I can't say I loved it but I'm intrigued enough to read the next book. I hope Evermore lives up to this standard.

I've had this on my TBR for a while, I receieved a copy for review via NetGalley but didn't get around to it before it came out, and then I picked up a finished copy. In the month of December I've decided to catch up with my NetGalley back list and this is the first one I chose and I don't know why I left it so long. I really enjoyed it. Here are my thoughts...

What I Liked
• This story is set in a world where your blood can be converted into time. People are able to drain their blood and, as a consequence, their time to give to others as well as consuming 'blood-iron' to give themselves more time. I think this was a really interesting concept and I loved the ideas behind this novel.
• The writing was fast paced and easy to read. I flew through this book and I didn't want to put it down. We were carried along with the main character and were fully immersed in her story. There was lots of mystery in this novel and we experienced all of the twists and turns alongside our main character. At no point did we have more information than she did. It was a journey of discovery we experienced together.
• I enjoyed our main character, Jules, for the most part. She has a good heart and always put other people before herself. She was independent, strong willed and determined although, this was sometimes her downfall. I also really enjoyed Liam's character. He was dark and mysterious and even right from the beginning I thought he wasn't all that he seemed, and I was right. I can't wait to see how his and Jules relationship develops over the course of the next book.
• I can honestly say I didn't know which direction this story was going to take. As I said before there were a lot of twists and turns and I had a lot of theories about what could be happening but none of these were correct. The plot twists surprised me.

What I Didn't Like
• I wasn't a massive fan of Roan's character. He was very generic and didn't really have any personality or development. Because of this I also wasn't a fan of the relationship between him and Jules although, this didn't really last very long and it wasn't a huge part of the plot. If I'm honest it could of been left out and it wouldn't have affected the story.
• Although I enjoyed the writing style and the twists and turns kept me intrigued throughout, as I was nearing the end I was beginning to get a little bit frustrated with the lack of reveals. You find out a lot of information in the last quarter of this book and I think it might have benefited from a few reveals, or even hints, being dropped a bit earlier on. Although like I said, the plot twists did surprise me. Maybe this was done to mimic Jules's frustration at lack of answers and, if this was the case, then it did the job.

Overall this was a really enjoyable fantasy novel with an interesting and unusual premise. There were definitely some of your usual YA fantasy tropes within this story but it had enough difference about it to make it intriguing and fun to read. I would recommend this one to fans of YA fantasy and I'm excited to read the conclusion to this story.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

This is one of the most original fantasies I have come across in a while. While I can’t say I was that invested in any of the characters, I found the actual story itself and the world building totally captivating and the combination of the two made it book impossible to put down. In this fantasy time is a commodity that can be bought and sold.

The world building was quite complicated, or at least for me, the combination of magic and science and the whole buying and selling time. The setting was a small, town on the edge of a huge estate where the wealthiest family in the district ruled over everything.
The heroine Jules used to live at the estate where her father was a revered blacksmith, but a secret caused them to flee in the middle of the night and now they are barely eeking out a living in a tiny cottage on the edge of the forest. Her father is in debt and sick. So Jules hatches a plan to sell her own time and repay his debts

Yet she finds herself presented with an opportunity for employment at the estate, Everless, where she once lived. Seizing the moment, Jules makes herself a plan to save her father. She worms her way into employment at Everless.

Jules is one of the brighter YA heroines, she’s smart and thinks things through. She plans and doesn’t seem to act recklessly when things don’t go according to plan. She was a little bit two dimensional but likeable enough. Back at Everless while in a different capacity than she was previously, she’s of course flooded with memories of her time back then, and the mystery of why she and her father fled in the first place.
And she has to deal with the two sons of the Lord of Everless. One of whom was a great friend and played with her when they were children, who has grown up to be devastatingly handsome and quite the ladies man. He’s engaged to the Queen’s daughter. And his brother – who was a mean bully.
The plot gets quite twisty, there’s a legend on how time came to be used as a commodity, a vicious queen who everyone’s terrified of visiting Everless, Jules discovers she has time letting abilities that are beyond normal, a hidden vault where Jules believes she will get some of the answers she seeks, there are plenty of secrets – including a mystery to solve about Jules’s deceased mother, and some things her father neglected to tell her. And people who turn out to be nothing like you thought they were.
I read this quite some time ago so I can’t remember all the details. Just that it was a really good one, quite different and I liked it. I’ve already pre ordered the next one.

