Evertrue by Brodi Ashton

Series: Everneath (bk. 3)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: Supernatural, underworlds, immortality, love, mythology

Setting: Park City, Utah and the Everneath

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense: Nikki

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 355 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “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?

In this stunning conclusion to the Everneath trilogy, Brodi Ashton evokes the resiliency of the human spirit and the indomitable power of true love.”

My Review:  I waited a year to read this book, so it’s been two years since I read Everbound. This series has gone from okay to awesome to absolutely amazing. It’s partially because of the development of the heroine, Nikki, and also the other characters and this world called the Everneath.

Nikki in the first book Everneath was recovering from the time she was being fed on by Cole, so she seemed depressed and uninteresting. In Everbound she had a lot of her strength back and the story became an adventure through a labyrinth in the Everneath. In Evertrue Nikki is becoming an Everliving and would like to find a way to prevent that. She tries to get her heart back from Cole but fails, but she has a better plan that can save more lives: destroy the Everneath.

I really enjoyed the character Cole. He’s the kind of guy you love to hate, but also love to love. He’s like Damon Salvatore or Klaus from the Vampire Diaries, or even Warner from Shatter Me. He’s a bad boy, but he’s also a musician who used to be a Norwegian farm boy a very long time ago become becoming an Everliving. He’s blond and hot and sometimes funny, and likes to tease Nikki.

Cole wants Nikki to love him back, but Nikki loves Jack. In this book Cole gets amnesia and forgets who is his beyond his name. He temporarily forgot how to speak English, but that didn’t last long. It’s kind of hilarious and adds another interesting layer to this story. Nikki makes up a false backstory for Cole so he would help them destroy the Everneath.

We see all three of our main characters work together and get along (mostly due to Cole’s lack of memory). Jack and Nikki can’t hate Cole if Cole doesn’t remember what he did to them. Jack and Nikki can share their romance, but Nikki has to feed off of Cole or she’ll die because she can’t make her own energy any more. That involves kissing. Jack is not happy with this but want Nikki to live so he lets her.

This finale is well plotted with absolutely no dull moments. It’s such a faster read than the first book. There’s still adventure and interesting paranormal elements. It’s all very unique. I recommend this to fans of paranormal books about immortals or even vampires. Also too fans of Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, which is about immortals. It’s kind of like the Persephone and Hades Greek Myth so if you liked Falling Under by Gwen Hayes and Abandon by Meg Cabot and other books with mythology and the underworld too, you may enjoy this.

Cover Art Review: I absolutely love the dress turning into a vortex of smoke. It’s so gorgeous. Fit with the previous covers, but this one is definitely the best. 

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodges

Series: Standalone (also has a novella called Gilded Ashes)

Genera(s): Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Subjects: retellings, demons, supernatural, magic, mythology, gods and goddesses

Setting: Arcadia (an Island that has been cut off from the world)

POV/Tense: 1^st person past tense: Nyx

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 342 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Balzer + Bray

Summary/ product description: “Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

My Review:  Cruel Beauty is a romantic retelling of Beauty and the Beast intertwined with Greek mythology. The beauty is a girl named Nyx who has to marry a demon king, Ignifex. Nyx is very angry inside and not happy with her situation. She’s nothing like Belle at all. Ignifex is not an ugly beast either. He’s handsome, but has red cat eyes and black wings (when he makes them appear). He makes bargain with people, and these bargains always have disastrous consequences.

I loved the interaction and dialogue between Nyx and Ignifex. Nyx hated him because of what he does; yet fell in love with him. It sounds like a case of Stockholm syndrome. I loved some of the thing she said to him and his replies. She was always saying that she could kill him, and she never did. He never harmed her either. They both had darkness in them, but they found light within each other.

The world building was pretty interesting. Arcadia is a island that has been sundered (cut off from the world). We have no idea with year it is. I’m not even sure where Arcadia is supposed to be. The Mediterranean? I’m not clear on whether this is a fantasy world, or just a place cut off from the rest of the world. It could be set in 1000 AD, possibly. They said they were sundered 900 years ago, but some of the stuff in the book seemed Medieval or Renaissance age. I also liked the whole paradox of Arcadia that we find out about.

