Everneath by Brodi Ashton Book Review

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.

Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.

“Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.”

WOW! I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. I mean sure, I love retellings and Hades/Persephone is one of the most intriguing ones to me but Everneath blew me away!

The beginning was kind of odd but really exciting. You see, I thought the novel would start by showing how it was that Nikki came to be on the Everneath, her journey to escape and then her eventual return. However the story starts right in the middle of the action, when Nikki escapes Everneath and returns home knowing she has only six months before it claims her again.

We get to see right away the affects her disappearance had in her world, while she spent over a century on the Everneath, in the human world barely six months passed, leaving Nikki to face her family, her boyfriend and classmates as a very different person. Whispers arise, gossips and tales of her absence start to grow around Nikki as she tries to live her last six months on this earth while finding a way to explain what happened to her boyfriend Jack, the same one she escaped the Everneath for.

I loved every aspect of the Everneath, this dark and complex world the author has created was incredible and it was so fun to discover new aspects and structures.

Nikki was a good character, though with how Cole had “sucked” her feelings she was a bit stiff at first, and I wished we had seen more about her family and friends, about how they adapted to her being back after so long instead of focusing on the love story. Her relationship with jack… well, it wasn’t so great for me, I didn’t hate but I didn’t love it either especially after we learn why it was that Nikki sought Cole and got caught up in this mess.

Cole, I loved him! I was honestly expecting to hate him after all he did and took Nikki all the way to the Everneath to kill her, but I guess that was why I liked him, because I wasn’t expecting him to be a saint. We already know he is the bad guy, and it's not like he would be super good considering what he does, and yet he was a fun and complex character to read about, definitely my favourite.

Now I’m really looking forward to reading the next books in the trilogy and learn more about this world and the characters! *Cough* Cole *Cough*

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.







My rating: 5/5

“It’s a rare day indeed when someone thanks you for bringing them to their death.” 

This is by far one of the easiest five stars I have ever given.

Little I can say and praise A Court Of Thorns And Roses without spoiling it entirely, suffice it to say it’s one of those books that stays with you for a long time after you have read them, not just for its characters and its story, but for the message behind it.

Forgive me if I’m getting a bit emotional but in my defense this book is to blame. I know ACOTAR is marked as NA for its sexy scenes, but what really defined it for me as meant for an adult audience were the trials and what Feyre has to go through, which as I said, I can’t spoil.

I saw reviews before I started reading that claimed ACOTAR could be a bit boring or slow in its pace, and after trying it out for myself I can say I understand why that could happen (or at least I can say I understand why it happened to me) and here is my little attempt at explaining why that could be.

The book starts with Feyre hunting in the woods, her family is poor and it is during winter that they suffer the hunger the most, that is what led her to walk deeper into the forest and closer to the wall that separates the human world from Prythian, the Fae realm that was separated from them after the war in which humans gained their freedom. The treaty is what keeps the Fae from attacking, and the wall is made as a safety that no human could be dragged to their lands against their will.

While hunting, Feyre comes across a fairy in the form of an enormous wolf. Afraid for her life and enraged by centuries of their oppression, she kills him and skins him off his fur. However, and unaware to her there was a rule in the treaty that prevents humans from taking Fae lives unprovoked, and as a Fae beast finds her he gives her a choice. Feyre can either die by his hand and repay the life she took with her own, or she can live in Prythian for the rest of her life.

So she chooses to die. The end.

Nah I’m just kidding, but here is where the fun begins and also where the confusion and slow pace starts.

You see, when Feyre arrives she has no one to trust, no idea of what to do and no chance to really do anything.

She can’t talk or pretty much trust any fairy since they all want her dead, remember humans used to be slaves. She can’t go back to her home, since the rules says she can either stay or die, and even if she managed to escape there are other fairies out of the state that would gladly kill her, slowly and painfully. But there are people who could kill her just for being there and… you see where the problem lays.

At this point in the book is where things start to get messy because virtually any choice will get her killed or her family and as the secrets around her get thicker, Feyre is more confused than ever. This is where the novel gets slower and I promise it will all make sense eventually, but right at that point the confusion is necessary.

I was surprised, however at how Nesta and her family was dealt with, and that shows Sarah j. Mass gifted ability when it comes to characters.

This was my first book by Sarah J. Mass, and after reading it I'm not only looking forward to the sequel (There's no date, no title or cover?? Why??!!) but also to her other books, Throne of Glass here I come!

