Just Finished Reading … Evertrue by Brodi Ashton

Evertrue (Everneath #3)
by Brodi Ashton
To be published on January 21, 2014
by Balzer + Bray

Source: Thanks to the amazing Lauren of Love is Not a Triangle for lending me her ARC :)

Warning: There are inevitable spoilers for books one and two in the blurb below and in my review. NO spoilers for Evertrue.

Summary from Goodreads: Now that Nikki has rescued Jack, all she wants is to be with him and graduate high school. But Cole tricked Nikki into feeding off him, and she’s begun the process of turning into an Everliving herself... which means she must feed on a Forfeit soon — or die. Terrified for her survival, Nikki and Jack begin a desperate attempt to reverse the process using any means possible. Even Cole, who they expected to fight them at every turn, has become an unlikely ally — but how long can it last? Nikki needs to feed on Cole to survive, Cole needs Nikki to gain the throne in the Everneath, Jack needs Nikki because she is everything to him — and together, they must travel back to the Underworld to undo Nikki’s fate and make her mortal once more. But Cole isn’t the only one with plans for Nikki: the Queen has not forgotten Nikki’s treachery, and she wants her destroyed for good. Will Nikki be forced to spend eternity in the Underworld, or does she have what it takes to bring down the Everneath once and for all?

My thoughts:  Could 2014 be the year of the satisfying trilogy ending? I hope so! Like Into the Still Blue, I think Evertrue offers up a series conclusion that will please fans and readers.

As I was sitting down to think about these books, it occurred to me that I love the way they have evolved. To me, Everneath felt like classic paranormal romance, complete with angst, an almost love triangle, and endless longing. Then Everbound switched things up quite a bit, offering up a cool underworld adventure capped off by a shocking betrayal.

In Evertrue, we get it the whole enchilada -- the romance and the scheming and the action and a little bit of angst and quite a bit of gallows humor, which I loved. What felt like a love triangle in the first book evolved into something much more complicated and interesting -- three people whose fates are intertwined and who have varying degrees of love and resentment and trust and distrust for one another. I want to keep this spoiler free, but this trio includes a character who's furious and bent on revenge, a character who's calm and steady, and a character who turns out to be a huge wild card, both plot-wise and relationship-wise. Watching them interact with one another kept me guessing and was my favorite part of the story.

I also loved the big twist at the end of Everbound, and loved the fact that Evertrue was also chock-full of victories and reversals, surprises and a-ha moments. I love a book that can have me laughing one minute (at a great safecracking scene) then cringing in disgust (beetles … eeewww… don't ask!) On one page I was sighing at a sweet romantic scene, and a few pages later biting my nails in suspense.

I wished that the dramatic showdown scene near the end of the book could have been drawn out just a little more, but all in all, I really enjoyed this one. If you've started the series, I think you'll be pleased with the way things wrap up. If you haven't, and you enjoy mythology themed books and underworld stories, you should definitely check this trilogy out!