Review: Short, fun, and sweet
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 17, 2014
Eden’s spring break starts off on all the wrong notes, and I found it easy to put myself in her shoes and really feel for her. I thought she handled the situations she was put in with incredible grace, considering everything going wrong. Personally I would have freaked out way more, so I could tell from the beginning that Eden was strong and unflappable. As the book goes on you learn how smart and hardworking she is. I really admired how Eden was willing to take her vacation time and use it to help someone else.Grey is interesting as a love interest because he sends a lot of mixed signals and he's kind of a jerk in a few moments. However, in his better moments? Definite potential. I would have liked to have seen a more gradual change in him, with more time at the end to see his good side. However, with him changing and learning from his mistakes, I could really see him and Eden being good together.There are so many aspects of this book I liked. The small Texas island setting was great, and I liked the secondary characters, the locals that Eden meets. I also enjoyed Eden's business smarts and seeing the way she thinks about things. There were also models of positive female friendship, which is always a good thing. On the negative side, the romance was pretty fast moving, considering Eden just jumped out of another relationship. It felt especially quick because in one minute Eden is upset about the end of the relationship, wondering what went wrong, but then as soon as she sees how her ex is acting she acts differently. She starts to remember how bad everything was in their relationship, and how the relationship was over before it was officially over. It felt a bit like revisionist history.In many ways Kissing Eden was a beginning. Readers are left hanging to make their own conclusions about where Grey and Eden end up and how they find a way to be together. You can infer that there will be a Happily Ever After, but we’re left guessing as to the details. I don’t see this as a bad thing, necessarily, but if you like books where everything is all wrapped up you might be a bit unsatisfied.Overall? Kissing Eden is a New Adult book that’s short, fun, and sweet.