it all to change a destiny that’s been written in the stars. With worlds built just as fast as they crumble, love and war collide in an all-out battle that will leave no question unanswered and no heart untouched.

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Review

My thoughts:

Warning: This is the third and last installment in the Starcrossed trilogy. If you haven't read the previous books in this series, I strongly advice you to go read them first before reading this review, because you might get spoiled. 

This is a decent conclusion to the amazing world of Starcrossed. And that is precisely what I always loved most about this series, the world and the mythology element surrounding the story which is predominant in this last book to my delight.

This installment focuses primarily in figuring out the ancient prophecy that's been repeating itself for several Scion generations. So, our characters are trying to find out who the hell is the Tyrant and which of the other roles the rest of them have to play. The other roles available besides the Tyrant are: The Hero, the Lover, The Shield, and The Warrior.

This series was always kind of different for me, because I think this is the first time that I really enjoy a trilogy where I find the main characters kind of unappealing and unintentionally funny. The thing is that every plot line surrounding the mythology and the prophecies was great, but every time the plot took a turn for the development of a character and such I found it absurd. 

For example, how in the world is it possible that no one in the whole Delos family is capable of doing math! Lucas and Helen could've been together at least since the middle of book 2, but oh no! They're all too busy to do math and figure out that it's impossible for them to be cousins. If you have time to brush your teeth, you have time to do simple math, no excuses! 

Then, there's Jason, who used to be one of my favorite characters in book one, now he HAS to be bipolar, because I can't find any other explanation for his behavior. In book one, he was the nicest, in book two he wanted nothing to do with Helen for no apparent reason, and now he's pissed because other people are pulling apart from Helen and can't understand how they can call themselves their friends. REALLY? Make up your mind, goddammit!

And what is it with Lucas and Helen that they absolutely love each other, but can't spare a freaking minute to actually talk about what they're going to do, and both have to rush to do something incredible stupid without listening to the other first. It's ridiculous! Half of their problems would've been solved in like book one if they just talked to each other.

And of course, the insta-love justified by the prophecies is everywhere. Now Hector and Cassandra fall in love after a few glances with their respective "significant other", because that's totally how love works...

And the parenting... good God! I don't think you could make one decent parent even if you combine Daphne, Castor, Palas and Deadalus together. They all suck.

But whatever, I didn't even care about the messed up dynamics between them, I only cared about the big battle and the fulfillment of the big prophecy. But even then it wasn't really that amazing. The solution was way too easy for my liking and Helen grew to be nearly invincible without her doing anything which didn't help her at all as a character, because she already had that "Mary Sue" quality to begin with.

Normally I would rate this lower, because there's only so much the world building can do for you when you hate the characters, but in this case I just found everything kind of funny, the things the characters did and say were so ridiculous that I couldn't help but laugh. I know this is not supposed to be a "funny book" but I enjoyed it that way nonetheless, and that's what's important, right?

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About the author

Josephine Angelini is a Massachusetts native and the youngest of eight siblings. She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in theater, with a focus on the classics. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband.

[Review] Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales

Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales
Published September 15th, 2015
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Young Adult Contemporary

Premise:From the author of This Song Will Save Your Life comes a funny and relatable book about the hazards of falling for a person you haven't met yet.Seventeen-year-old Arden Huntley is recklessly loyal. Taking care of her loved ones is what gives Arden purpose in her life and makes her feel like she matters. But she's tired of being loyal to people who don't appreciate her—including her needy best friend and her absent mom. Arden finds comfort in a blog she stumbles upon called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours," the musings of a young New York City writer named Peter. When Peter is dumped by the girlfriend he blogs about, Arden decides to take a road trip to see him.During one crazy night out in NYC filled with parties, dancing, and music—the type of night when anything can happen, and nearly everything does—Arden discovers that Peter isn't exactly who she thought he was. And maybe she isn't exactly who she thought she was, either.

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Review

My thoughts:

I'm so sad that this book wasn't what I was expecting... I was highly anticipating its release for months and now I just feel a little deflated. It wasn't the worst I've read, but it wasn't satisfying either. 

