Everless by Sara Holland

Everless

by Sara Holland

Published by HarperTeen

362 pages

Plot: In the kingdom of Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich aristocracy, like the Gerlings, tax the poor to the hilt, extending their own lives by centuries.

No one resents the Gerlings more than Jules Ember. A decade ago, she and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident forced them to flee in the dead of night. When Jules discovers that her father is dying, she knows that she must return to Everless to earn more time for him before she loses him forever.

But going back to Everless brings more danger—and temptation—than Jules could have ever imagined. Soon she’s caught in a tangle of violent secrets and finds her heart torn between two people she thought she’d never see again. Her decisions have the power to change her fate—and the fate of time itself. (2018, Goodreads.com)

Review: With vivid world building and an intriguing plot, Everless is a well crafted and exciting dark fantasy debut by Sara Holland. Jules Ember is running out of time.  Her father is weak and on the verge of dying. His time is running out, and the only way for Ember to save him is to return to Everless, a place they ran from ten years ago, and find employment.  In Everless, money is in blood-coin. But this currency is converted from actual blood which takes years off your life. The most powerful families can live hundreds of years by taxing and taking blood-coins from the poor.  Ember’s father use to live with Lord and Lady Gerling at Everless as a blacksmith. That is, until a strange accident happened and they were forced to flee.

Lord Gerling’s son Roan, Ember’s childhood friend and love, is soon to marry the Queen’s daughter. So, in preparation for the wedding, the Gerling’s are hiring girls from the outskirts to work as maids and house servants. Jules’ father forbids her to go, but Jules has no choice.  She must return to Everless to earn blood-coin for her father no matter the consequences. But, the longer Jules works at Everless the more dangerous it becomes. With warnings all around, Jules is forced to confront her father’s secrets and a dark past that leads her to discover more than she is prepared to handle.  

Liam Gerling, Roan’s older brother, is the reason Jules and her father left Everless years ago.  But, Liam has secrets of his own, and the more time Jules spends with Liam, the more she realizes that he’s hiding something.  And she’s determined to find out what. Alone at Everless, Jules doesn’t know who she can trust, and with Roan about to get married, she’s wondering how she will handle the heartbreak.

With a courageous heroine, dark secrets, and fast pacing plot, Everless will keeping you glued to the last heart-wrenching page!  A must read! Recommended for ages 14 and up!

Book 2: Evermore coming December 12, 2018

*A DRC was given for an honest review.

Rating: 5 Hearts!
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