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...





My rating: 5/5

“There is no ideal world for you to wait around for. The world is always just what it is now, and it's up to you how you respond to it.”

When I first came across this book it was during the whole Twilight hype, and I’ll admit that what got me into it was a twisted sense of morbid curiosity, since one mistaken comment had said Warm Bodies was just as that vampire book, but with zombies.

I’ll be honest, I have never given much thought to zombies, though I know they are a big part of North American culture, I didn’t care for zombie movies or theories and stuff, so I really went into Warm Bodies just to see how rotten and brain eating creatures were made into love interests.

As I said, morbid curiosity.

But as I started going through the pages something strange happened, I started loving it. I loved R and his dilemma with being a zombie, how he couldn’t remember his life from before and how he tried to understand what was happening in the world around him. The author has an unique way to put his thoughts into words and the writing style is still, after so many years, one of my favourites so far.

The thing was, when I got to the love story, well it was beautiful. There was no insta-love or forced chemistry, Julie was a character that stood out on her own, she didn’t need a love interest to make her important, I loved her and her strength, her insecurities and flaws, she was beautiful because of that and R could see it. I also loved her best friend and, particularly how they met! It’s so nice to see two girls becoming friends instead of pinning against each other for some guy, I’m still to find another book like that.

I got into Warm Bodies because of my masochistic curiosity, and I ended up with one of my favourite books of all time. It’s definitely worth a read! And re-read, and re-re-read!!!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?







My rating: 2.5/5

I… I don’t know what happened.

I wanted to love this book, I was sure The Forest of Hands and Teeth was going to be a wonderful read for me, just look at that premise! All of my friends had given it glowing five-stars reviews! And I was looking forward to a good mystery/thriller but, unfortunately this story was a disappointment.

Everything from the world building to the characters was flat and unimpressive. I wanted to know what was going on, what was the big mystery surrounding the Forest and why people haven’t seen the sea anymore, but that wasn’t thanks to the reading no, instead of delving into the story or an actual plot, it focused on a love story that had no place in the narrative whatsoever.

Mary was a poor character; there is simply no other way to say this. She has no personality, nothing to separate her from the rest of the mindless cast except her desire to see the sea, and yet she is supposed to be the one to question the Sisterhood, the odd one who knows there is something wrong with this world. She was selfish, betrayed her best friend with her fiancé on the basis that “She loved him more”, she hates her friend because she is nicer than her and yet has the nerve to say she is better than her for… some reason? Don’t even get me started on the love story, if Mary wasn’t boring before imagine having to hear her whining about how she can’t be with the boy she loves (who is btw two-timing between Mary and her best friend, despite Mary’s praises of what a great guy he is).

The story did not move forward and I wanted to put the book down more than once, a book that is supposed to be a thriller! Where was the excitement? The thrill? The Forest of Hands and Teeth simply kept delving into the mindless details of a teenager that I couldn’t care less about. I wanted action, suspense; I wanted not to be able to put the book down and yet… I didn’t care, about any of it.

This simply didn’t work out for me.

Evernight by Caludia Gray

Bianca wants to escape. 

At the eerily Gothic Evernight Academy, the other students are sleek, smart, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

When she meets handsome, brooding Lucas he warns her to be careful--even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between them can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart...and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.









My rating: 3.5/5

Evernight is a difficult book for me to rate, I read it a couple of years ago, and it was the first series a friend recommended to me. Back in the day (I was 16, so weird!) I loved it, and devoured every book in one go. It's important to mention that i had just discovered that books could actually be enjoyable rather than school assignments, that's right I had never read a book for pleasure before *gasps* and the first book I loved had been Twilight *double gasps*, needless to say that, as I grew older and my knowledge expand more my tastes changed, and so did my thoughts on this series of books. Hence my predicament when writing this review, should I write what I thought back then or what I think now?
Eventually, I settled for both:

Evernight is about Bianca, a girl who, thanks to her parents' new job as teacher in the Evernight school, she has now to live and study there, complete with a new popular roommate that doesn’t get along with shy Bianca. But before her first day of school, when she tries to escape she meets Lucas, he’s kind, funny and strangely mysterious, and soon the two of them will be caught up in the mysteries lying inside of the Evernight academy.

