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.
When new boy Ryan starts at the local school in Perran, Cornwall, it’s evident that there’s something different about him. I mean, who doesn’t know what pizza is? The novel follows the story of Eden Anfield and her friends and explores the subjects of relationships, friendships…and time travel.
Although a little predictable in places, After Eden was enjoyable and I zoomed through it; I couldn’t put it down! Eden was a likeable main character and I found her easy to read about. She’s definitely a character who I wouldn’t mind reading about again.
Regarding the romance in the book, I found myself veering towards “Team Connor.” I just thought that Eden and Connor were a better pairing than Eden and Ryan. Ryan was different to a lot of the many male characters out there now though so it was quite a nice change and I didn’t dislike him in any way, it’s just that I thought Connor and Eden should end up together.
I learnt a great deal from this novel and astronomy plays a huge part. I don’t know a lot about the stars but I’ve always enjoyed learning about the solar system in science so it was really nice to read about and it was obvious that Douglas knew what she was writing about.
I’ll definitely be reading the next book because I do want to know what happens to Eden, Ryan and Connor. This is book that I would be sure to recommend.
8 Comments
Zoe Crook
17 June, 2013 at 10:44 amI have this for review and now I’m really eager to read it! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Ryan sounds like an interesting character – who doesn’t know about pizza?!
Thanks for sharing, Lucy! I hope Connor is another book boyfriend to add to the list 😀
Rebekah Campbell
17 June, 2013 at 11:33 amWooooop! This one is on my TBR as well and it sounds great! Shame Ryan wasn’t really a swoony book boyfriend but it sounds fun anyway 😀
maya
17 June, 2013 at 4:28 pmGlad you enjoyed this! I was personally quite surprised to learn that there would be a sequel because I thought the story wrapped up quite well at the end of book one. I don’t feel a burning desire to read the next book but I probably will anyway just to see what happens with Eden and Ryan. And I know what you mean about the predictability! Lovely review 🙂
Sophie Louise
17 June, 2013 at 6:01 pmI LOVED this one too! And cannot wait until the sequel! Great review Lucy!
Anya
18 June, 2013 at 2:32 pmOoh, sounds interesting! Haven’t actually seen this before, but does look like a good mystery sort of book. And who doesn’t like a couple more great fictional guys? 😉
Eileen
19 June, 2013 at 2:31 amEek I really don’t enjoy predictability a lot of the time, but I can usually make an exception when it has a lot of other stuff going for it, like the astronomy and Connor sounds really swoony, even if I haven’t really met Ryan yet. I’m not sure how I feel about love triangles yet, because it varies from book to book and how it fits into the story for me. Fantastic review, Lucy!
Beverley
23 June, 2013 at 1:54 pmI love that this book is set in Cornwall – I seriously adore that place <3 The idea of astronomy really fascinates me and I'm curious to see how this book will pan out for me if I decide to pick it up. I'm glad you loved it enough to want to read more and it must be good if you gave it 4 crowns right?
Lovely review, Lucy!
RB Reviews: After Eden | The Reflections of a Bookworm
25 December, 2013 at 11:21 pm[…] not have worked for me in any way, shape or form but Aa'Ishah from Reading Under the Stars and Lucy from Queen of Contemporary had a lot better luck than […]