I was expecting more from the description. There were so many places this story could have gone. It was a good read but I was left feeling like there could have been more.

Here is a book that is...fine. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. I felt, given the heart-wrenching plot and capacity for so much depth of emotion, it really fell short in character development. I finished this book thinking it was a missed opportunity for so much more.

I wanted so much from this one after reading the synopsis, but when it was all over I didn't feel like it got there.

Eden is the book to read. It is awesome! With everything going on in the world right now I suggest reading this particular book because it brings light to the past and in someways helps you understand the present. Every sentence had me clinging to each word as I read. Every word had me wanting to continue reading. The author did a fantastic job. It is brilliantly sad. I loved it.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. I just reviewed Eden by Jamie Lisa Forbes. #NetGalley

'Eden' is both a coming-of-age story and a nostalgic period novel set in the 1950's. Rowen Hart, the main character of the story, is an 18-year-old boy who recently lost his father to suicide. Rowen's mother has been suffering from depression since his father passed and has barely left her bedroom, leaving Rowen with only the company of their beloved housekeeper, Adeline to guide him. After a while, you are introduced to Eden. When she testifies in court that she saw her mother's brother kill Eden's father, her mother forces her to flee their home. Eden finds refuge with Rowen, his mother, and Adeline. The relationship between Rowan and Eden is complicated from the very beginning and stays that way throughout the book. I will read this author again, as the story was great.

Thank you to the author Jamie Lisa Forbes, the publisher Pronghorn Press and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid review.

This is an excellent coming of age story about a young man who grows up in a small rural town in North Carolina in the 1950;s when blacks and whites were not treated as equals. It is a story of a young man who has amazing potential struggles to become the man that he could become. It is the story of Eden, a young wild girl who comes to live with Rowan and his mother and black housekeeper and turns their lives upside down. It is an excellent story about the struggles between who everyone thinks we should be versus what we want to be and what we end up being.

I really enjoyed this book.

Eden is a story of life in the 1950’s in North Carolina for an 18 year old boy and his family. This is written with language and ideas that were common in the south at that time. Rowen is a young man who must help his mother after his father commits suicide over too many debts. Eden is a 10 year old girl who witnessed and testified in court that her uncle killed her father. Nobody believed her and her mother kicked her out of their home. There are so many different layers in this story. I don’t want to spoil any of them for you. This story is sad at times, so have your Kleenex ready.
I received this book from NetGalley with no requirements to post a review.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088ZR5L8N?ref=cm_sw_em_r_rw_dp_zmrUdnFUcqNzx


Lorene Scheidt

Sweet but slow and not complete story. There could have been more character development. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

I am rather ambivalent about this book. The story seemed promising but the execution was not that great. It seemed to drag on and didn't really ever get moving. I found it to be rather depressing. I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review. In hindsight, it is not a book I would have purchased. Just not my kind of book.

Eden
By Jamie Lisa Forbes

A privileged life turned upside down by economics, society and time is the focus of Jamie Lisa Forbes’ novel, “Eden.” It’s a story of a boy forced to grow up too quick, and a girl who just wants to enjoy life.
It’s the 1950s in a small North Carolina town. Rowen Hart, the only child of a once wealthy businessman, finds himself, his mom and their African-American maid living in a run-down shack outside town. His dad committed suicide, and the family is left with nothing but a stingy uncle and a crooked ex-business partner.
Elsewhere in town, a young girl named Eden testifies in a murder trial that her uncle, a local banker, killed her dad, a drunk with a kind heart. No one believes the 10-year-old. When Eden runs away from home, ending up at Rowen’s home, her mom doesn’t bother to claim her.
So begins the heart-tugging story of Rowen, who gives up an education, to care for his misfit family. When life gets hard, Eden is always there as a reminder, not always a welcome one, that spirits should be free. When Eden dies as young mother, Rowen finally accepts the responsibilities that he has run from his whole life.
The author has done a wonderful job creating characters that make you care, good or bad, about their outcome. And as the cast shows, growth comes in many ways and at many ages.

