Reviewed by Dianna Geers for TeensReadToo.com

Evie's mother used to make up stories for her. They were magical, beautiful, and so terribly missed when her mother died. Evie is miserable without her mother, and her father decides to sell the home their family had once shared and move onto an apple orchard. That only makes life more miserable for Evie.

The apple orchard is grey, the trees are all dead, and they haven't produced fruit in years. Evie's father is busy beyond belief working in the orchard. That leaves Evie with endless hours of time alone. In the cemetery she meets a boy who tells her his name is Alex. Except Alex is the little boy from their new town who died. His gravestone is right there.

Evie begins to spend more and more time with Alex. She also receives a mysterious seed that grows into a tree overnight. And that tree produces apples. Apples that, when bitten, take Evie and Alex to a magical place--lush plants and life are everywhere. It's exactly like the town they live in now, except everything is beautiful. Plants are growing everywhere. Father's orchard is growing well; beautiful curtains are on her house. It is the way it would be if her mother lived there.

Is this the place where her mother told her she'd meet her? She said that after she died, she'd wait for Evie in a beautiful garden. Evie had given up on all of that magic and nonsense. But, maybe, just maybe, she'll find her mother. But why does Alex keep running around? What is it that he's looking for so desperately? And won't her father be worried about her?

Should she stay in this beautiful place? Should she go back? Is this where Alex is supposed to stay? Should she leave without him?

It's difficult to explain the complexity of THE GARDEN OF EVE. It is beautiful, painful, and I wasn't even able to convey the suspense and surprises that fill the pages without giving away too much of the story. This book is sad. It is hopeful. It is magical. This will be another award-winner for the author, K. L. Going. ( )

Good fantasy book about a girl who misses her mother and plants a magical tree. ( )

Yes, Adam and Eve are characters, magical seeds may be from the actual Garden of Eden, and a barrier between Gan Eden and world we live in is vital to our world's well-being, but I don't think the Biblical connections go much further. There is a confusing mix of fantasy and reality: just as we start to believe that the story is not realistic, we discover that it may be and while we're absorbing this, suddenly there is a magical seed that produces a tree, which is a portal to another world. Apparently there is also some sort of conservation of living things: the abundant life in this other world is at the expense of the dying orchard and barren land in this world. The point of all this is learning to live with the loss of a family member, which is perhaps better done realistically. I'm all for using fantasy to create a sense of distance that the reader can lessen to whatever degree feels safe, but I don't think the fantasy does that in this case. Wow, I guess I'm more disappointed than I realized. Other than the above, I enjoyed reading the book; it kept my interest and I cared about the characters. ( )

Girl misses mother, father takes her away to live near blackened orchard next to cemetery, girl meets dead boy, gets lost in mysterious orchard and finds her father. Pretty good, deals with loss of parent. ( )

Almost a year after her mom dies, Eve's dad hauls her off to a blighted little village, where he tries to bring a blighted apple orchard back to life. Eve feels abandoned by her father's focus on the orchard, but luckily she meets a boy named Alex who is apparently a ghost - he becomes a sort of friend. A mysterious seed adds another element of magical realism; it takes her and Alex to an alternate village, as richly alive as the real village is barren. The magical elements don't mesh with the plot very well; they felt awkward and almost unnecessary. The down-to-earth folks in the story are much more interesting and engaging. Well-written and smooth-flowing, but it would have worked better as straight fiction, not fantasy. ( )