The story starts off really slow and at first it goes from present to past to "distant" past to present again, which was a little bit confusing but I was still following. Then there's a lot of nothingness. like a good 150 pages of nothingness. Then things starts happening (finally), and for a second it was all kind of okay and there everything went to hell and we end up pretty much where we started. (Spoiler: plus a message about love, minus a boyfriend. Select the text if you want to read it).

The premise of this book sounds way better than it actually is and I completely fell for it. I'm going to make a comparison of my expectations going into the book (from the premise described in Goodreads) vs what the book actually was, so I can explain my disappointment to you. But beware, knowing what to actually expect from this story might be the biggest spoiler. 

What I expected: An effortlessly kind main character who loves her friends and family and does what she can to make them happy, because it's just what comes natural to her. 

What I got: A main character, Arden, who feels the need to point out every single time she's been kind to someone and bitching about how they don't appreciate how nice she is and complaining that she can't do anything but being nice, because that's the only thing that's special about HER, so they better notice that she's unbelievably kind! 

What I expected: A best friend who was needy and always asking for favors of our main character and our main character always saying yes, because of their friendship.

What I got: This is not how friendship works! Arden was always coming to Lindsay's rescue just because that made her feel important, not even because Lindsey ever asked anything of her or that she really needed her to save the day every time! I'll admit that Lindsay was always getting herself in trouble, she never asked Arden to help her get out of it, I didn't even feel like she expected her to do it, but the problem was that she let Arden save her ass over and over again, no matter what the consequences were for her friend. So, overall, we have two pretty crappy friends, in my opinion: one doesn't know how to say "thank you, but I made a stupid decision, so I'll be the one to deal with it" and the other one was always just waiting for her friend to screw up so she could save the day and feel better about herself. The whole relationship seemed unhealthy to me, but what bothered me the most was Arden being extremely patronizing towards her so called BFF, like she was so superior... Aghh!

What I expected: The blog platform taking a central spot during the story, because that's what made this book so appealing in the first place. 

What I got: Bits and pieces of blogging here and there in the midst of an ocean of whinnying from the main character. 

What I expected: An actual relationship between the main character and the blogger.

What I got: Arden stalking Peter for more than half the book. Peter didn't even know she existed -because she never even left a comment in the blog- until she shows up at his workplace on a whim, after being disappointed (yet again) by her boyfriend.  Here's her reasoning: "Peter just broke up with the love of his life, he doesn't know it yet, because he doesn't know me at all, but he needs me, not just anyone, but ME. So I must drive over six hours in my car that is barely holding itself together to get to New York, without telling anyone but my friend (who's coming with me, by the way, because she doesn't answer to her parents...) where I'm going"... Flawless logic! Especially considering he could turn out to be a psychopath!

What I expected: Peter, having a secret or being slightly different that he appeared, but overall still a decent guy.

What I got: Peter being a complete self-centered, entitled asshole who had lied his way into getting a fan base and a publishing contract.

What I expected: A few of the supporting characters being kind of selfish and self-involved but that being okay, because nobody is perfect.

What I got: Every single person in Arden's life being completely and utterly self-centered. Her dad, her best friend, her mom, her boyfriend, freaking Peter, and of course, HERSELF!

So... when I say this wasn't what I was expecting, I absolutely mean it. 

My lowest rating is 1/5, and I seriously considered giving it just that, but I'm giving an extra point because, at the end, the main character seemed to realize that her behavior wasn't right even though to me, she still sounded as if she was doing it for everyone else and not just for herself.

“I used to think that loving somebody meant sacrificing anything for them. I thought it meant writing them a blank cheque. I thought it meant that you would die without each other. But it turns out that death and a broken heart are not he same.

These days, I think that love is not so dramatic as all that. Maybe loving somebody means simply they bring out the best in you, and you bring out the best in them - so that together, you are always the best possible versions of yourselves.” 

Overall, and simply put, I would not recommend it.