At first, I didn’t like Bianca very much. she spent her entire life with her parents, never had any friends or get to know a lot of people, and so her whole life revolved around being their daughter, she was their child and Bianca was happy living a kind of spoiled life, her parents showered with gifts and attention, she was their world but, when they decide to take her to Evernight so she can be with people her own age, Bianca cries and whinnes about the injustice of it all, she doesn't have her parents' undivided attention and that pissed her off, sending her to try and escape before the first day in an attempt at rebeldy that quickly dies out. She was immature, selfish and afraid, and it didn't exactly made me love her.

The romance between her and Lucas was fun at times, because it let us see a different side of Bianca, more mature and respectful, but it was also very intense for kids their age, and they barely knew each other which made the romance a bit hard to believe. Bianca and Lucas are always calling themselves "Mine" You are mine. He's mine. I'm yours. A whole bunch of possessive stuff that didn't suit very well with me, they were just kids!

There is a plot twist that I didn’t see coming, and although it was shocking and I loved it back then, now I’m not such a fan of it. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but I prefer when the mysteries are treaded carefully into the plot and once the twist occur you can go back and see how it all ties neatly together, how the clues were always there and suddenly it all makes sense. This book treats the twist differently, it takes the rug from under you in one swift movement and everything you knew changes. In order for this to happen, information, crucial information is kept from the reader.

I think this is a really good book about vampires that can entertain many, but the characters and some of the plots didn’t suit very well with me.

Alienated by Melissa Landers Book Review

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

My rating: 3/5

This book wasn’t all that bad, but it was like drinking water when you wanted to drink juice; it’s not horrible but a little disappointing.

Cara is excited, she is going to be one of the few students allowed in an exchange programm that will let them meet first-handed the world of the L'eihr. but when her world is submerged into anti-alien madness, her partner Aelyx, cold, and infuriatingly gorgeous might become her only friend... and a little more than that.

Everything in the book was ok, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It’s the same formula we have seen over and over in so many YA books before, and the writing style, characters or world building are nothing out of this world (what a lame pun) to make this story stand out from the crowd.

The aliens had, despite being, you know, ALIENS, the exact same life style, social structure and culture we do and you could forget you were reading about a fantasy novel without problems.

The characters were alright, Aelyx was a little hard to decipher and it was fun to try and find out the mystery surrounding him and his people. Cara was a decent narrator and MC too, but I wish she had had a bit more spirit and spunk.

In the end the story was ok, fun at times and a bit boring at others.

Where'd You Go, By Maria Semple Book Review

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.



My rating: 5/5

“A little social anxiety never hurt anyone, right?”

Where’d you Go is a heart-warming and satirical story about a mother and a daughter and their life in the suburbs.

Bee is an A’s student, not surprise considering her architect mother and Microsoft employee father. She’s bright and funny and so her mother Bernadette would do anything for her, even if that means sending her to a private school with elitists parents and living in a neighbourhood with all too demanding neighbours. Bernadette has always struggled with social anxiety but has managed not to view it as something bad or to fix and rather a part of herself to deal with like any other. But when her daughter asks for a trip to Antarctica and her husband starts planning an “intervention” to help his wife with his mental issues, the artist and mother can’t take it anymore and so she disappears leaving her daughter in a quest to discover where she went to.

I loved, loved this book! It was such a fun perspective from a social anxious person and how people responded around her, some people loved her, others catalogued her as “weird” or simply rude always taking into account their feelings before her needs. There was a sarcastic undertone to every page that I loved, and I found myself laughing more than once.

The first part is composed by Bee’s collection of emails and information about her mother in an attempt to share her story, and it was a good way to present this story of a girl searching for her mother, even if other people didn’t understand her or thought Bernadette was simply never coming back.

“Mom disappears into thin air two days before Christmas without telling me? Of course it’s complicated. Just because it’s complicated, just because you think you can’t ever know everything about another person, it doesn’t mean you can’t try.

It doesn’t mean I can’t try.”

She was a very mature girl for her age, and because she knew her mother so well it was what made this story all the better. Bee doesn’t blame Bernadette for her issues or resents the fact that she doesn’t go outside, they have a relationship of unconditional love and understanding that most families would hope for, while still maintaining and accepting their flaws.

Definitely one of my favourites this year, Maria Semple knows how to write wonderful characters and leave a profound message with a sharp sense of humor.