Thank you Netgalley and Hatchette Children’s Group for the review copy.

This book is a real page turner. The descriptions of the lives of the downtrodden masses compared with the opulence f he ruling class acreage old but very well drawn. The element of fantasy and witchcraft that flows throughout, the hints of the bygone age hat makes these magical elements of life seem possible are beautifully crafted and take you away safely into this other world until suddenly you reach the last page wanting more..

Everless is one of the books that I actually listened to on Audible. I'm always a bit apprehensive when I purchase an audiobook because it's a lot money to waste on something that might have a narrator that you can't connect with, and won't be able to listen to for 10 hours. LUCKILY, I really liked the narrator for Everless. She made the story come to life and voiced the characters so well!


In the land of Sempera, the rich control everything - even time. Ever since the age of alchemy and sorcery, hours, days and years have been extracted from blood and bound to iron coins. The rich live for centuries; the poor bleed themselves dry.

Jules and her father are behind on their rent and low on hours. To stop him from draining himself to clear their debts, Jules takes a job at Everless, the grand estate of the cruel Gerling family.

There, Jules encounters danger and temptation in the guise of the Gerling heir, Roan, who is soon to be married. But the web of secrets at Everless stretches beyond her desire, and the truths Jules must uncover will change her life for ever ... and possibly the future of time itself.



At first, I couldn't connect with the story and the world-building. There just wasn't enough 'ummpphhh' for me to really get into it. But after a few chapters, that all changed. 

Holland got the pacing JUST right, and I was thrown into a world where there was loads of political intrigue, romance, enemies, and mystery. It's pretty much got all of the ingredients that I look for in YA fantasy, and I genuinely think that Holland executed it really well. 

There were a few moments where I DID find myself getting slightly annoyed with the romance element of the book. I just couldn't connect with the main romance and I didn't think that there was any chemistry at all (but this IS actually built upon in the end of the book). There IS the trope of the slow burning hate-to-love romance, but I do actually love this trope so much. I know that it's completely overdone in pretty much every genre, but I don't know... There's something about that particular trope that I love reading. Don't @ me. Even though I've said that there is a 'main' romance, THERE ACTUALLY ISN'T THAT MUCH ROMANCE WHICH IS AMAZING AND I LOVE HOLLAND FOR DOING THAT. Holland focuses mainly on the plot, whilst bringing in romantic elements here and there. But it's not the sole focus of the novel. For me, I think that there's more focus on female relationships and how the women in the novel lean on each other for help.





“I know better than to be afraid of stories”

― Sara Holland, Everless





As for the actual story itself, I think that the thin that sticks out for me the most are the plot twists. THEY ARE CRAZY AND I DID NOT SEE THEM COMING AT ALL! The pacing of the plot twists are good as well; they don't all happen at the end, they're spread out throughout the story. BUT, there are quite a few at the end, because I mean... c'mon, the ending HAS to be enticing enough to keep us wanting more. And that's exactly what it did. I actually remember that I was listening to Everless whilst I was washing my car, and when I was at about 80%, I suddenly just stopped, sponge hanging in mid air because I was so grasped by the story. About 10 minutes later, I realised that I was dripping water onto my leg. The book was so captivating.

I've actually heard quite a few people say that they didn't like it at all, and whilst I can see where they are coming from when they pointed out what they didn't like about it, personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The one bit that I do 100% agree on with the negative reviews is the flimsy plot line of the Alchemist. I felt like it wasn't built upon enough and it just felt... meh? Hopefully, this will be expanded on in Evermore, because it's an interesting plot point, and it's vital to the story, but I just don't think that part of the story was written as well as the rest of the novel.

Overall, this was such an enjoyable read, and it definitely lived up to the hype. To be honest, I can't wait for Evermore to come out. I think I'm also going to listen to Evermore on Audible because the narrator for Everless was amazing!

