Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

This book is part of my 2013 TBR Pile Challenge.

---

Everneath
Brodi Ashton
Series: Everneath #1
Publication date: January 24th 2012 by HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads - Amazon

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.
< br/> 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.

Nikki has been away for a hundred years.

She made the choice to leave those she loved behind her when she decided to go to the Everneath. But when the option of coming back to the Surface and see her family and friends and her boyfriend once again was presented to her, she couldn't bring herself to say no.

Time passes differently to those who live in the Surface, and Nikki has been away for only six months when she crawls out of hell and back to earth. To say that reconnecting to the people she loves is hard is an understatement, but Nikki is determined to spend the last six months she has on earth with those she cares about before the Everneath claims her back.

But things aren't as easy as she thought they would be, not when Cole, the Everliving who took her to the Everneath in the first place, does everything in his power to try and convince her to go back with him. He wants to take over the throne and rule the Everneath, and he has no doubt in his mind that Nikki can help him make that happen.

Nikki's time is running out, and she finds herself faced with an impossible task: escape the claws of those trying to suck her back into the Everneath or accept her fate and come back down as Cole's queen and rule the underworld.

Eerneath was quite a fun read. It was heavy on mythology and with a non-linear timeline that gave us glimpses of the past and of how Nikki got herself into this mess as we went along. That also made the beginning a little bit confusing for me, because I had no idea who was supposed to be the bad guy and what the hell was happening (I didn't read the blurb before starting the book).

I got hooked in right from the beginning, trying to make sense of what was happening and how everything fit together. The author did a wonderful job with portraying Nikki's emotions and I really felt for her and what she was going through as I read the story.

Jack and Cole just made everything better, from Cole's manipulative ways to Jack's love for Nikki. They were total opposites of each other, and reading about their interactions with Nikki and with each other really brought something more to the book.

Nikki's resolve to keep things from people was one of the downsides of Everneath for me. It felt unnecessary, and every time she failed to mention something important to someone because she was too scared to do things the hard way I just wanted to shake her.

"I took the easy way out. I begged for the easy way out. Cole took the pain away, and I didn't care it would ruin everything in my life, because I was stupid enough to think I had nothing else to lose."

And that's Nikki's problem. And why it was so hard to relate to her and like her sometimes. Because even though she knows taking the easy way out ruined her life, she kept making the same mistakes because she didn't want to face people's hurts and reactions to what she'd have to tell them.

Everneath was still a good book, and it had an ending that, although predictable, still left me wanting to know more about Nikki, Jack, and Cole's stories. There were a lot of ties left loose, a lot of history to be explored, and I hope it all gets answered in the second installment of the Everneath series: Everbound.

Review: Parallel by Lauren Miller

This book is part of my 2013 Debut Author Challenge.

---

Parallel
Lauren Miller
Publication date: May 14th 2013 by HarperTeen
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads - Amazon

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

Abbi's life is spiraling out of her control.

She spent her entire high school career carefully planning her way into Northwestern so she could become a journalist, not leaving even the smallest detail in the hands of fate. That is, until one of the classes that form her perfect schedule gets canceled.

Forced to make a choice between drama or astronomy classes, Abbi decides to try her hand at theater and ends up getting the lead in one of her high school plays. Her performance is so good that, next thing she knows, she's stuck in a Hollywood movie set on the eve of her eighteenth birthday and kissing all of her college dreams goodbye. All because of one tiny choice she made all those months ago that she'd do anything to take it back.

And then she wakes up in her dorm room at Yale next to the roommate she never met and trying to figure out what happened.

With the help of her best friend, Caitlin, Abbi finds out that she's living in her alternate life. In a parallel universe where she took astronomy instead of theater and never got the opportunity to be a Hollywood movie star. But not only is she living the life of her parallel self, her parallel is living Abbi's senior year of high school and altering Abbi's life with every choice she makes.

As Abbi struggles with her ever-changing reality she has to learn that somethings are out of her control, that soulmates exist, and that all paths, no matter how wrong they seem, always lead to the same destiny. Her own.

Parellel was complicated.

The beginning can be extremely confusing if you're used to reading at lightning speed like I am. It took me about four chapters to decipher what the author was trying to tell me when the parallel universes were introduced to the story, much like I had absolutely no idea in what universe the real Abbi was in until about a third of the story.