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About the author

Leila Sales was born in 1984 and grew up outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in psychology in 2006. Now she lives in Brooklyn, New York, and works in the mostly glamorous world of children's book publishing. Leila spends most of her time thinking about sleeping, kittens, dance parties, and stories that she wants to write. 

[Review] The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass #0.1-0.5
Published March 4th, 2014
Bloomsbury Childrens
Young Adult Fantasy

Premise:

Contains all five novellas.

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

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Review

My thoughts:

If you ever want to know more about Sam and the way his relationship with Celaena started, this is the book you'll want to pick up. There's five stories in chronological order, so it's seems like a whole prequel book and not just bits and pieces. In these stories we follow Celaena's adventures before she got captured and shipped to Endovier, we get to see her falling in love with Sam and making her first attempts at friendship while still being a bad-ass assassin. 

If you are following the Throne of Glass series but haven't read this book, I strongly recommend for you to do so before getting into Queen of Shadows, because there are a lot of references and characters that pop-up in both books and it'll give you a better understanding of Celaena's feelings and action in the fourth book of this series.

Now, I'll be getting into a brief account of my feelings and impressions of each of the five stories:

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

In this story we get to see the beginning of the relationship between Celaena and Sam. They had met long before this adventure took place, but they start to see each other in a different light during the events in this story. They are both sent by Arobynn to see the Pirate Lord, thinking they're trying to avenge a fellow assassin, but as always, Arobynn is playing games with them and turns out they're there for completely different reasons. 

I loved the banter between Celaena and Sam. Celaena was pretty bratty at sixteen but still funny and sassy and snarky and Sam didn't know what to do with her. It reminded me a lot of the early days in Celaena's relationship with Chaol, with the whole "I'm going to kill you in your sleep, but not really" thing they got going on. I'll admit it wasn't what I was expecting between those two, because of the way Celaena always talked about Sam... I don't know it's hard to imagine them being even less than friends at some point, but I guess they had to start somewhere. 

The Celaena we get in this stories, especially this one and the next is noticeably younger or at least more immature, but she still has that quality to her which won't let her turn a blind eye on the cruelty and awfulness of others. Still the same bad-ass with a heart of gold. 

The Assassin and the Healer

Here's a bit of the aftermath of what happened in the previous story. Celaena is on her way to the Red Dessert and she's royally pissed off when she stumbles upon a tavern in the middle of nowhere, where she stays while waiting for the ship that will take her to her final destination. You could tell she was just looking for an excuse to cause trouble and she gets it. 

In this story we get Celaena's POV and also Yrene's POV. Yrene is kind of a maid (?) I don't know how to describe her but she works at this tavern and her boss is an asshole. She was supposed to be a healer before the King of Adarlan banished magic from the continent and her mother got caught when they were looking for magic wielders, leaving her an orphan. 

The brief relationship between Yrene and Celaena is unlike any other that I've seen in this whole series. The way Celaena tried to empower Yrene so she could finally do what she always wanted was pretty great to witness. It shows that even if she's cocky and bratty and an assassin she hasn't lost herself as much as she think she has. 

I think maybe Yrene is the healer that was mentioned at the end of Queen of Shadows, it would make sense that her story is mentioned here if she was going to appear later on the series... But we'll see. 

The Assassin and the Desert

This was me when finishing this story: "Shut up, Sarah J. Maas. Just SHUT IT! Why do you have to break my heart in every one of your books, EVERY SINGLE ONE! You manage to toy with my emotions even in short stories. I should hate you... but you're so brilliant..." 

In this story Celaena is finally arriving to the Red Desert to train with the Silent Assassins and it's all really intimidating at first, but after a while it seems like everything was really different than what Celaena was expecting. She even meets a girl, Ansel, who she tries to befriend and it's actually kind of funny seeing Celaena trying to get along for a change. 

While being at the Red Desert, Celaena meets a couple of characters I would like to see again in the next books in this series. Like the master's son and the master himself, and maybe even that guy from the market with the spider silk. 

But then came the heartbreak and the pain and with that I got the answers to many questions I had about Celaena's past. For example, I always wondered how Celaena managed to pay her debt to Arobynn. I guess now I know... 