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Everless has many twists and turns that keep you gripped. Each chapter keeps you gripped and makes you want to keep on reading to find out the fates of the characters.
I certainly didn’t expect that many twists towards the end of the book and didn’t see it coming. Some things I guessed but I was wrong like I thought maybe Liam loved the main character. I look forward to the next book in the series to see how the world of Everless carries on.

Everless had a really intriguing concept that offers a new take on the effect that poverty can have on your life. In this book the poor are quite literally drained of their life by the rich, who are so far removed from the reality of the process that they are blasé and careless with the time coins, sparing no thought for who had to suffer for their gain. Sara Holland has done a great job of building this world as it is believable from the start and is almost an effortless understanding on the part of the reader.

Occasionally the plot felt a little simple, as it felt too easy for Jules to integrate herself at the heart of this story, and her father failed to sufficiently warn her of the dangers of this. Roan’s character also seemed predictable and one-dimensional, but the development of Liam’s character balanced this out. At times the writing also felt a little amateur; the one-line paragraphs and short sentences felt like a lazy approach to creating drama and character building for Jules.

The ending brought new surprises however, and you are thrown much deeper into this world, with twists and turns in abundance. I thought the reveal at the end was a little complicated, but that it worked further to intrigue the reader, and the way that the backstory to this was interwoven into the plot was great. Overall, this was an enjoyable read and I am keen to dive into the second book!

I’d been putting this one off for a while as I’ve read a lot of decent YA fantasy recently. I picked this up on holiday as a quick filler between more “serious” books and I’m pleased I did. I completed it in a day, not because it was childishly written, but because I was instantly drawn in to the land of Sempera and its inhabitants. An interesting take on rich vs poor, good vs evil. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

I actually wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from Everless. I had no idea what it was about, just that I had seen a lot of hype for it and knew I was getting a copy via FairyLoot.

After getting my physical copy ARC I quickly requested it on NetGalley because I know I’m more likely to read physical books and we gotta do what we can to up that NG percentage!!!

I had actually read a bunch of terrible or a-okay books prior to this so I wasn’t in a great reading mood when I started. But my boyfriend wanted to play some CSGO before bed so I picked it up and hoped for the best.

The train ride home the next day I finished it.

Everless was exactly what I needed to get out of my slump.

I definitely enjoyed Everless, I’m looking forward to its sequel and I will recommend it to people who are looking for an easy fantasy read. But that is not to say it is without flaws.

Whilst the world building was unique to a book it is very familar (see: In Time, that one movie with JT). However to compare the two would also be cruel because they are still very different.

Everless has a more historical setting and uses magic/science to actually explain how blood becomes time/money. I really like how this is a system that is explained in a way that makes sense within the world and not left as a “sorry this is just how things are”.

I love the history within the world and the myths told to keep people warey and safe.

The characters were all pretty great too. They all had fleshed out personalities and characteristics making them interesting to read about, especially given how they all influenced the story one way or another.

adically none of the secondary characters felt boring or unimportant. They all had a role to play.

So why with all this love for the book do I think it has faults?

I felt like it was too predictable. Any twists that were to happen I’d already figured out a while before due to clues in the text. You may ask but Lauren isn’t that the point of foreshadowing?

I guess. But to me it felt too obviously laid out? I don’t think its a reason to not pick up the book, I think its simply this is the authors debut book and its likely something she’ll be better at in future works.

To be honest it wasn’t until reading The Cruel Prince straight afterwards that I could make this statement. The comparison between debut and …seasoned authors. I was stuck for a few days why I felt its predictability bothered me.

Back to the positives for sure though.

The last 30% or so of the book is very action packed and where all the story comes together very nicely. I was so excited and thrilled when reading it and seeing all the pieces fall together.

Not to mention the gorram cliff-hanger she leaves us on?! Damn. What a way to keep us waiting and wanting for me. Sara, you definitely have a huge fan here.

It has become an unfortunate truth that many YA fantasies read the same these days. I fear we are running out of original plots because there are so many YA fantasy novels out there. EVERLESS, though, is different. Comparisons can certainly be drawn to series like Victoria Aveyard’s RED QUEEN, but EVERLESS has plenty of originality.

The main plot point here is that time is currency. When Jules realises her father is running out of time, she risks returning to the estate she fled as a child, in order to earn more time. Naturally, it’s not that simple, and as our story unfolds we learn why.

