In the beginning, there was an apple?Review:
And then there was a car crash, a horrible injury, and a hospital. But before Evening Spiker's head clears a strange boy named Solo is rushing her to her mother's research facility. There, under the best care available, Eve is left alone to heal.
Just when Eve thinks she will die not from her injuries, but from boredom—her mother gives her a special project: Create the perfect boy.
Using an amazingly detailed simulation, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up. Eve is creating Adam. And he will be just perfect . . . won't he?
What made me first add Eve and Adam to my wishlist was its beautiful color. There is something so simple yet eye-catching about it, and I just love the sci-fi vibe it gives off through the puzzle pieces and lightning bolt. Luckily, Eve and Adam contained much more than just a pretty cover. Fast paced, slightly romantic, and with a surplus of adventure, Eve and Adam is a book I easily devoured in one sitting!
Eve's day was going perfectly well until she started thinking about an apple - a crimson McIntosh in a sea of green Granny Smiths - on her way home from the farmer's market, and while in the middle of her thought, she gets into a tragic car accident. Sent to recover from a series of injuries in her mother's high tech, high security biotechnology company, which coincidentally has a hospital inside, Eve doesn't know what's worse: the amount of time it will probably take to recover form her injuries or the amount of boredom she's going to experience being locked away. Just as she thinks she can't handle it anymore, her mother gives her an unqiue task: create the perfect boy. Now with a technology advanced program and a surplus of time, Eve spends her days thinking about what characteristics the perfect boy would possess. However, is there more than meets the eye about the program and the company itself? Solo, an unusual boy who appeared by Eve's side the day of her accident, certainly thinks so, and he's going try everything in his power to convince Eve too.
Eve and Adam contains a wide cast of characters. The majority of the book is told through the first-person perspectives of Eve and Solo. Over the course of the book, I consistently wavered between liking Eve and not liking Eve. On one side, Eve is this great friend and someone who isn't afraid to stand up for what she believes in; however, on the other side, she was also incredibly abrasive and very serious and staunch. Some of the things she said to her best friend just blew me away, and not in the good way. I often wondered how this character who could be so good natured and seemingly wise one second could become a whiny witch the next second. Solo, on the other hand, I did like. Solo was someone who hasn't had the easiest of lives, and I was always curious to find out more about his back story, especially why he was of such great interest to Eve's mom. I also liked the fearless aspect of Solo. Like Eve, he wasn't afraid to stand up for what he believed in, and throughout the book, he showed just that, and managed to save the day in some respects...even though some of his predictions were dead wrong. The character I surprisingly clicked with the best with Eve's best friend Aislin. She was crude and downright hilarious, a great contrast to Eve's seriousness. She really managed to spice up the story!
The plot of this wasn't what I expected it to be. Going into Eve & Adam I thought it would be this big love story between Eve and her hand-made man, but instead, the majority of the book dealt with Solo's past, the sketchiness of the Eve's mom's biotech company, and Aislin's dilemmas with her on-again, off-again boyfriend. The part involving Adam didn't come until the very end, and wasn't really a love story or at least the one I was expecting. While it wasn't what I expected, I still enjoyed the plot. Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate did a great job of building up the suspense about the biotech company. Throughout the book I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out whether Eve's mom was truly as bad as she was made out to be. The end result? Didn't see it coming one bit, which is something I always enjoy. I love a good surprise. However, there was some parts of the plot I didn't think were as fleshed out as they could've been (for instance, Adam and role he will be playing moving forward).
Perfect for fans of Jenna Fox Chronicles, Eve & Adam sets up an interesting new series, and I looked forward to seeing what occurs in book two, Adam & Eve.
Grade: B
Eve & Adam (Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes and Noble) is now out in paperback, hardcover, and ebook!
Source: ARC provided by publisher - thanks Macmillan!
