The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going

Evie reluctantly moves with her widowed father to Beaumont, New York, where he has bought an apple orchard, dismissing rumors that the town is cursed and the trees haven't borne fruit in decades. Evie doesn't believe in things like curses and fairy tales anymore--if fairy tales were real, her mom would still be alive. But odd things happen in Beaumont. Evie meets a boy who claims to be dead and receives a mysterious seed as an eleventh-birthday gift. Once planted, the seed grows into a tree overnight, but only Evie and the dead boy can see it--or go where it leads. The Garden of Eve mixes spine-tingling chills with a deeply resonating story that beautifully explores grief, healing, and growth.

Reason for Reading: Once Upon a Time III Challenge, New Author Challenge.

Title and author of book: The Garden of Eve by K.L. Going

Fiction or non-fiction? Genre? Young adult fantasy.

What led you to pick up this book? Debi bought a copy for the Read-a-thon. I looked it up, thought it looked interesting, so I got it from the library.

Summarize the plot, but don’t give away the ending! See above...

What did you like most about the book? The best way to sum up this book was that it was a sweet, little book. In some ways, I felt like I had read it before. It is not ground-breaking in terms of subject matter, but it was still a really good book. It was one of my favourite reads back in the month that I read it. I think everyone wishes that we could escape from the 'real world' from time to time. If we didn't than computers, television, video games, etc. would not be as popular as they are in society. This book is in essence about escape. It could mirror what society is trying to do everyday. It also shows how escaping is not all that it is cut out to be. There are reprecussions for everything that we do. I also loved the symbolism and the relation to fairy tales. I am a big fan of fairy tales to begin with, so that whole idea really interested me!

What did you like least? On the one hand, I enjoyed the predictability, but on the other hand, it was a bit too much at times. The book was also probably a bit too sweet for me. And, you know that everything is going to work out in the end. What that means might not be apparent without reading it, but just looking at the book and reading the description you can basically figure that out. I think I need a surprise from time to time. I found that there was no mystery for me.

Have you read any other books by this author? What did you think of those books? First one, but I would like to read more from her!

What did you think of the main character? The main character in this book is Evie. By the time that she is telling this story, her mother has died and she has moved to the middle of nowhere with her father. He is a bit lost on what to do now that he is without his wife, but he is trying to make the best of things. When Evie flashes back to the scenes with her mother, I love her. She sounds like me when I was a little girl. Now, though, she can be a bit annoying, but it is just in relation to how her world has become broken and she has no idea how to fix it. She was very close to her mother and you can tell that she misses her. She has also lost that spark of childhood. That belief in the magic that leads children to believe in fairy tales. She is just trying to grow up too fast, which is something that I have noticed in a lot of today's 'youth'. I think Going has really touched on something with Evie that anyone can relate to.

What about the ending? I found the ending about predictable, but it worked for the book, so I am not going to complain about it. I hope I didn't seem like I didn't like this book, because I did, but I didn't love it.