When Rowan Hart's father commits suicide, his death leaves Rowan and his mother to fend for themselves with the financial ruin and gossip his death leaves behind. They move out of their house in town to a small house in the country where his mother instantly takes to her sickbed, leaving Rowan to try to rebuilt their lives. This includes his decision to not leave for university, but to stay with his mom and find work to bring in the money. At this same time, a murder trial is happening in town, where a man is accused of killing his brother-in-law. The murdered man's young daughter, Eden, witnessed the murder and yet no one believes her that it was not an accident. In the way things happened back in the 1950's, Eden was kicked out of her house by her mother, and found her way to the Hart house , where their black maid, Adeline, makes her welcome. The arrival of Eden in their home and lives leads the characters and the story down a path that is both aggravating and heartbreaking. The relationship between Rowan and Eden is complicated from the very beginning and stays that way throughout the book. Their importance to each other is overlooked and downplayed by Rowan, until it isn't. I enjoyed reading the book very much. There were other characters in the book who added much to the actual progress of the story, although more character development was sometimes needed. I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Pronghorn Pres in return for an honest review, which this has been. #Eden #NetGalley

This could have been so much more than it was. I'm from a small town in North Carolina, coincidentally Eden. Yes, I know the town isn't Eden in this book, but I still thought I would connect so much more with this than I did. Maybe I set my expectations too high, but this was a total let down.

A young man's expectations of the world change drastically when his father commits suicide and leaves the family with nothing. 1950's southern culture had clear boundaries of race and class. Rowan finds himself thrown back and forth between his life before and his life now. Jamie Lisa Forbes does an excellent job of describing his inability to accept his change of circumstances and show us how life was then. The title character, Eden, is a young girl who has testified against her uncle and finds herself with no safe place to call home until she is given shelter in Rowan's home. She is an intelligent child and will prove a catalyst for Rowan and his family to move past their misplaced ideas of how life should be. The black maid in this story is one of the stronger characters.
This story is a truly excellent one of life lived when everything you knew is taken away overnight. A "coming of age" for lack of a better description. It does wander in a few places but the overall was a very good read.

This story was heartfelt and sweet; a very young person facing losing a close family member at a time in their life that they needed guidance and not to be a caretaker and adult.

I longed for more character development and for the story to pick up it's pace more than once; overall, this is still solid, solid storytelling and Rowan's world is one very much worth exploring.

This book held a lot of promise, but it didn’t work for me. Rowen is the kind of guy who lets life happen to him and then complains when it doesn’t work out the way he hopes. There were moments of spark, where you felt a turning point was happening for him but he failed to take action every time. The author did a fine job of portraying 1950s North Carolina and all of the restrictions and expectations placed on its people, but without Eden, Rowen would just fade into the background.

Rowen Hart is a young man coming of age in the 1950's. His circumstances have recently changed, as his father committed suicide and his mother is not well and taking care of her becomes something he has to do, with the help of his previous housekeeper, whom he can no longer afford to pay.

Rowen and his mother must rely on his Uncle, who is becoming increasingly shady.

In the midst of everything going on, a young girl named Eden comes to live with them when her mother put her out because she supposedly lied in court about what she saw the day her father was murdered.

Rowen doesn't really know what to make of Eden, but soon comes to care for her

The story follows Rowen and Eden into adulthood as their lives take them in different direction.s.

This is a beautiful and interesting story, and I highly recommend it.

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book!

This book is very atmospheric of the South 1950. You feel it in your core....The characters come to life and will stay with you long after you finish reading of them.
Many thanks to Pronghorn Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I wanted to like this book, but it was disjointed with a number of different directions to the plot. enjoyed story well enough to finish it. I enjoyed the characters and the many themes the book tackled.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Rowen Hart has his young life turned upside down when his father commits suicide. A recent high school graduate, Rowen had no specific plans but had taken comfort on the predictability of his life. His father's suicide and financial upset places Rowen in unfamiliar territory where he now has responsibilities and decisions to make. The southern small town setting where color of skin and societal rules dictate everyone's life serves as the frame for this novel.