I really liked that the time-is-money plot is so well fleshed out. There is an awful lot of world-building and history scattered throughout the story – there’s no big info-dumps at all, and the reader finds things out as Jules does. I prefer that method of storytelling because otherwise I find myself immensely frustrated with the main character.

Jules is a well-written, relatable character. All of her decisions make sense and you just know she’s doing everything for a reason. There are no moments where I want to shake her for doing something stupid – yeah she makes mistakes, but she learns from them.

There are some plot twists that I won’t talk about – nobody wants a spoiler and really this one is best read with very little prior knowledge of the plot – but let’s just say I really didn’t see this one coming!

I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel when it arrives, and until then I’ll be recommending this to anyone who’ll listen!

Finally a book that deserves all the praise and hype that go with it, its been a long time since I read a book that takes my breath away. Everless took my breath, my blood iron and I willingly gave it my time to read.
Everless will lead you wanting Evermore ;)
In Everless Sara Holland has created a cast of characters and a world weaves more than just a fantasy story, but a story of love, trust and adventure. A fantastic story I just couldn't put down.
Jules is a strong female character, yay, with a breakable heart, wit and a desire to trust - so relatable that you cheer, cry and run right along with her. The characters around her are friendly, handsome and dangerous - I'll let you figure out who is who.
The world, while its customs are alien the scenery is rural and fantastical. Sorceress in the woods, bleeders hiding in the dark and rich land owner sons just waiting to sweep you off your feet.
While this book is unputdownable I made myself ration the reading to try to shorten the wait for the next one, but I failed and read it in a weekend. Grab this book for a weekend read and prepare for your time to be tied up in the pages.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Children’s Group for giving me this book to review.

Everless is a compelling and unique story which I really liked. Some expectations I had based off similar YA fantasy books were challenged and twisted which made it quite interesting. The book was descriptive and really well written but also darker than I was expecting. It was full of fantasy and I really liked the idea of time being currency and the mystery with Jules determined to find the truth. I also liked that there was only the barest hint of romance as I feel it would have taken away from the book.

Jules is such a good character who is shrewd, thoughtful, and cautious but also trusting and naïve. The secondary characters are well described and multi-layered, and I understood their motives and that they had their won lives. Ina, Liam, and Caro were especially well written, and I am very interested to read more about them.

I really did not expect the ending, which means there is a massive cliffhanger, and I am eager to start reading the next book Evermore. I would recommend Everless to fans to The Gilded Cage.

In a land where time is used as currency, the rich live for centuries while the poor bleed themselves dry. For Jules and her father, every day is a struggle. To stop her father from draining away the rest of his life, Jules takes a job at Everless, a grand estate owned by the rich and cruel Gerling family. Once there, Jules discovers secrets she never could have imagined and learns that friends and enemies are sometimes difficult to tell apart.

I liked the concept of time being used as currency and, although this is definitely not the first time I’ve come across that idea, this is probably the most effectively I’ve seen it executed. The characters and world-building are classic YA-fantasy perfection, complete with evil royalty, family secrets and a budding hate-to-love storyline.

Probably the only aspect of this book that I didn’t like was Jules’ absolute determination to go against everything her father ever told her, and her decision to do the one thing that he gave his life to ask her not to do. The poor man literally died telling her to stay away from the queen, so what does she do? Obviously she nabs herself the job as close to the queen as possible. Girl, come on.

The plot moves quite fast and immersion into the story is excellent. I’m looking forward to Book #2. All I want is a little bit more from Liam (my favourite character is, of course, the bad guy).

This book came out at the beginning of this year and I had an ARC of it. Then I received a hardback copy in my book box (which is so very pretty) and I resolved to read it. Three months later, I've finally completed it. This book starts off very slowly, but I really loved the ending and can't wait for the next book in the series.

