EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton

Okay, so I've been waiting for months to talk about this book, and not only because Brodi Ashton lives here in Utah and is pretty much the Queen of Awesome. But because EVERNEATH has about a million things going for it.

Ready to dive in? Okay, let's go.

About the book: 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.

My take:
1. The cover. One word: Brilliant. I mean, how do you get better, really?

2. The writing. One word: Emotional. And this is exactly the type of writing/story I'm looking for. With deep feelings and a main character that is afraid, but strong, and vulnerable, but willing to act. Nikki is genuinely torn, and that makes for a greatly emotional piece of writing. Which just happens to be my style.

3. The concept. One word: Fantastic. I like the twist on the underworld and the enticing that went on to get Nikki there. I like that many things depend on her returning, and the things that will be left behind if/when she does return. It's all just something that combines together to feel fresh and new to me.

So yeah. I think with any book, we're always looking for a brilliant cover to suck us in, following by writing that's well-done, and a story concept that feels fresh. EVERNEATH delivers on all three.

So add it to your Christmas wish-list!

What do you look for in books?