The plot wasn’t the most exciting this I’ve read. It’s a pretty good retelling. I like the changed made from what I remember of the Disney version. I felt like it was also a retelling of Hades and Persephone. Cruel Beauty wasn’t exactly what I expected. It wasn’t boring Hist Fic like all the Victorian Era books I tried to read. I recommend Cruel Beauty if you like the Abandoned series by Meg Cabot, Falling Under by Gwen Hayes, or the Everneath series by Brodi Ashton.

Cover Art Review: I love the rose combined with the spiral steel staircase. It’s so well intertwined. I also love the velvet texture.

Descendant by Lesley Livingston

Series: Starling (bk. 2)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Fantasy

Subjects: supernatural, magic, mythology, Norse mythology, Valkyries, faeries, gods and goddesses

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 325 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “The last thing Mason Starling remembers is the train crossing a bridge. An explosion . . . a blinding light . . . then darkness. Now she is alone, stranded in Asgard—the realm of Norse legend—and the only way for her to get home is to find the Spear of Odin, a powerful relic left behind by vanished gods.

The Fennrys Wolf knows all about Asgard. He was once trapped there. And he’ll do whatever it takes to find the girl who’s stolen his heart and bring her back—even if it means a treacherous descent into the Underworld. But time is running out, and Fenn knows something Mason doesn’t: If she takes up the Spear, she’ll set in motion a terrible prophecy. And she won’t just return to her world . . . she’ll destroy it.

In this pulse-pounding sequel to Starling, Lesley Livingston delivers another electrifying blend of nonstop action and undeniable romance that will leave readers breathless.”

My Review: This book had a lot of things that I really liked, and something that made is slightly boring. I really like most of the characters and the dialogue. I read the Wondrous Strange series, so I love seeing familiar faces again. I also love all the magic and mythology. What I had a hard time with is the 3^rd person narration. I think if I was listening to it as an audio book, I would have enjoyed it more. I listened to the first two Wondrous Strange book read by the author. Lesley does really good voice acting.

I don’t really care much for Mason, unless she says something funny. I love Fenn because he was a Viking supposedly and I like to picture him as a younger version of Thor. I loved that we get to see Maddox again. Him and Fenn have the funniest conversations. I also like Rafe, who’s Anubis. He’s got a great sense of humor too. Pretty much all my favorite parts in this book are humorous dialogue and banter.

I also loved when Mason met Loki. Sadly Loki doesn’t get a big role in this book. I felt disappointed because I love the Thor movies so much and really was hoping for more crazy Loki antics. Loki is kind of my favorite bad guy ever. It seem that the bad guys in this book are parents. Specifically Mason’s father, Gunner Starling. He wants Mason to become a Valkyrie and start Ragnarok. Why do the bad guys always want to cause the end of the world?

I do love all the mythology used in this book. There’s not only Norse mythology, but Egyptian and Greek and possibly some Roman and Celtic. This book has gods from all the ancient religions, pretty much.  Norse is the focus, but there was a lot of Egyptian stuff to because Anubis was in it.

The plot was okay, but I felt like it wasn’t really organized that well. Too much mind jumping. We get not only Mason and Fenn’s perspectives, by also Heather, Cal and a few other character. I don’t think I can truly call this 3^rd person limited. I’m not a fan of switching perspectives without some indication of who’s head we’re in. I was so confused at some points, that I kind of skimmed. The writing itself wasn’t bad. The descriptiveness of appearances and objects were beautifully done. I wanted to picture what was going on, but at times I felt lost.

I do recommend anything by Lesley Livingston. I suggest reading the Wondrous Strange series first because we get some of Fenn’s backstory as a Janus Guard. I recommend this book to fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton, Stork by Wendy Delsol, Need series by Carrie Jones, Wildfire by Karsten Knight, Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini, or any other mythology YA.

Cover Art Review: The photos are nice and the cover model is definitely supposed to be Mason, but doesn’t have her blue eyes. I think she looks too much like Megan Fox.