After Eden by Helen Douglas
Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
3 out of 5 stars
Format: EGalley (available from 7th November 2013)
The After Eden cover called to me and I answered.
The book opens with a boy named Connor being rejected at a dance by his female friend. We then go back in time to several months before the rejection and meet Eden, Connor’s best friend (and presumably the girl who rejects him). Connor and Eden are in Year 11 and about to take their GCSES (yes its set in England, yey!) when new guy Ryan shows up. Eden and Ryan are drawn together, much to Connor’s annoyance and Eden starts to notice strange things about Ryan, he doesn’t know who Hitler is or what Pizza is…..the truth soon outs and Eden is caught up between her best friend, the guy she likes and the fate of the world.
After Eden has everything, and its almost impossible for me to tell you about any of it without spoiling everything! There’s some degree of instalove between Eden and Ryan but for once the author holds back from the gushing teen love and leaves it at attraction for the most part. The majority of the book leads up to that night we first meet Connor, but not in the way you think, the story revolves around fate and how if we are destined to do something we will, regardless of how many things change, or will we?
Like I said, without spilling the beans its difficult to critique the book, Eden’s reaction to Ryan’s revelations is unbelievable, and not realistic at all (but then this is a science fiction story). But on the whole, the characters are pretty well written, engaging and there’s nobody you don’t really like.
The twists were fairly obvious to the reader, but that added to the enjoyment for me, seeing Eden being so blind to things and wanting to slap her. The action scene(s) were brilliantly set up and you really felt for Eden as she tries to escape. But the scene that stole the book is also one I can’t talk about, but the simplify of Eden’s actions and the others reactions was brilliant, no need for big budget non-believable scenes here, teenage girl-isms were enough.
Overall a good, fun read and a series I’d be interested in following some more. Douglas’ debut is a fast paced, enthralling read that leaves me wanting to read more of her work. The book can stand alone but leaves it open enough for sequels to come in (and I hope they do). Not the best book in the genre, but extra points for a british setting and normal, every day characters. Twisting fate and the impact one moment can have on the future, into the story was fun and opened up a lot of doors for paradoxes and time twists……
ARC/Egalley kindly provided by Net galley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
George's Books and Bits! 
Sometimes all you need is just a good fluff book to just enjoy its storyline. That’s what this books sounds like. I do have to comment on the cover, which is to say… ummm, that’s not a very appealing cover for me.
it was good fun, and thats all you need after some of these heavy mind-messing books