Lis’ Review: Loving Eden by Lee Brazil

Lee Brazil

Loving Eden

Breathless Press, March 2, 2012 | 55 pages

Author’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
Eden St. Cyr wants to let the boy who's crushing on him down easy. Drew Harris wants to protect his son from what he considers a disastrous relationship. Neither of them counted on being attracted to the other.
Eden St. Cyr has wandering feet. He shuffles around the country from place to place and college to college, changing majors and lovers at whim. When Bailey Harris starts following him home, mooning around, and showing signs of affection, Eden hatches a plan to let the kid down lightly before he leaves for the next semester, the next college, and the next lover.

Drew Harris is stunned at the changes in his son. His responsible, dependable, cheerful boy has become a moody, despondent, irresponsible teenager. Drew knows exactly who to blame too. When Eden doesn't return his phone calls, he's forced to be a little more devious in his plans to get the bad influence out of his son's life.
An unexpected attraction derails both men from their plans, but when Bailey walks in at the least appropriate time, can things be put right?

Genre & Keywords:
M/M Romance, Contemporary, May-December, Crush, Weed, Surfers, Construction, Father-Son Relationship, Family

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Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 1 out of 3 flames
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Reviewed by Lis:

**be warned, this review contains spoilers for the story**

Alright, as I know, one can’t only read review stories that are good. Loving Eden had the unfortunate fate of being read after a crazy good story, so that didn’t help much when I could neither get into this story nor see its potential objectively. To me, Loving Eden came across as an underdeveloped, flat short story.
It’s hard to tell what this story is about, without giving away the whole story. Let’s just say that Eden, the main star of this story, falls for the father of the boy who has a big crush on him. While that in itself is an okay plotline, the execution was poorly done.

One of the things that completely turned me off was the way Eden handled things. While the way he brushed Bailey off was blunt, but effective, it didn’t explain to me why he would take up an invitation to a weekend party hosted by Bailey. Not even if it was to get away from his douche bag housemate and sometimes lover, Sylvan.
Then there is the part where Eden and Drew, Bailey’s father, actually meet. They have a heavy make-out session within five minutes of meeting. While there is nothing wrong with that, they didn’t even know each other’s names. That would still be okay if the setting was a club, but in this setting, it felt too forced. It was a device used by the author to get Eden and Drew together without too much trouble. If Drew had known it was Bailey’s crush, he would have never kissed Eden. Just as Eden wouldn’t have gone there when he’d known it was Bailey’s father.
There are a lot of things that didn’t work for me. While I very much like flawed characters - and every single one in Loving Eden is heavily flawed - the story was too rushed, too short and too flat to be a good one. There is actually more information about Eden in the blurb than there is in the story.

Speaking of the blurb. It’s a bit misleading. The blurb mentions:
“When Eden doesn't return his phone calls, he's forced to be a little more devious in his plans to get the bad influence out of his son's life.”
This is something that never happens in the story. Drew and Eden make out without knowing who the other is. Yes, Drew suggested the party to meet Eden, but there was never any indication of the above.

Loving Eden is one of those stories that are probably better and make more sense in the author’s head than are enjoyable for readers. Though a good editor or beta reader should have been able to catch a lot of the above.
I’m always sad to write a bad review, because I know how much work an author puts in a story and I’m sorry that I can’t give Loving Eden a better rating nor recommend the story.
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