Review: A Season of Eden
Author: J.M Warwick
No of Pages: 234
Release Date: 20 October 2008
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.
My Thoughts:
A Season of Eden is fluff, about as significant as the fluff on Leesa’s head
We follow the story of Eden, a senior in her last year of high school. Taking music class because it is an “Easy A” she doesn’t expect there to be a last minute change in teachers. Replacing the old teacher is Mr. Christian a vibrant, passionate, young man who brings the love for music back into the music group.
The first time Eden sees Mr. Christian she falls for him, not in the normal “crush” way, but in what she thinks is love. That there is understandable, what’s not is Mr. James Christian’s reaction, after working so hard during school, taking extra classes so he could get into college sooner, pushing away everything in his life to focus on getting to where he wants to be, he literally throws it all away for some chick he just met by meeting up with her for coffee. I’m sorry, but that just isn’t believable.
Eden as a character I liked. She wasn’t an exceptional stand-out but she was higher up on the maturity scale than some. She’s had hardship, losing her mother, subsequently losing her father to another woman in his own grief, the depression that followed that. But for all the hardship that Eden seems to have gone through, she hasn’t become a better person because of it.
James as a character I liked because of the hotness factor, but that is about it. For being a teacher, he is extremely immature, even more immature than his students. Not only did he put his job on the line by seeing one of his students, when he was around Eden, he acted like a child. The killer for me was when he blamed their age difference for their problems.
Uh, excuse me, 4 years isn’t a difference, if you had paid attention in Physical Development you’d know that she is technically as old in the brain as you are. Only immature people blame age and it really annoyed me that he would use an excuse like that, just because he realised too late that he was in over his head.
There was no growth in any of the characters, a relationship never blossomed between the mains in my opinion, it was just a lot of sneaking around and frustrating arguments. Eden didn’t grow even when she had the chance, she was still as nasty to Leesa as before, even after finding out that Leesa was sick again, she still didn’t care. Her “best friend” was a backstabber, latching on to Eden’s ex and then after catching him cheating, still falling all over herself to be noticed by him.
Whilst enjoying the writing (even though the excessive use of the word “retard” grated on my nerves) and the story during the time that I was reading A Season of Eden, I came out of it extremely unfulfilled and empty. While I refuse to give spoilers...the ending was crap, following in the footsteps of the entire plot, nothing happened. There was no closure, and it was disappointing.
