Everlasting

I read all of these books, and while I really liked them at first, I gradually grew to dislike them more and more. I find Noel's passive voice writing style SO distracting that I end up fixing her wording in my head while I read. There are only so many -ing words that I can handle before I start to go nuts. How did this get past her editor? This is something I teach my middle schoolers not to do!

I liked the central plot- the characters were interesting, and the alchemy take on the immortal thing was nice.

Why, though, would she make immortality seem scientific only to then allow the characters to conjure up BMWs from thin air?

And the biggest problem, in my opinion, is the fact that there is so much in this book (and the series) that show more younger readers would love... and then Damen and Ever have scenes worthy of a Harlequin. Four times? Really? She's seventeen.

The last thing I need to get off my chest just totally floored me while I was reading. I really want anyone reading this to turn to page 263. This is a scene where Ever is trying to get her sister, Sabine, to accept her for who she is. She says things like, "Your tendency toward self-righteousness and bullheadedness, your penchant for shunning me instead of trying to understand me, well, it scares me just as much as my display of immortal party tricks just scared you." Seriously. She's seventeen! I have two master's degrees, and I don't even talk like that! show less

****SPOILER ALERT****

Thank goodness it's finally over. For reasons I can't explain, despite the rapid downward spiral of this series, I couldn't help myself; I had to see it to the end.

The Immortals series had promising beginnings that soon became an unnecessarily drawn out saga with an unsatisfying conclusion..

In my opinion, Ever and Damen's was not the "epic love story" it has been labelled. I didn't feel any substance to their relationship, even with the concept of past lives. It doesn't mean there shouldn't have been something deeper - the potential was there, the author just didn't convince me of it.

Poor Jude (sigh). Noel really shafted him in the end; just left him hanging, still pining for Ever while everyone else's story was show more tied up into a neat little bow. Even Haven, Drina and Roman got their happily-ever-afters. While I wasn't keen on a Jude and Ever pairing (I think he deserved better), it would have been nice for him to have been able to move on, as she allowed all her other characters to do - even the nasty ones. I'm left wondering what the point of his character was at all, other than to provide the suspense of a love triangle. If so, I think the attempt failed.

The resolution seemed very hurried, for example, ancient trees with magical fruit popping up out of nowhere. Noel used the power of time (six months) that Ever spent searching for said tree to make everyone's enlightenment on the earth plane seem more believable. Not very satisfying. show less

I must say that I am sad to see the series end. This is one series that even before I was a book blogger that I was hooked on. Let me be the first to tell you that as a long time reader of Alyson Noel's and a big fan of The Immortal series that this book ended nicely. All loose ends were tied. All questions, were answered. And the first chapter was so dynamic and strong that I sat reading this book in my office while at work! I know, bad Savannah!

The first chapter was just wow. I knew once I started "glancing" at the book that I was in deep trouble. The first chapter has a very strong beginning, the reader sees Ever and Damen struggling in Summerland to find answers. What I like about this is the pacing and the plot line. The pacing was show more right on. I really liked that the reader got to go back to certain points in their history and re-connect with the present. It answers a whole lot of questions that I have always wondered, plus then some. It gave the reader a much broader history on Ever and Damen's relationship.

What also grabbed my attention in this book, is the lives they had in the past. Through out the series, we see several past lives, but this one, it was a SHOCKER! I was like,"OMG!" Gasping at my desk and looking by my office door to make sure no one heard me. Hehe. Ms. Noel did a fine job in bringing this element to life in the book. I felt every emotion, excitement, hurt, and anger while reading this. Simply fantastic!

The characters were more developed. In this book, you finally see them learn and grow. At times through out the series like books 4/5, I got frustrated that they weren't going anywhere. They were being stagnate. I was hoping for a change. Everlasting is the change of all changes. The characters finally develop in who they need to be in order to grasp their future!