A murder trial in his hometown is a bigger scandal than his father's death so Rowen determines he must go. On the witness stand is a young girl, Eden, who describes the murder of her father at the hands of her uncle, her mother's brother. Her father was a drunken ne'er do well while her uncle runs the bank. Town opinion and the jury declare Eden has lied, setting the stage for events that follow.

Despite their sudden decrease in wealth and social stature, Rowen, his mother, and Adeline, their black maid, take Eden in when she runs away from her mother. Adeline manages the household and she epitomizes grit and forbearance. Eden is a handful but there is something mesmerizing about her. The bond forged between Rowen and Eden is bumpy and frequently dismissed but that relationship becomes the most important one for Rowen's life. Years pass, marriages and children happen, but Rowen's link to Eden remains firm even when he tries to ignore it.

There's a tremendous amount of sadness here - unfulfilled potential, outright racism, and a focus on what others might think cause characters to go against their true needs and beliefs. Often characters don't allow themselves to speak or act truly so happiness is just out of reach. Forbes sets a place and a time that reeks of pain and uncertainty. A very enjoyable read.
#NetGalley #Eden

I received a complimentary digital copy of this arc book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I have mixed emotions after reading this book. It took me in many directions with many themes. I wanted to give it 4 stars but the story felt disjointed and addressed several themes which never felt complete. There were several gaps where the story would advance several years many the book seem longer.

The setting is White Rock, NC in the 1950’s with racial segregation and affluent white entitlement prevailed. Rowan Hart was born into a prominent family in White Rock with privilege and dreams of a university education. It isn’t long before the failures of Rowan’s father are unveiled leaving him desperate and humiliated. After Rowan’s father commits suicide, he and his mother Rita are left destitute and forced to move into a shack outside of town.

Rita’s brother, Hugh, was his father’s business partner for many years and felt obliged to maintain financial support to his sister and nephew. Everyone in the story seems to have their own secrets and intentions for their behavior. Uncle Hugh isn’t as generous as he would like his family to believe. The town relishes only in the gossip which supports the best scenario above the truth.

Life changes dramatically for Rowan Hart when one day 11 year old Eden Whitney shows up with suitcase in hand at the door. The feisty child had been called to testify in court that she witnessed her Uncle Franklin shoot her father. Her mother Coman is appalled as is the rest of the town calling the child a liar by bringing such disgrace upon her family.

The Hart household is held firmly together by the determination of the long time housekeeper, Adeline. With Rita depressed and bedridden, Rowan starts working at a Mr Sawyer’s tobacco field where he meets Sammy. Rowan and Sammy develop an awkward friendship due to their racial differences. Rowan works hard over the years to regain the reputation and economic status his family once had awakening him to the prejudices that surround it.

The story becomes more complicated as it travels down the road jumping ahead to Rowan marrying Jewell and having children. The history of Eden and her future life choices as well as Sammy. In a small town it seems that history of the community are entangled which only becomes more complicated as the years go on.

I enjoyed the story but about half way through I became confused as to the direction in which the story was leading. It felt like it started to fray around the edges and lacked the structure to fully bring it back into focus. The themes were strong and relevant addressing barriers and misconceptions of racial and socioeconomic discrimination which fall on all people.

3.5 stars
A coming of age story wrapped up in Southern Lit. Set in the 1950's, Rowen Hart was the son of a prominent family without much asked of him except to go to college as all the wealthy boys did. When his father commits suicide due to financial woes, Rowen is ill-equipped to face the challenges of providing for his mother when they lose everything and end up in the poor end of town in something similar to cabin. In addition to his total lack of life skills, Rowen is forced to accept into his home a distant "kin" in the likes of Eden, a young girl that has no social skills who witnessed a murder. As time passes, Eden weaves in and out of Rowen's life which seems to go no where and his happiness remains elusive throughout the book until he is able to finally throw off the familial restraints. His contentment, if not happiness, is a long time in coming.