Review: After Eden by Helen Douglas

After Eden (After Eden #1) 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.

Publishes in US: November 7th 2013 by Bloomsbury Childrens Books
Genre: YA Scifi
Source: Bloomsbury via Netgalley
Series? Yes. After Eden #1

Chasing Stars (After Eden, #2) June 5th 2014 by Bloomsbury Childrens Books

Douglas, Helen *

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    I love the premise of these kinds of books, time travel and mystery boys, I mean, how can you go wrong? Well, luckily Ms. Douglas didn't allow me to find out, because it was amazing. I got hooked right from the beginning, and really appreciated Ryan as a love interest, the friendship between Eden, Connor and Megan

    I connected with Eden as well. I am similar in personality to her, not the most popular, but on the fringes of all the groups. She is a normal teen, and easy to relate to. She is practical, and she handles stress admirably. 

    I also appreciated the setting. We are in Britian for a change, and that adds a new spin on a few things. 

    Ryan was funny, thoughtful and I wanted to know everything about him. Since he was obviously hiding things, it was my mission (well, maybe I needed Eden to help a little) to find out what. I wanted to know why he didn't know about pizza, as well as the reason he doesn't know who figures like Hitler were. Of course, I knew some because of the old synopsis, but not everything. The romance was sweet, and I had to wonder how it was going to work out as I did uncover some of the mysteries. But I was definitely rooting for it to work one way or another. He was attentive to Eden, he

    I did feel for Connor. I like the easy friendship and trust that he had with Eden, but unfortunately I couldn't root for him. It was obvious to me that he liked Eden more than friends, how she saw him only, but I def understand why Eden wouldn't see him that way. They grew up together, and she didn't want their comfortable to change. She saw him as the boy he used to be. I wish that he could've been in love with someone else, because he is a good guy and I want good things for him. I do wish that he wouldn't have been so rude and mean to Ryan, but I can see where he is coming from with that. 

     The world building was fine. I understood all of the concepts but that is not why I like it, everything being well explained and deeply rooted in science. I am all there for the premise, the execution, the romance and the entertainment. But I wasn't confused, and it seemed like it is within the realm of possibility in the scifi sense. 

   Some of the twists I actually saw coming, but it didn't mess anything up for me. 

   The ending was sweet, and it tied everything up well. I can see where the next book is heading, because there is hint of the next conflicts, but It was hea even more than I expected because I didn't know how they would pull it off. 

Bottom Line: Quick read with sweet romance.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Do you think that messing with time is okay for any reason?