Review: Out of Eden by Beth Ciotta

This book falls under my Contemporary Reading Challenge.

Kylie McGraw has lived in Eden, Indiana her whole life. She's always dreamed of travelling to Asia, but lives in the same boring town she grew up in. She knows the same boring people and runs the same boring family-owned shoe store. She's just turned 32 and is ready for something to change. Little does she know things are about to change more than she could ever have imagined...

Jack Reynolds was Kylie's childhood crush. One of the running jokes in the book is that she's been in love with him since she was fourteen...or twelve. Jack was her older brother's best friend and moved away to join the NYPD, but after working a particularly horrific mob murder he decided to come back home to Eden and take a job as Police Chief.

As Kylie is trying to shake things up, poor Jack is charged by the town council with reigning her in - the town's annual Apple Festival is coming up and they don't want anything to ruin it. Then, Kylie witnesses something she shouldn't have seen and fears for her life. Due to the town's obsession with a Sopranos-like TV show ("Omerta"), no one believes Kylie and the town's residents think it's just another one of her attempts to break the monotony of small-town life.

What I liked about this book:

I really enjoyed the portions of the book that took place in Eden. Watching Kylie and Jack go back and forth until neither one of them could deny their feelings for each other was sweet and sexy and I really liked them both.

The small-town characters were fun. I have a soft spot for "spry, older characters" and this book had some adorable old guys - I loved the scene where they were giving Kylie sex advice!

What I didn't like:

I didn't like the mobsters. They were stereotypical Italian-Americans and the mob lingo annoyed me. Switching between the small-town Eden and mob-riddled Philadelphia felt awkward. I assume Ms. Eden did that on purpose to showcase the difference between the two lifestyles, but I didn't care for it.

All in all, I liked this book. Ms. Eden did a good job merging all the different storylines into a satisfying conclusion. I think her next book focuses on Kylie's brother, Spenser, and I'll definitely be checking it out! I give Out of Eden 3 1/2 out of 5 stars, it was a fun Contemporary read.

Out of Eden goes on sale April 1.

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me by NetGalley free of charge in exchange for an honest review.