Eve & Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

4.5/5 stars

Synopsis from Good Reads:

"In the beginning, there was an apple -

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?"

Please note - I try to keep all spoilers to a minimum... but there will be some! Read at your own risk.

Continue after the break for my review!
I need to be honest - I tried to read Eve & Adam as soon as I got it (received via Shelf Awareness over the summer) but the synopsis put me off. An Adam and Eve retelling? A girl building her perfect boy? What the... I was seriously resigned to putting the book on my shelf and hoping that a friend would ask to borrow it... and forget to ask for it back. Thank God I gave it a chance. Not reading the back cover/synopsis is quickly becoming one of my cardinal rules of reading. More often than not, the synopsis has NOTHING to do with what the book is about. Eve & Adam is a prime example of this.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's quickly talk about what happens in this book -

Like the synopsis said, Evening Spiker was involved in a seriously terrible car accident and, minutes after coming out of a 14 hour surgery, a boy named Solo whisks her away to her mother's research facility. And yes, as a remedy for mind crushing boredom, Terra Spiker allows her daughter to play around with one of her facility's newest projects - a computer program that simulates how to build a human. Think the Sims... but on the DNA scale. Eve spends hours tweaking genes that controls eye color and muscle tone... and even how this simulated human thinks.

But Eve & Adam is about so much more.

While Eve is recovering, she forms a friendship with Solo - an orphaned boy who inexplicably lives at her mother's research facility. The two spend a lot of time together and quickly begin forming feelings towards each other. But meeting a person his own age, let alone a girl... let alone developing feelings for this girl, was definitely not in Solo's plans - plans to reveal the horrible monstrosities that Terra Spiker and her team have created in the name of science to the world.

So, what did I think about this book?

Holy freaking crap.... I loved, loved, loved this book!

First and foremost, I loved the characters. Eve is an interesting main character - finally we have a heroine who doesn't have the Bella Swan syndrome (cookie cutter female heroine - doesn't think she's beautiful or anything special and completely obsesses over a guy). Eve is spunky and opinionated and smart. She has her own voice and uses it, loudly. Eve and Solo have such a great chemistry with each other... They lean on each other and grow with each other... Please don't misunderstand me - I love a good romance as much as the next girl... but it was such a breath of fresh air to read a book where the romance is not the sole focus of the plot. Yes, Eve & Adam definitely has a romantic aspect but the romance takes the backseat.

I also loved the pacing of the book - that is, break neck speed. It felt that every page was jam packed with action scenes or big plot revels that kept me on the edge of my seat. I wanted to know what was going on and why. I haven't felt so actively engaged in a YA book in such a long time. I don't know guys. This book was just awesome.

The only reason that I didn't give Eve & Adam a full 5/5 stars was the ending. Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate wrapped a giant, unresolved mess up into happy ending in a matter of paragraphs... and I hate that. It felt like the book went from the characters not understanding anything anymore (because of crazy plot twists) to all hugging each other and walking off into the sunset. Okay, that didn't actually happen... but you get what I'm saying.

I will DEFINITELY be reading the sequel!

Have you read Eve & Adam? What did you think?

Happy reading!