Jules is a seventeen-year-old girl who lives in a world where people pay with blood-irons, coins made out of time. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Jules has to return to Eveless, the large estate owned by the Gerlings, and where she and her father had to run from so long ago. Her father wants her to leave and to stay away from the Queen, but as events happen, Jules disobeys him. The plot of this book was great, I loved the mystery of everything and the world-building (though it did feel like certain historical events only came up when they were significant, rather than woven into the story) and I really loved how everything was revealed at the end. The mystery of Jules' birth, her unknown power and who exactly she can trust at Everless was fascinating and when a book leaves a cliffhanger in order to get you to read the next book in the series, I will point at Everless. Yes, I found it really hard to get into the beginning two thirds of the book but the last 100 pages I really enjoyed.

However, as interesting as the plot twists and mysteries were, I found the characters far less so. I guessed who would be the untrustworthy characters, it was not subtle, and none of the characters felt really developed, even Jules. Yes, I liked her well enough as a protagonist, though there were times she annoyed me at the start of the book but none of the side characters I really connected with. Everyone felt very shallow and I don't know exactly why. I didn't particularly feel sad over the characters who died or really hate the antagonist of the story, though that might change in the sequel. I was very happy that there wasn't a love triangle however and while the romance was annoying at times, I did like how it got resolved though with what happened to Roan.

This is a book I would recommend, if only for the ending, and I think I will be getting the next book in the series.

Time is a prison. She is the key. Packed with danger, temptation and desire.

There is a formula to the perfect YA. It usually includes:

One unassuming female protagonist that comes into her own throughout the novel.
One (normally two) love interests, often at the same time
An evil queen/king/empire
A few sidekicks
Numerous twists and turns.
And Everless had them all!

It’s not possible to review this as a literary piece. There is no point trying to break it down and claim it unworthy, simply because it wasn’t made for that.

It was made to put you on the edge of your seat and not let you relax till the end. This is the kind of book you whizz through because you can’t bear not to know what happens next. It is book that, once you’ve finished, you’ll jump straight on to Goodreads to find the second in the series, only to scream in frustration when you realise you have to wait nine months to get your hands on.

NINE MONTHS!

If YA is your thing, then you’ll love this.

To be honest, even if it’s not your thing, but you enjoy a fast-paced, quick read, you’ll probably love this too.

It was a fine novel, but I didn't feel invested in it as much, because it hits the same notes as others and it wasn't 100% diffferent

When I started reading this, there was a bit of a feeling of "here we go again". All the classic dystopian romance tropes are here and the opening really put me in mind of The Hunger Games. Stick with it. All the consequences of being able to transfer time and life for longer (or cut your life short) are explored, with the worldbuilding feeling increasingly menacing. There's some great plot twists, absolutely didn't see one of the major reveals at the end coming, and the ending leaves things open enough to leave you desperate for the sequel. There were some bits where it felt like character motivation took a backseat to plot necessity, and it took me a while to warm to Jules. That being said, this is still an excellent addition to the YA dystopia genre.

3.5 stars.

Jules lives in the land of Sempera where the rich control time by turning blood into coins.
To stop her frail father from giving any more of his blood to pay their debts, Jules takes a job at Everless, an estate belonging to the Gerling family. Jules used to live at Everless with her father until an event led to them having to leave.
Jules's childhood friend and crush, Roan Gerling, is to marry the heir to the throne, but with the queen's arrival comes danger.
Why does Jules's father want her to stay away from the queen?
What secrets has he been keeping from her?

There's a lot of hype concerning Everless, so going into it I was worried that I wouldn't like the book as much as everyone else (which is usually what happens), but this time I wasn't disappointed!
The concept of turning blood into coins that you can melt in a drink was really interesting. I liked the stories of the Sorceress and the Alchemist.
Jules was a good protagonist, but there were times where I questioned what she was doing or things she said. However, given certain events that happened, it's understandable that Jules wouldn't be thinking straight at times.
There were several characters that I liked and I wanted to find out more about them.
The plot was very interesting. There was action and lots of twists that I didn't see coming.
The writing style made Everless very easy to read and follow.
I'm intrigued to see what happens in the next book.

Overall this was an enjoyable read.

I don't know if it was just that I was really in the mood for this sort of book or what, but I ended up really enjoying this. Maybe it does take a lot of well know YA tropes and repackage them but it does it in an interesting and entertaining way that pulls the reader in. I'm wary of pick and mix YA tropes especially after the travesty that was Red Queen but this was a good, undemanding fantasy with a likeable cast. I'll be on the lookout for book two.