Eve (The Eve Trilogy #1) by Anna Carey

Published: October 4, 2011 by HarperTeen
Received: ARC from publisher
Order at Amazon: Eve by Anna Carey

The year is 2032, sixteen years after a deadly virus—and the vaccine intended to protect against it—wiped out most of the earth’s population. The night before eighteen-year-old Eve’s graduation from her all-girls school she discovers what really happens to new graduates, and the horrifying fate that awaits her.

Fleeing the only home she’s ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole life, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and her heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life. {taken from goodreads.com}

If you're going to purchase anything this month, make it THIS book!  I flew through this story in less than 24 hours because it was THAT good.  The suspense, intrigue, and tension is what kept me glued to the pages.  Author Anna Carey knows how to keep the reader engaged in a story, so much that you find yourself holding your breath, uncertain of what lies ahead.

Eve was taken from her mother's home when she was 5 years old and placed in a school, where she'd be brought up with the proper education to survive in this new society.  Her mother's life was taken by the virus, which so many parents were, leaving orphans behind.  Eve and a handful of other girls are separated from the boys, with thoughts being drilled in to their minds to stay away from them.  Which was not difficult to do, since they were physically unable to even reach them.  Eve and her classmates were told once they graduated, they'd be placed in another institution to help craft their trade.  Excited for the possibilities of what may lie ahead for Eve, she ventured out one night, past the gates of the school to take a peak at what this new place could hold for her.  What her eyes witnessed, the nightmarish reality of what her and the other girls' purpose was to become, horrified Eve.  She knew she had to escape.  And so one night, with the aid of a mysterious teacher, she climbed outside the school's walls, and into the wild.  Her mission was to find the west coast, a place called Califia, where she was told she'd be safe.

We first meet Eve's character as a young, bright, ambitious teenage girl.  As she slowly realizes the horror of what life is actually like outside her safe environment, bits of Eve begin to crumble away.  The rawness of what it means to survive and start over become relevant.  As Eve makes her journey west across vast barren lands, a habitat that was once filled with life, but now abandoned, she meets up with a former student named Arden who had also escaped from the school.  The two girls team up and decide to take the journey together.  Along the way, the girls encounter something they were told to stay away from their entire lives.  A boy.  This boy embodies everything they've been taught to run away from; however, Eve listens to a small piece of her heart that is telling her to follow this boy, trust this boy.  Caleb brings the girls to a safe place, where he teaches them about The Trail, an underground safe haven for people that are trying to escape the King's new society.  People just like Eve and Arden.

The relationship between Eve and Caleb was my favorite aspect of the story.  As the reader you know that Eve was told to stay away from boys, that the male species can only bring harm.  We see her struggle with this concept as she slowly realizes that all those thoughts that were pumped in to her brain were nothing but lies.  She begins to open herself up to Caleb, to trust this boy who so willingly held out a hand to her.  He begins to teach her how to survive past books and knowledge, and more on the skills of hunting and swimming.  In these lessons Caleb also learns how to let down walls and allow someone inside.  The two grow increasingly close, but the reality is that they are not safe.  Word has gotten out that Eve has escaped, and it's not the school who wants her back, but the King himself.

Eve takes off on a journey to save her life, and forms relationships with people along the way that she never knew existed.  She learns more in these few weeks of survival than she ever did all those years at the school.  The clock is ticking and Eve is constantly on the move.  As the reader you want to relish in the soft, sweet moments between Eve and Caleb; however, you also know that the King's troops could be just around the corner, ready to take Eve at any second.  My heart was racing as I flew through the last chapters of this book.  I had to know what happened next.  With my pulse racing and my mouth hung open, I was shocked by the ending.  The wait for book two is going to be excruciating.  I am 100% completely pulled in to this trilogy.  These characters, their stories, have been swirling around inside my head ever since I finished.  Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this book.  You will not be disappointed.

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