The Assassin and the Underworld

My first thought: That's where the strange deadly suit is from! 

My second thought: If you thought your heart was broken in the previous story, you're in for a treat. 

Celaena is back in Rifthold and Arobynn is showering her with presents trying to get her to forgive him for some really messed up stuff he did to her before. And those presents include a high profile contract to assassinate two men and get some really important documents. But you know Arobynn... he doesn't do anything if it's not completely calculated and everything is part of his sick twisted game of power. I despise that worthless bastard! If I didn't get it before, I mean how deeply the evilness went with Arobynn, now I have no doubt that he could be the most awful character ever. Because... Holy shit! My heart broke in so many little pieces for Celaena. This story makes it unbelievably hard to understand some of the decisions Celaena made on Queen of Shadows, although not in a bad way. Let me try to explain it: Arobynn is much worse than I'd ever imagined, he deserved far worse than what he got. If I were Celaena I think I wouldn't have been able to help myself. I would have killed him, slowly and in the most painful way possible and then  I would have danced over his grave with unfathomable joy until I couldn't move my legs anymore. I don't know how Celaena managed to be kind of the "better person" after everything this man did to her. 

But... not everything was so terrible. Sam and Celaena are working together again and they're flirting and romance and it's really adorable and heartbreaking between those two, which only made me dread the last story more, because we all know what happens with Sam...

If you haven't read Throne of Glass, get out of here right this second because what's coming will spoil you. 

The Assassin and the Empire

This is the story of how Celaena got thrown into Endovier. Knowing how it all ends doesn't help one bit. I could feel my heart shattering bit by bit through the horrors that Celaena and Sam had to endure. The dread at every step of the way was unreal... I was at odds with myself. Why in the hell am I dreading what I already know it's going to happen? But my heart kept beating harder and harder and I had to force myself to keep reading because clearly I was being irrational, but oh... the betrayal hurt as if I hadn't known about it beforehand and I was screaming: "No, Celaena, don't go! It's a fucking trap!" Even though it makes no sense, because if that hadn't happened there would be no Throne of Glass or any of the others books. But I just couldn't help it. 

I just love this series, I don't know what am I going to do with myself until the next book is out. Specially since this one left me with so much sadness in my heart... 

I think I'm going to re-read the whole series soon. 

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About the author

Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series (Queen of Shadows, Book 4, will be out in September 2015), as well as the A Court of Thorns and Roses series (out 5/5/15).

Sarah lives in Bucks County, PA, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much tea, and watches an ungodly amount of TV. When she's not busy writing, she can be found exploring the historic and beautiful Pennsylvania countryside with her husband and canine companion.

[Review] Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Everneath by Brodi Ashton
Everneath #1
Published July 24th, 2012 
Balzer + Bray
Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy

Premise:
Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she’s returned—to her old life, her family, 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 good-byes she can’t find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath 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 home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced 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 her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is 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 queen.

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Review

My thoughts:

Warning: This review contains a lot of sarcasm and a bit more than the usual amount of swear words. If you're easily offended by that kind of language maybe you should stay clear of this review. 

This was so not what I was expecting. This series is really popular and I've had the first book on my shelf for what seems like forever, so maybe I've been building up my expectations regarding this book for way too long.

The main problem I had while reading this book was that I spent at least half the time bored out of my mind because nothing was happening and for the life of me I couldn't come up with a single reason for me to care about the characters. The whole ambiance is really depressing and I had to force myself to keep reading in multiple occasions so it just felt like a chore to me. 

