Ok guys, I'm just going to come right out and say it. Everbound was one of THE BEST sequels I've ever read. It was so much better than the first and I even liked the first. But in this one the characters, the story, the action, the romance, the memories, and the suspense are SO MUCH BETTER! If you were on the fence about Everneath, I highly suggest you pick up the sequel and give it a try. If you aren't pulled in by this one, at least you gave it a try. But I'm guessing you'll like it much more than Everneath. I think a lot of issues with Everneath come from main character Nikki and an inability to really relate to her. In this one, we see much more of her personality, her emotions, and a much better understanding of her pull to both Jack and Cole. So give it a try. And if you haven't read Everneath yet, now is the time to go pick it up because you won't have to wait to find out what happens after that ending!A brief warning, there are spoilers in this review for Everneath and a couple mild spoilers for Everbound. If you haven't read the first book in this series and would still like to be surprised by the ending, don't read this review or the synopsis for Everbound! In Everbound we pick up shortly after the ending of Everneath. Nikki is dealing with not only missing Jack in her everyday life, but also with the guilt she feels for living in his place and the guilt placed on her by the town and Jack's family for his disappearance. Because Nikki was the last to see Jack and because of Nikki's disappearance last year, everyone blames her for his running off. But what nobody else (except Jack's brother and Cole) knows is that Nikki does know where Jack is and is doing everything she can to get him back. Just like when she was in the Everneath, Jack comes to Nikki at night in her dreams. This time, she is keeping him alive. And she promises she'll come for him. In order to do that, she needs Cole. With Jack running out of time and Cole's help, they make the trip to the Everneath. How difficult the trip will be and how successful, they don't know. But Nikki will do everything she can to get to Jack. The journey is intense and dangerous and very different from what Nikki expects. And everything about it is awesome.One of the reasons that Everbound is so much better than Everneath is Nikki. When we meet her in Everneath, she's been drained. She has almost no emotions of her own and doesn't remember a lot from her past. She regains her memories along the way as well as her emotions, but it took a little bit for her to be not one-dimensional. She was a little difficult to relate to when she couldn't feel anything and didn't know who people were. This time around she remembers everything and has many emotions right off the bat. Most of her emotions revolve around Jack, her guilt and desperation and love and hope. Everything points back to him. And she uses those emotions to keep herself going on her quest to try to save him. She was much more animated and relatable and a much better main character than the one from Everneath. But I also didn't feel like she was a different person. Just evolved. And I really enjoyed that about this book.I also really liked the action in this one. It seemed like all of Everneath was an investigation. Learning about the Everneath, what happened to Nikki, what to do about Cole, how to escape the Shades. But this one was all about the action. Going into the Everneath, searching for Jack, keeping Jack alive, and finding answers to her questions. The book had more danger, more suspense, more of everything awesome! And we get more of the mythology that was so great in the first one.One last thing that I loved about this book was learning more about Jack and Cole. I will always be Team Jack (if we have to choose a side), but being able to see more of both of them was awesome. In Everneath, Cole was the bad guy and Jack was the good guy. In Everbound, that's not quite as clear. Learning the reasons for why Cole does the things he does lessened the dislike I have for him, but he still wasn't the good guy to me. Cole helps Nikki in the Everneath, but why and at what cost? What has kept them together all of this time? Yes, Nikki was his forfeit, but maybe there's something more to it from Cole. While we don't get a lot of Jack in the present we do get to learn a lot about him and his relationship with Nikki through her memories. And the memory sequences in this book are done very well. Sometimes they can feel like unwanted interruptions to the real story, but these are woven so seamlessly into the story and are so well--written you'll more likely want more of them than less. I really love Nikki and Jack as a couple and loved every moment I was able to be with them.Final Thoughts: Read this book! If you enjoyed Everneath, you'll love this book. Brodi Ashton wrote an epic sequel that I loved even more than the first. The continuation of the story along with the chance to learn more about each character made it awesome. I couldn't put the book down! I'm so happy with this book. Seriously, between the character development, the action, the Everneath, the writing, and the memory sequences with Jack and Nikki, this book was definitely a five star book for me.