Dr. Mann and Caitlin's explanations of what was going on actually helped a lot. They were fascinating, to say the least, and made the book a thousand times more enjoyable to me. The only reason Parallel is getting three stars is because of Dr. Mann's classes and Caitlin's science boner and how cool it and entertaining it was to read about it.

Because something had to entertain me, really, after all of the not knowing what was happening.

Plus, Abbi got on my nerves a lot. It's understandable that you're going to be a mess while trying to grasp the fact that you're stuck in a universe that's not yours while your other self is screwing up your life, but if it bothers you so much to be living a life that you didn't chose for yourself do something about it.

And that's the biggest problem of Parallel for me. Abbi, or should I say the plot, were entirely way too focused on the romantic relationships between characters than in actually trying to find a way for Abbi to go back to her rightful universe. 

What started out as a book about science fiction and the wonders of parallel universes and what makes them so differently unique ended up as a character's struggle to discover who was the right man for her. And I don't think we need parallel universes to figure that out, do we?

Waiting on Wednesday (5): Spirit by Brigid Kemmerer

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Spirit

Brigid Kemmerer

Series: Elemental #3

Publication date: May 28th 2013 by K Teen

Goodreads - Amazon

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…

As much as I love the Merrick brothers, I can't wait to read about Hunter!

I'm really excited about reading about the perspective of someone from the outside of the Merrick family, and the new powers that Hunter brings with him.

---

Can't wait to read Spirit?

Amazon

Breathless (Elementals #2.5) is a novella that gives us a little bit of insight into the world of Nick Merrick and the secret he's been hiding.

---

Connect with the author

Brigid's Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Brigid Kemmerer finds the time to write somewhere between caring for her family and working at her day job, but sometimes she ends up mothering her coworkers and managing her family. Storm: The Elemental Series is her first novel.

Review: Sweet Peril by Wendy Higgins

Sweet Peril
Wendy Higgins
Series: The Sweet Trilogy #2
Publication date: April 30th
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads - Amazon

Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she’d never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She’d been naive to make such a vow. She’d been naive about a lot of things. 

Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school’s party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there’s Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.

When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?

MY FAVORITE TRILOGY IS BACK! *jumps up and down*

I've been waiting so long for this that when I actually got my copy I might have cried a little bit. I was really nervous to read this because I thought Sweet Evil was just so freaking good and I didn't want to be disappointed in case this one didn't live up to it.

But guess what?

Sweet Peril is even better.

The book starts out with a prologue that gives us a little more background to the relationship the Dukes have with the Nephilims, and it kind of also gives us a really big scare. My first thought when I read it was that things were going to happen and they were going to hurt.

So after you start preparing yourself for the worst, the story picks up months after the ending of book 1 with Anna being completely different from the girl we read about on Sweet Evil. She's heartbroken and she's doing her best not to draw attention to herself, which means she's working. She's partying and drinking and leading people down to the rough road of self-destruction.

When she thinks things are finally settling down - as much as they can, anyway, when you're the daughter of a fallen angel and a Neph -, things take a really interesting turn. Suddenly, Anna finds herself traveling to foreign countries with Kopano and looking for allies to help her fulfill a prophecy that will have the entire world of angels, demons, and Nephs in chaos.

I cannot find the words to tell you how great this sequel was. It kept me hooked from the beginning until the very end, and it surprised me with all of its twists and turns along the way. The love triangle between Kai, Anna, and Kope was handled perfectly and made it for a believable plot aspect of the story. Anna and Kai's relationship or lack thereof and how it developed from him going away and then to what happens at the very end was also very well executed, and I'm just so happy with everything about it.

Wendy Higgins deserves all the cookies for giving us such an amazing story and characters to love, and I'll just sit here and quietly cry on my copies of Sweet Evil and Sweet Peril until the last installment comes out.

Waiting on Wednesday (4): Impostor by Susanne Winnacker

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Impostor

Susanne Winnacker

Series: Variants #1

Publication date: May 28th 2013 by Razorbill

Goodreads - Amazon

Can Tessa pose as Madison . . . and stop a killer before it’s too late? 

