A review by thebookishren
Evergreen by Devin Greenlee

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow. First, let me congratulate Devin Greenlee on a superb debut novel! I’ve never read anything like this and I was hooked from the first page. A true YA fantasy novel with vivid descriptions, simple (mostly) sentence structure, and so much imagination.

𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒚𝒂𝒅’𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒏𝒐 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍, 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚.

Quill is a seventeen year old who also happens to be the only male dryad ever born. He spends his days tending his family’s magical garden and he’s desperate to find freedom outside his life. Then one night he meets Liam, the new boy who moves in next door and things start to happen. Someone is breaking into the garden and Quill begins to fall in love, all while sneaking out and finding his freedom.

The suspense lasted until about 80% and then BAM, everything happens. I actually liked the pace because we got to watch the bond between Quill and Liam grow and develop. It was so innocent and sweet!

“𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒕. 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑. 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.”

There were a handful of plot holes or mistakes. A time discrepancy once or twice and while I really enjoyed the ending, I wouldn’t have minded a few more chapters wrapping everything up a bit more solidly. Regardless, this was a fantastic debut and I can’t wait to see what Devin gives us in the future.  

𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘦: January 16, 2024

𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚. 𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮.