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A review by melodicfate
Escape from Eden by Elisa Nader
4.0
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.*
I picked up this book, because it was about a girl who wanted to escape the cult her mother joined six years prior to the start of the story. I just thought that this would make for a really interesting and different read to the usual YA book. Thankfully, I was right. It was a book filled with suspense, some romance, and an underlying theme of family.
I liked Mia as a heroine. It was easy to see she was stubborn and strong. She had a fierce love for her brother, and a lot of frustration towards her mother. I always understood why she felt the way she did, and never thought she had any moments where I thought she was being annoying. I appreciated that when Gabriel came along, Mia didn't change her life around to suit him. She always did what she had to in order to survive, even when it meant going against his ideas.
Speaking of Gabriel, I did like him. He was charming, funny, and very sarcastic. I have to admit to liking that last bit. He helped make the story be less dark than it was. His backstory was so awful, and I felt terrible for him when it finally was revealed. However, it helped make Gabriel a more complex and three-dimensional character.
The side characters in this book were interesting. My feelings for so many of them changed throughout the course of the novel, and I thought that the characterization was really well-done. Between Mia's mother, Aliyah, and the Reverend, my feelings changed significantly from the beginning to the end of the story. I don't think I necessarily had any favorite characters apart from the main characters, but I definitely did love to hate Bridgette. She did become a bit more understandable near the end, but I never did totally like her.
As for the plot, I thought it was very interesting. As the synopsis suggests, it was about Mia trying to escape Edenton, and then it became about saving everyone from there as well. There was some action, and suspense as Mia had to try to not be caught and punished. There were some romantic scenes between Mia and Gabriel, which I liked since I thought they made a good couple. And there were some crazy parts, where you saw how brainwashed the Reverend's flock were. I think that those parts had the most impact upon me, since that kind of thing has happened in real life.
Therefore, I thought that this book was very good. It was a love story, a suspense novel, and it was about how cults can impact people. I thought that everything blended together nicely, and I was never bored. I got out of my thankfully short reading slump, and I definitely recommend this book to any YA reader looking for something different.
I picked up this book, because it was about a girl who wanted to escape the cult her mother joined six years prior to the start of the story. I just thought that this would make for a really interesting and different read to the usual YA book. Thankfully, I was right. It was a book filled with suspense, some romance, and an underlying theme of family.
I liked Mia as a heroine. It was easy to see she was stubborn and strong. She had a fierce love for her brother, and a lot of frustration towards her mother. I always understood why she felt the way she did, and never thought she had any moments where I thought she was being annoying. I appreciated that when Gabriel came along, Mia didn't change her life around to suit him. She always did what she had to in order to survive, even when it meant going against his ideas.
Speaking of Gabriel, I did like him. He was charming, funny, and very sarcastic. I have to admit to liking that last bit. He helped make the story be less dark than it was. His backstory was so awful, and I felt terrible for him when it finally was revealed. However, it helped make Gabriel a more complex and three-dimensional character.
The side characters in this book were interesting. My feelings for so many of them changed throughout the course of the novel, and I thought that the characterization was really well-done. Between Mia's mother, Aliyah, and the Reverend, my feelings changed significantly from the beginning to the end of the story. I don't think I necessarily had any favorite characters apart from the main characters, but I definitely did love to hate Bridgette. She did become a bit more understandable near the end, but I never did totally like her.
As for the plot, I thought it was very interesting. As the synopsis suggests, it was about Mia trying to escape Edenton, and then it became about saving everyone from there as well. There was some action, and suspense as Mia had to try to not be caught and punished. There were some romantic scenes between Mia and Gabriel, which I liked since I thought they made a good couple. And there were some crazy parts, where you saw how brainwashed the Reverend's flock were. I think that those parts had the most impact upon me, since that kind of thing has happened in real life.
Therefore, I thought that this book was very good. It was a love story, a suspense novel, and it was about how cults can impact people. I thought that everything blended together nicely, and I was never bored. I got out of my thankfully short reading slump, and I definitely recommend this book to any YA reader looking for something different.