Thursday 7 November 2013

Book Review: After Eden by Helen Douglas


Eden Anfield loves puzzles, so when mysterious new boy Ryan Westland shows up at her school she's hooked. On the face of it, he's a typical American teenager. So why doesn't he recognise pizza? And how come he hasn't heard of Hitler? What puzzles Eden the most, however, is the interest he's taking in her.

As Eden starts to fall in love with Ryan, she begins to unravel his secret. Her breakthrough comes one rainy afternoon when she stumbles across a book in Ryan's bedroom - a biography of her best friend - written over fifty years in the future. Confronting Ryan, she discovers that he is there with one unbelievably important purpose ... and she might just have destroyed his only chance of success.

Generally speaking I quite enjoyed After Eden. It didn’t blow me away and I have read better time travel YA’s this year but I found this entertaining and I finished it in one evening.

I love reading British YA and frankly there is not enough of it in the market at the moment so it was nice to read about a place I was familiar with for a change. Another plus was that this book was set in Cornwall which has to be one of my favourite places in the world. I found it easy to get lost in this book because I could picture the crashing waves, golden sands and rolling hills of Cornwall.

The plot was decent enough, it was a simpler version of the whole time traveling thing than say All our Yesterdays but it was still intriguing enough. There were a few times where I found it a little predictable but it didn’t really ruin the read. The pace was quick and it was an easy read that maybe lacked a little depth but had a good amount of atmosphere.

The characters were generic but nice. Eden had a few issues with keeping secrets but apart

from that she was quite likable. I liked how she dealt with all the weird stuff going on around her and felt she was fairly grounded. She could have used a little more personality and originality, to be honest she was a few degrees away from being a Bella Swan but still I liked her. Ryan was nice, he was smart and sensible but not all that devastating. It seemed like girls were constantly flocking around him and he was perfectly nice but didn’t really have the hot factor. He was just a really good guy but was not more interesting than that.

I liked the romance, and liked that it wasn’t rushed. I felt like these characters fell in love instead of getting caught in insta-love. Sure it was still fast but it was towards the end of the book instead of the beginning when these feelings were acted upon. This book ended well and I liked where Helen Douglas chose to finish it in regards to the romance and the plot. Everything was tied up well whilst setting up the plot for the next book in the series.


After Eden is far from perfect but it is an entertaining read that I enjoyed. I will definitely be checking out the next book in this series.

3 stars


Published November 2013 by Bloomsbury Childrens Book.  A free copy of this book was provided for review.  All images were taken from Goodreads
Written by Kate Phillips


  

1 comment:

  1. The biggest problem I had with After Eden was the actual plot, though it's there and you have the facts, I just wanted a bit more, I guess I was spoiled with All Our Yesterdays. I liked the characters enough, just didn't really care about them, but like you said, Eden definitely needed more of a personality, she was a little bland. Overall, there was just nothing that stood out, for me, it was okay, just wasn't memorable. Great review! :)

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