Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate
Release Date – October 2, 2012
Publisher Website –  Feiwel & Friends/Raincoast Books
Publisher Social Media -  Twitter
Pages - 304 pages
My Rating- 4/5
**obtained from publisher via BEA for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Evening Spiker lives an affluent life in San Francisco with her mother, EmmaRose, a successful geneticist and owner of Spiker Biotech. Sure, Evening misses her father who died mysteriously, but she’s never really questioned it. Much like how she’s never stopped to think how off it is that she’s never been sick. That is, until she’s struck by a car and is exposed to extensive injuries. Injuries that seem to be healing faster than physically possible.

While recuperating in Spiker Biotech’s lush facilities, she meets Solo Plissken, a very attractive, if off-putting boy her age who spent his life at Spiker Biotech. Like Evening, he’s never questioned anything... until now. Solo drops hints to Evening that something isn’t right, and Emma-Rose may be behind it. Evening puts this out of her mind and begins her summer internship project: To simulate the creation of the perfect boy. With the help of Solo, Evening uncovers secrets so big they could change the world completely.

Evening Spiker is given the task to create the perfect boy. Build everything from his looks, to personality using DNA and make him whatever she wishes him to be. In this captivating read science mixes with some enjoyable plot twists to create a quick, entertaining read.

Evening, the intelligent and rebellious daughter of renowned scientist Emma-Rose Spiker, was a character I enjoyed. She was determined, and I felt her reactions to things were fraught with real emotion. Her relationship with her mother is strained due to constant clashes. One of my favourite parts of the novel was seeing the relationship between Evening and her mother change as more information was revealed.

Evening meets Solo, a young sort of employee of her mother's company.An angry young man who lost his parents at a young age. Their banter was humorous and I enjoyed their interactions. He serves to help open Evening's eyes to the more sinister secrets of  Spiker Biotech.

Evening's best friend Aislin is a secondary part to the story. Fiercely loyal to each other, the friendship between them was rather sweet. I felt like Aislin's side story took time away from the larger story however. It was a nice change from the usual to have the best friend know everything right away and be so involved.

Adam, the other figure in the title has much less page time and is therefore more of a mystery. I wanted to know more about him immediately. He is introduced later in the story, and yet is the driving force of everything. His importance will be an even larger part to the sequel and I am looking forward to getting to know more about this character.

In this type of story the characters do almost take a back seat to the plot. It's filled with family drama, secrets, illegal experiments and hidden agendas. Family secrets are the main source of conflict in the novel. The stakes for everyone involved are high, and this does create a feeling of unease. A few twists and turns make for a fast page turner that was hard to put down.

Those leery of science fiction can rest assured that this novel is more sci-fi light than hardcore science fiction. The characters and emotions are the main focus. The science fiction aspect does tantalize with thought provoking themes of what it means to be alive, and how far science should go in manipulating DNA. The very idea of creating a human being to be perfect is chilling and this comes across rather well. The testing of new scientific discoveries and if the failed attempts are worth the cost is also touched up.

The novel has some ties to the original biblical story with forbidden knowledge, and the creation of humans.The authors have written a fun thrilling novel that offers even the most reluctant science fiction readers a chance to dip their toes into the genre