The world in this story is supposed to be a mixture between Greek and Egyptian mythology surrounding the Underworld or the Underneath as it's called here. It's kind of complicated and I don't fully understand how everything correlates to those ancient myths, because we only get explanations at the beginning and at the end of the book in a way that feels more like info-dump than true world development. Here's the basics of what I'm able to make out of it: The Underneath is kind of a parallel world where time goes much faster than in the real world, and where the immortal creatures live, the Everliving. But these "people" have found that the only way for them to obtain immortality is by feeding off of the emotions of the mortals. So, from time to time, the Everlivings have to take a Forfeit, which is like a human sacrifice of some sort. Most of the Forfeits die in the process, but a few of them manage to survive having lost most of themselves to the Feed, only if you are absurdly especial, you can manage to escape the Feed with your memories and some essential parts of yourself intact.  The survivors are given 6 months to return to the Surface (the real-contemporary world). When the 6 months are up they are taken back to the Tunnels, which is a part of the Underneath that acts kind of like a power station, where the humans are considered batteries of emotion for the Everlivings.

Nikki, the protagonist of this story, agreed to be taken to the Underneath so she could be free of the pain of her mother's death and the book starts right when she's being released from the Feed for her 6 months on the Surface. She is of course one of those ridiculously especial people who escapes the whole thing a little emotionally battered but otherwise still herself. This rare quality makes her really desirable, and the Everliving who took her as Forfeit, Cole, now wants her to become an Everliving and live with him in the Everneath. But Nikki, despite being emotionally drained, hasn't been able to let go of her former boyfriend, Jack, in all the time she spent in the Everneath, and she's determined to see him again before the Tunnels claim her back. 

First of all, I couldn't believe that after six months of being "away", Nikki's father watched her daughter come home and didn't even asked for an explanation about where she'd been all that time. Even if she left in the middle of a fight between them, you would think her father would've looked for her like a mad man and, of course, he would be relieved of having her back and unharmed, but at least you would think he would be pissed that she left without telling anyone, because that's just how parenting works. But no, he didn't even asked where she'd gone, which turned out to be really convenient since Nikki had no way of explaining it without getting herself committed to a mental health facility or lying her butt off. He is the major, for fuck sake! Someone in his position could have had the town turned inside out while looking for his daughter and at least, for the sake of appearances it's what everyone would've expected of him. But no, of course there's no mention of him actually ever looking for her. But now that she's back he's concerned about what others might think of him, so he makes her do community service because that looks good. WHAT? How does that make any sense!?

Now... Having Nikki drained of any emotion for half the book was a mixture between being completely and utterly depressed and trying to relate to a door at the same time. Yeah, painful and pointless. I could at least tell that she wasn't a terrible human being and was actually trying to do the right thing, but that is not nearly enough to make me care for her. 

Also, the book is written so the story goes back and forth between the present and the past which only confused me further. I think that if this was written in chronological order, maybe I would have had an easier time caring for the characters, but as it was, so convoluted and chopped up, I could barely tell if the plot was actually moving forward or not.

Cole, the Everliving that was trying to get Nikki to go with him to the Everneath, was the most annoying, self-serving bastard. Every girl wants him because he's a sexy musician and always looks so cool... Am I supposed to find sexy that he threatens to harm/kill Nikki's family if she doesn't do what he wants? Isn't it hot that he stalks her everywhere she goes? Am I supposed to believe he has feelings for her when he tries to screw her over every chance he gets so he can have what he wants? I hated him, and every time there was a hint at something happening between him and Nikki I was like: "If she actually falls for him, I'm SO done with this shit!"

Jack, Nikki's boyfriend was an okay dude, kind and patient but nothing especial, so I didn't fall for him either. Which left me with absolutely no characters to actually cheer for.

Overall, this was a huge disappointment. I believe this story had a lot of potential to be great, and that's what kept me reading until the end, but even if the concepts were unique and interesting ones, the execution didn't do justice to the ideas and the end result wasn't anywhere near what could have been. I respect that other people have found this book worth their time, but I would have rather spend my time reading something else. I can't say I'd recommend it, because it's just not my thing and I'm not going to continue this series.

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About the author

Brodi Ashton writes Young Adult novels. She lives for chocolate covered cinnamon bears. She loves Diet Coke. Her debut book EVERNEATH (the first in a trilogy) came out January 24, 2012 with Balzer and Bray (HarperCollins). The sequel EVERBOUND came out January 22, 2013 and the final installment, EVERTRUE, came out January of 2014. All three are available in paperback.