An intriguing premise and an excellent start to this trilogy. Part dystopian fantasy part love story with engaging characters. The two author voices are clear but the flow is good and the pace is fast. Can't wait for the next one!

Fantastic book! I wasn't sure what to expect as the only novels I have come across by Giovanna before have been teen novels that my daughters have read but I haven't.
I wouldn't know from reading it that 2 authors had worked - I don't know how they split the work but everything flowed perfectly.
Probably my favourite read of 2018 so far - and I have read a good number already! The only shock to me was realising that it was the first of a trilogy so I got a surprise at the end when there was quite an abrupt ending and I was left wanting more and instead find 'to be continued...'
I will, of course, be continuing just as soon as it is available!

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy for an honest review.
Excellent read, highly recommended.

Talk about ending on a cliffhanger- I need the authors to hurry and write the second part of this series so I can find out what happens next. Although I am not a young adult I loved this book ,it reminded me of the dystopian science fiction books I read a long time ago. Having said that this book is very much set in the frightenly near future . A world populated by men ,boys and a few aging women who are kept separate for their own safety. A miracle occurs when Eve is born , a girl who is billed as the saviour of mankind. She is kept safe in the Dome and her life appears to be perfect until her sixteenth birthday approaches . This is to be marked by pairing her up with one of three chosen man to help repopulate the world - possibly sinister but the authors handle this brilliantly . The story is told in alternate chapters from the point of view of Eve and Bram ,a pilot in the Dome who also masquerades as Eves friend. It’s a coming of age story that raises some interesting points about ethics around science ,technology and personal freedoms .I was hooked from the start and really liked this book.

When I got the opportunity to read a copy of this, I jumped at the chance, I'd heard a lot on the twitter grape vine about this book and the concept intrigued me as did the authors, I've read Giovanna Fletcher's first book and found it a bit.... Meh... I've not read any of Tom Fletcher's books, though my niece assures me that The Dinosaur that Pooped a Planet is a masterpiece, but I've always thought that the two of them would be well suited to writing YA, from what I've read of Giovanna's writing, it gives me that impression and Tom, well, as his vlogs show, he's pretty down with the kids. In case you were wondering, my initial thoughts were correct, these two are well suited to writing YA and this is a pretty well done, if not exactly original, fun filled read.

AGAINST ALL ODDS, SHE SURVIVED.
THE FIRST GIRL BORN IN FIFTY YEARS.
THEY CALLED HER EVE . . .
All her life Eve has been kept away from the opposite sex. Kept from the truth of her past.
But at sixteen it's time for Eve to face her destiny. Three potential males have been selected for her. The future of humanity is in her hands. She's always accepted her fate.
Until she meets Bram.
Eve wants control over her life. She wants freedom.
But how do you choose between love and the future of the human race?

So for anyone wondering, this is set in London, but not as we know it. Something has happened and all babies being born are male. Also all the people that were left on the planet sort of destroyed it. And there were some issues with global warming so most of it is now under water.
Naturally, considering that you have to have a womb in order to have children and people born with male genitalia generally find it difficult to conceive themselves, this is a bit concerning for those living in this world.  As time goes on, it becomes increasingly more clear that something is seriously wrong and no one can figure out what it is... that is until Corinne and Ernie, after several miscarriages, all boys, discover that they are pregnant with a girl. The first one for fifty years. Bit of a big deal, right? Yep. Especially because she is literally the only person on the planet who could be capable of giving birth, the only other women left on the planet are nearing an age where conceiving is difficult and even if they could, there are no guarantees that there would be anything other than boys.

The baby girl is named Eve, because of course she is. She is taken into the care of the EPO, who keep her locked in a tower for her own safety surrounding her with carers and security guards. They also give Eve a friend, a hologram of sorts called Holly, who is controlled by several pilots, including Bram, a young boy from the same generation as her and the son of one of the high ups at EPO. Bram's job as Holly is to be a friend to Eve so the EPO can gently steer her towards their ideas for her future, namely that they want her to repopulate the planet. And so there you have the concept of Eve of Man and you can probably see why I was so interested by the idea.

Now, I hope I'm not the only person who is a bit concerned that the world wants a 16 year old girl to repopulate the earth and well... I’m not entirely sure that one girl would be able to, think of all the incest, if she even had kids, they would have to mate with each other eventually as there wouldn't be many people left who weren't related to her... This was my main hurdle with this book, but I would recommend not being put off, the more you read, the more you realise that this whole thing is much more complex than just 16 year old being impregnated against her will to repopulate the planet, so even if you are a bit icked out by the idea, keep with it because this is actually a fairly decent read.

Those vaguely disturbing sentiments aside, this is a new take on the Children of Men style dystopian stories we’ve seen before. There isn't anything ground breaking here, but the concept is intriguing enough for this to be a successful series. The ending really had me desperate for more and the way in which the story unfolded was riveting. The whole Bram/Eve thing I wasn't much of a fan of, but them each realising different halves of the same plot was so well done and the way the whole thing came together was so much darker than I thought it would be. I guess I assumed because the Tom and Gi I see on camera and on Twitter are so light-hearted, I didn't quite expect something so intense!