If you haven't pick up this series you most definitely should! Not only will you fall in love with it, but it will give you an everlasting read worth reading. Am I happy with the way it ended? Yes. I think Ms. Noel did a mighty find job on clearing everything she needed to clear up in order to finish the series.
*There was some implied sex, kissing, few cursing* show less

I just want to say that when it comes to like a book that involves destiny, and how things come full circle, this would with out a doubt be my favorite. There was always something about the series that would frustrate me. Usually Ever annoyed me. But in this case, she has grown, she has such a deep knowledge and understand for how the world works, that it's like seeing a truly remarkable woman. I was SO happy with the ending. Not going to say what happens, but it (to me) was worth it to make it to the end of the series. It was a short easy read, and yet it had a lot going on. I loved the "trials" that Ever has to go through. I would say that if I was going to give this series to someone to read, I would tell them they HAVE to read all show more of it. I wanted to give up, but I'm so happy that I didn't. show less

Obviously I read this book because I read the other five, and just like the last three I wasn't overly impressed. Evermore and Blue Moon were both really good books and I found the series got a little boring after that. It seemed the same ideas were played out in a slightly different manner. This was no exception.
First Damen and Ever have never irritated me as greatly as they did in this book. Damen has always been stubborn and quick to blame himself for all their problems but it was kind of endearing, not true in Everlasting, he was stubborn to the point of blatant stupidity. So why, when he's given a chance at redemption does it take him so damn long to utilize it. The whole book he refuses see things in a different light and it show more drives me absolutely nuts. HELLO Damen, get with the program, You. Are. Wrong!
Ever just talks too much, you're waiting for details about the current situation to unfold, for her to shed some light on what's going on, and she rambles. Saying the same things over and over until you're about to shut the book and give up...Then and only then does she say something worth reading. Overall I think Damen and Ever strayed out of character so the story could be told a certain way, rather than it being their story it seemed forced.
In my opinion this series would have served better to be done in three, maybe four books, if you just couldn't compress the ideas and storyline, but I'm pretty confidant that you could. The series would have stayed exciting, upbeat and earned a much better review.
The book gets three stars because it's closure and I liked the very end of it. 3 out of 5.
P.S. Despite my not really enjoying this last installment I'll still miss Ever and Damen. show less

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In Short
- Everlasting rounds off the series and answers all unanswered questions perfectly
- Ever is a new Ever in this book who uses her brain when making choices
- The romance is as cute as always (Very cute!)
- This is my favourite in the series
- I am sad that this series is over =(

In Long
I have to admit The Immortals is a series which I have had a strong love and hate relationship with. If you look back at my reviews of this series it has made me feel happy, angry, gripped, bored, entertained and many more things! I was hoping that Everlasting would round the series off nicely while also not making me feel anything negative. It really did that, for many reasons.

First off, Alyson’s writing has improved so much show more since Evermore. Every sentence seems to really have a meaning whereas I often felt that sentences were just there and didn’t add much to the story. I also really felt like she has listened to the fans in a way which really made a difference while also keeping her unique writing style. I know a lot of people say the books were frustrating because Ever did silly things which someone smart like her wouldn’t. Ever’s actions in Everlasting were nothing like they used to be and even when she did make a silly choice her decision was almost explained to the reader. I liked that Alyson made it a lot easier to see things from Ever's point of view therefore understand her decisions.
Ever is a character that I quickly warmed to all over again but even more so in this book, it’s like the Ever who made silly mistakes never happened! She became someone who was very likeable while also down to earth. Alyson also revealed a lot of things which made me understand Ever a lot more. The romance in this book was one which you are quickly made to believe all over again and I felt everything felt so much more real.
I liked the twists throughout this book and really felt like everything in the past books was rounded up really nicely in Everlasting. I wasn’t left with any questions but only with a sad feeling that it was the end of the series!

Final Thoughts
At times I was close to giving up on this series but I am glad I didn’t, I am sad that this series is finished and that I won’t get to spend any more time with Ever or Damen. Both Alyson and Ever redeemed themselves in this book in so many ways. It definitely made me want to read more books by Alyson in the future and had put my faith back in her. show less

I was surprised at how much I liked this series. I read through the whole series really quickly and loved the twists and turns the author took. I loved all of Ever's flaws and her conviction about doing what she felt was right regardless of whether Damen wanted to follow. I would like more books about the mortal life Ever and Damen and their friends.