Review: Everbound by Brodi Ashton (Everneath, #2)

Summary from Goodreads:
Nikki Beckett could only watch as her boyfriend, Jack, sacrificed himself to save her, taking her place in the Tunnels of the Everneath for eternity — a debt that should’ve been hers. She’s living a borrowed life, and she doesn’t know what to do with the guilt. And every night Jack appears in her dreams, lost and confused and wasting away.

Desperate for answers, Nikki turns to Cole, the immortal bad boy who wants to make her his queen — and the one person least likely to help. But his heart has been touched by everything about Nikki, and he agrees to assist her in the only way he can: by taking her to the Everneath himself.

Nikki and Cole descend into the Everneath, only to discover that their journey will be more difficult than they’d anticipated — and more deadly. But Nikki vows to stop at nothing to save Jack — even if it means making an incredible sacrifice of her own.

Finishing this book was really frustrating because of the main character Nikki! The book is written in first person and so we were forced into Nikki's point of view and she was whiny and depressed it was beyond suffocating. The first fifth of the book was basically about Nikki moping around and waiting for Cole to appear. The story picks up when she crosses path with Cole. Her ultimatum to Cole is: Come with me to the Everneath to save Jack or I'll go alone and die in there trying (since you value my life so much I'm guessing you'll come with).

Nikki puts herself in so many reckless situations she might as well have walked across the road without looking both sides. I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the amount of times she screams in pain as a result of her recklessness. These scenes gave my eyes a workout from rolling so much.

What I did like was the Everneath's layout and the trials and tribulations faced. These were well thought out and fascinating. I liked the way the book was written with intermittent flashbacks; When Nikki loses a tether which points her to the direction of where Jack is in the Everneath, Cole prompts her to tell him a memory. These memories were sweet and gave insight into why Nikki was so desperate to get Jack back. These flashbacks were also a good reprieve from the 'present' story line.

I didn't think the story contained much in terms of character development. At the beginning Nikki needed to patch up her relationship with her father and brother. At the end, her father goes "If you're going to lie to me, there's no need to make up fanciful stories about alternate realities. I'd rather you just didn't tell me anything". That's his way of saying 'I trust you' and 'you being away from home without a reason is fine and dandy'?! I found it annoying when Nikki was in dire circumstances, she would think about her family and how she wouldn't have time to work on her relationships at home. She doesn't even take the effort when she finally does return home.

Everbound was a disappointing read since I liked Everneath. Had Nikki's character been less annoying I would have enjoyed the book a lot more.