A Season of Eden by Janenifer Laurens
Publisher: Grove Creek Publishing (FP: October 20, 2008)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 248 pages
Source: Author (Thank You!)
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
He's my teacher. I shouldn't be alone with him. But I can't help that he's irresistible.
I let the door silently close at my back. He stared at me, and a taut quiet stretched between us."I like hearing you play," I said, moving toward him. He turned, in sync with my slow approach. He looked up at me but didn't say anything. I rested my clammy hand on the cold, slick body of the baby grand."May I?" The muscles in his throat shifted, then he swallowed."Eden." My knees weakened, like a soft tickling kiss had just been blown against the backs of them."Is it okay?" I asked. His gaze held mine like two hands joined. He understood what I was really asking."Let me stay," I said."Please.""You're going to get me in trouble," he said.
Review: If there's one thing I know about Janenifer Laurens it is that she has some awesome book ideas! Although A Season of Eden can contain a subject matter that makes some people uncomfortable, Janenifer presented it in a way that didn't turn off the reader. Eden is 18 and James (the teacher) is 22. Eden seems to have the perfect life but that is only from the outside. Inside, Eden is lonely and tired of the drama of school and home.
When new teacher, Mr. Christian, starts teaching her Concert Choir class, Eden is immediately smitten with him. She begins by flirting with him during class and notices that he may even like her too. The innocent student/teacher relationship soon builds to be something else that James never expected.
Eden did remind me of someone who may"want what they can't have" at first. I think that as the story progressed we could see a deeper side of her and realize that maybe she did enjoy being around James for the right reasons. She was a bit stalkerish throughout the story and sometimes I felt that even without that, James would have liked her. In a way she tried too hard to grab his attention. But I did enjoy Eden's confidence and courage. Her friends seem to only represent her old life; the life before James. For that reason, Eden didn't seem to really miss them once she started focusing on James.
James was a wonderful character. He wasn't perfect, and had horribly style, but he was fun and passionate about music. I wish the story had given a little more detail about his life. This book needs a sequel or something! It was really a wonderful start for their relationship and I kept wondering what would happen next.
A Season of Eden paints a beautiful picture of a forbidden romance. Janenifer made a difficult topic enjoyable for the reader. I'm excited to read more from her!
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