Adapting Eden

Adapting Eden (Saving the Pearls, #2)
by Victoria Foyt

Published January 25, 2012

This book was provided by the publisher, Sand Dollar Press Inc., in exchange for an honest review.

In the sequel to the award-winning, dystopian novel, Revealing Eden, Eden Newman must adapt into a hybrid human beast if she hopes to become Ronson Bramford’s mate. She has no choice but to undergo her father’s adaptation experiment at his makeshift laboratory in the last patch of rainforest. But when the past rears its ugly head, Eden and Bramford must abandon camp along with their family and friends. Luckily, an Aztec tribe that has survived with the aid of a healing plant provides them with sanctuary—or is it? Too late, Eden realizes she is at the center of an epic spiritual battle between love and war. To survive, she must face her deepest fears or lose everything, including the beastly man she loves.

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It's taken a lot of thought to decide where to start with this review. So let me say, I somewhat enjoyed the first book -- there were aspects that were fairly interesting, although they were slightly hidden.

This second installment was very hard for me to get through, and I'm not sure if it was the book itself or the fact that I was trying to read it while I was ill. So I put the book on hold, and finished it once I was feeling better. And I had to make myself get to the last page.

Ms. Foyt takes a lot of things to the extreme here. The fanatical racism (even if it IS reversed). The whiny, selfish teenager. The endless quotes from "Aunt Emily" Dickinson. The weirdness of a girl who is looking forward to her wedding getting naked with a girl she just met, and enjoying all the snuggling and fondling that follows. Eden's anger that her fiance doesn't trust her, and her hypocrisy when she does everything to blow his trust in her.

Not that everything was bad. The Aztec culture was interesting, and if the book had focused on different things, I think it could have been good. But it also would have been a different book. Overall, the good didn't come close to out-weighing the cons.

My final thoughts: I thought the first book had potential. The second book kinda ruined it.

2/5 stars