Evertrue

November 28, 2011
Seventeen-year-old Nikki Beckett has just returned from the mythical underworld known as the Everneath, where her six-month stay felt (to her) like a century. Now her father, the town’s mayor, doesn’t trust her; her relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Jack, is in flux; and everyone else thinks she’s a recovering drug addict. She has six months of real life left before she must make a choice: be eternally condemned to the Tunnels, where her life will be drained away, or become one of the immortal Everliving, feeding off of “Forfeits” like herself, who have succumbed to despair (Nikki’s pain is the result of her mother’s death in a car crash). With her former captor, Cole, pressuring her to choose the latter option, Nikki discovers the awful truths about the Everneath. Jumping frequently between Nikki’s time before and after her capture, this dark romance, Ashton’s debut, is complex and intriguing. Drawing inspiration from such myths as Osiris, Orpheus, and Persephone, it explores the nature of loss and longing and what it means to be alive. Ages 14–up. Agent: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

April 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-After Cole tricked her into feeding from him, Nikki has begun the process of turning into an Everliving. Now Nikki, Cole, and her boyfriend Jack must journey to the Underworld and try to stop her transformation, in this Persephone myth-inspired tale.

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2013
Nikki and Jack's relief at escaping the Everneath at the end of Everbound (2013) is short-lived, as they face the highest stakes yet. Nikki's health starts to fail immediately as she transitions into an Everliving. She will die if she doesn't feed. A transitioning Everliving can only feed on the Everliving who holds her Surface heart--in Nikki's case, and to boyfriend Jack's ire, Cole. Worse, Nikki has limited time before she will need to feed on a Forfeit. She doesn't want to damn an innocent to the Tunnels--the fate she narrowly avoided in Everneath (2012)--but Jack and Cole will do anything to keep her alive. After Cole and his band are attacked by followers of the Everneath's queen (hoping to thwart their plot to depose her and put Nikki in her place), only Cole escapes, but he does so with amnesia. Nikki and Jack capitalize on his memory loss to convince him that he was working with them to destroy the Everneath for good (which would prevent Nikki from dying or having to feed), but they can't be sure how much to trust him, as his memories may return. As in previous installments, the prose is sprinkled with references to Greek mythology. The beautifully orchestrated obstacles and rising tension position the characters so that they must succeed or die. Although the denouement passes very quickly, the ending satisfies and will break some hearts. (Paranormal romance. 13 & up)

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November 1, 2013
Grades 9-12 Picking up two weeks after the events of Everbound (2013), this book focuses on Nikki, who is determined to destroy the Everneath. Even though, thanks to Cole's trickery, she is now an Everliving, Nikki is adamant that she would rather die than live at the expense of human forfeits. But her plans are in direct conflict with Cole's, who still hopes to persuade her to join him in overthrowing the current queen of the Everneath and ruling it herself. Her ever-loyal boyfriend, Jack, who managed to escape the Tunnels of the Everneath, is torn between any plan that will help Nikki survive and Nikki's desire to live life on her own terms. Fans of the series will not be disappointed as the story heads toward the inevitable showdown, although, as is often the case with a story that takes three books to build, it all seems over rather quickly. Fittingly, the resolution of the love triangle is the finest moment of the book, as it unflinchingly embraces the only solution that can plausibly bring this Persephone tale to a close.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
In this trilogy-ender, Nikki, now an unwilling Everliving, and her boyfriend Jack return to the Everneath to destroy it and restore Nikki's humanity. They strike an uneasy alliance with untrustworthy--though currently amnesiac--Everliving Cole. The Everneath, based on the underworld of Greek mythology, grows more complex (sometimes convoluted); the love triangle is a bit melodramatic but adds suspense.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)