Friday, June 28, 2013

ARC Review: After Eden (After Eden #1) by Helen Douglas

Sleepy town, hot aliens and the future of the Earth. After Eden has it all
Title: After Eden  
Series: After Eden  
Author: Helen Douglas
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Releases: 4th July, 2013 
 My ratings: 3 out of 5 stars
 After Eden is set in a sleepy town of Cornwall, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. It has all your quintessential small town pizza place, small school and everybody knows everybody around. The premise goes like this. New to town, Ryan is gorgeous, smart and handsome. What Eden can't figure out is why he is trying to be her friend? All the girls in the school are vying for his attention while he seems to want to spend more and more time with Eden. It also doesn't help that Connor, Eden's best friend suddenly seems to be acting weird around Ryan. It seems as if almost he is jealous. However,things don't add up around Ryan. How can he not know who Hitler was and not even know what a pizza is?

 Before I start, can I say I hate the cover. The UK and the US version are unimpressive. I'm not sure that in this age of pretty covers for YA book, this will cut an impression. But it may be just me.Despite this I read it thinking I shall not a judge a book by it's cover and my review is only based on the book and not the cover. Maybe if a second edition is published, they might consider changing the cover.

 I felt After Eden was an average YA book with lots of potential yet it failed to reach it. First of I say, I was disappointed with it. YA books set in England are hard to come by and as I heard this was set in rural Cornwall I was excited to start this. Unfortunately, it failed to impress me. The setting was there, the author was telling me all about me but she failed to show me and make me feel like I was in Cornwall,

 Furthermore, the characters seemed fairly average to me. Eden, Ryan, Connor, Megan, Amy, Miranda and a few more seemed plain and forgettable to be. I wish I had seen more character development or perhaps if the plot line was more intriguing but I saw the 'bad man' miles away and pretty much knew halfway through the book how it was going down.

 The mystery and the explanation we were given was implausible and it had a gaping hole in it too. I don't want to give details but the Grandfather Dilemma comes to mind which was addressed and even applied in the plot line apart from one main incident.

 I'm sure lots of people will enjoy this book as it describes simple life in rural England and not just London. The friendship between Connor and Eden was sweet but the romance with Ryan was even better. I enjoyed the mini astronomy lessons and the descriptions of the constellation and galaxies which made my want to take up astronomy.

After Eden may not boast elaborate fantasy world, magic, faeries, vampires or werewolves but it was a story you will be able to relate to. The emotions described were touching, tender and gave you the warm flurries within your heart. Read After Eden for light, romantic, science fiction fun and you also get to enjoy Cornwall from your sofa.  

ARC received by publisher, Bloomsbury








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