Tessa is a Variant, able to absorb the DNA of anyone she touches and mimic their appearance. Shunned by her family, she’s spent the last two years training with the Forces with Extraordinary Abilities, a secret branch of the FBI. When a serial killer rocks a small town in Oregon, Tessa is given a mission: she must impersonate Madison, a local teen, to find the killer before he strikes again. 

Tessa hates everything about being an impostor—the stress, the danger, the deceit—but loves playing the role of a normal girl. As Madison, she finds friends, romance, and the kind of loving family she’d do anything to keep. Amid action, suspense, and a ticking clock, this super-human comes to a very human conclusion: even a girl who can look like anyone struggles the most with being herself.

The premise on this one is really interesting?

The whole absorbing DNA thing and becoming someone else. And then working with the FBI to help catch serial killers.

And I can't wait to read about Tessa dealing with playing the part of Madison, being a normal girl for once, and then maybe learning how to accept herself for who she is?

---

Connect with the author
Susanne's Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Susanne Winnacker studied law before she became a full-time writer. She lives with her husband, a dog that looks like a sheep and three bunnies that have destroyed every piece of furniture she's ever owned in Germany. She loves coffee (in every shape and form), traveling and animals. When she isn't writing, you can usually find her in the kitchen, experimenting with new vegan dishes.

Review: Pivot Point by Kasie West

Pivot Point
Kasie West
Series: Pivot Point #1
Publication date: February 12th 2013 byHarperTeen
Rating: ★★★★☆

Goodreads - Amazon

Knowing the outcome doesn’t always make a choice easier . . .

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not.

In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

 Awe·some: adj. this book.

Addie has the ability to see the future. Well, sort of. The only future she can see is herself's, and only when presented with a choice. She has the ability to Search and see both outcomes of it, making her pretty good at avoiding any potential disasters or mistakes in her life.

Things change when her parents tell her they're getting a divorce, and suddenly she's faced with the choice of who she wants to live with - with her mom in the Compound and the only place she ever knew as home, or with her dad on the Outside with the "Norms", people who didn't have any special abilities. So when her best friend Laila tells her to do a Search to find out which path is best for her, Addie can't see why not. But as she comes back from her Search she's faced with a difficult choice - none of the futures she saw were particularly good ones.

Each chapter of the book tells you a story from one reality's perspective. One in which Addie still lives at home and is the quarterback's girlfriend and the other where she's adjusting to life outside of the Compound and meets Trevor, a cute boy with amazing artistic skills and a bad shoulder.

I have to give congrats to the author for this, because it was a pretty neat and interesting way to organize a book, and it kept me hook until the end. The plot itself, with all the time tricking and whatnot, was really well written and I could always tell what was happening and how it related to things on the other reality.

It was a really fun and original read, and I'll just sit here and wait until the sequel comes out!

Review: Fall From Grace by Christine Zolendz

Fall From Grace
Christine Zolendz
Series: Mad World #1
Publication date: July 22nd 2012
Rating: 4 stars

Goodreads - Amazon

I'm finally home after struggling through my brother's illness and death. But, home is definitely a bit different. My best friend (the only person alive now that knows my secret) has a new boyfriend; and he has a friend. Shane Maxton: bad boy, tattooed rock god, eye candy extraordinaire. He is also New York City's most arrogant, self-serving, son of a, well, a definite one-night stand kind of a guy.

But, it doesn't matter to me because I've spent my existence looking for the love of my life, my angel. And, there is nothing that Shane Maxton can do to change that. 

This was a bit of a surprise for me.

I had this book sitting on my Kindle for so long it even had the old cover, and I went in blind. I now regret not having read it before, because it was such a great story.

You were kept in the dark about Grace's secret until it served the plot right. It was lovely to have all the paranormal aspects as a secondary thing, and being giving little hints about what it could be throughout the whole story. The beginning read like any other contemporary romance book, which only made it even more enjoyable to discover what was really happening.

The music scenes were amazingly written. I felt like I right there with Grace and Shane while they played and sang. Even though some of those shows led to some pretty heavy sexual tension that was left unresolved, mostly because Grace kept fighting herself when it came to her attraction to Shane. And that was one of the things that made me really frustrated with her character, just wanting to scream at her to stop being difficult.

Otherwise, I had so much fun reading this and I can't believe it took me so long to do it. Amazing story, even though it ended with a cliffie, and I can't wait to read the sequel!