Being a feminist™, I tend to find the idea of baby making being a woman’s sole purpose a little tedious and being Woke™ I was a bit worried about the enforcing of gender roles in this book. Bram is playing at being a girl, he is Holly to Eve until Eve meets the actual Bram, but he is portrayed as being straight. Eve may have a connection with Holly, but only the one piloted by Bram, who she knows is male. Not only is she presented as being straight, but also the people looking after her decide to pair her up with several men, which also kinda made me a bit uncomfortable. But in the don't stop reading the uncomfortableness passes as you realise what is going on kind of way. I guess what I am badly trying to say is that there is a lot of heteronormaty in this book, but I guess a story about repopulating the earth would be difficult to put together without the whole man and woman coming together thing...

Anyway, this is a fast paced, fun filled story, which although not the most original idea, is very good at giving you just enough to whet your appetite and then completely flooring you with revelations. I think this is going to be a strong series and I'm already excited about how the story will continue with book two!

Eve of Man by Giovanna and Tom Fletcher a four-star read that will turn your head and leave you with lots of wonder. This is the first book in the trilogy and I can see where we are going and how we will get there, and I honestly hope that the rest is as good if not better than this one, I enjoyed the whole premise and the drama of the book, but I did find it lacking in places, but overall it made up for it in the end. I really like the way we alternated between Eve and Bram, humanities last hope, I don’t want to go into details as I don’t want to spoil the book for you, but it really does suck you into the world and make you dream of what life would be like, being humanities last chance. Well done both of you on a story well done.

I didn't know what to expect going into this novel. I am not a young adult reader,I am not a huge reader of scifi,fantasy or dystopian worlds, however despite all this I absolutely loved it.
This is set in a dystopian Britain which is on the verge of extinction. There has not been a female born for fifty years when at last Eve arrives. She lives in the Dome which is a whole controlled world. She is nurtured by a group of elderly mothers,protected by a team of security and given social interaction by providing Holly a type of holographic girl friend which is really a set of three boys of similar age to herself, who take turns to play the Holly role.
Bram is the most special of the three. He was brought to the Dome as a child to fulfil this role.
This cleverly written book contains layer upon layer of clever ideas and plot development.
For me having two authors writing two very different main protagonists, works especially well. I felt that the sense of difference between the two writing styles was an important part of this working.
I felt a great emotional connection to both Eve and Bram and felt sad that their lives were so controlled by the hierarchy who may not always have their best interests at heart! Even the 'Baddie's are well developed characters which added to my overall enjoyment of this book.
On the surface, this book is about Eve preventing the extinction of man, however so many more important topics such as exploitation of power,stem cell and embryonic research and gender selection is part of the plot too.
I found the outside world a bit of a shock and it took a short while to settle into this other world. I would have preferred it without water, however that is a personal preference rather than something that stopped my enjoyment.
At the heart of this is a beautiful love story, a coming of age in exceptional circumstances and you need to read it for yourself to fully understand why I have rated it 5*.
The ending does finish on a cliff hanger, so for those who don't like this type of ending perhaps this might not be for you. However I personally cannot wait for book 2 and you would be missing a really enjoyable read.

Superb start to a series. Could be the next Hunger Games (and has some similarities re strong young female lead etc), but this has a far more realistic back story, as well as more comprehensible world building. Absolutely superb.

Individually I love both Tom and Giovanna's writing. Giovanna's warm, cozy romances always go straight to the top of my TBR list and as the mother of an 18 month old troublemaker I loved her non-fiction parenting book too. Tom meanwhile has until now stuck to children's picture books and middle grade fiction and whilst I have enjoyed them, I'll admit that I was interested to see how his writing style, which seemed so suited to younger audiences, would adapt to fit this new audience for him.

Eve of Man is set in a world where no girls have been born for 50 years. Then, Eve is born and she is protected and revered as the saviour of mankind. Kept in a tower, away from the rest of the world Eve's whole life is mapped out for her but all Eve wants is freedom and the chance to make her own decisions about her future.

The plot appealed to me immediately. I love a post-apocalyptic dystopian story and although it's a genre that became quite saturated a few years ago, I haven't read any in a good few years so I was ready to get stuck in.

The story is told through the point of view of the two main characters Eve and Bram, with each author taking resposibility for writing one of the characters. I love the idea of this collaberative way of developing a story and I think it was really effective in making both Eve and Bram such well developed characters. Obviously both Tom and Gi had an overview of the story as a whole but as you read the book you can tell that they trusted their instincts and wrote each chapter as they felt their character would react and that meant I felt really personally invested in them as people.

A main part of the story centres around Eve being presented with suitors for her to select one with whom she would begin to repopulate the human race. The scenes that centre around Eve's preparation for this are really uncomfortable but also so powerful. Internal examinations and frank discussions about what is expected of "the saviour of mankind" would of course be part and parcel of Eve's life but I don't think I've ever seen them featured in a book in this way.

There were lots of little touches in the book that weren't particularly part of the main plot but which really added to the atmosphere of the story. One particular aspect I liked was the inclusion of a little pod that they travel the Thames in. Not until it docked in a "big wheel" did I realise it was a pod from the London Eye! I thought this was an ingenius little touch.

I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait for the next installment in the trilogy.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Eve is the first female to have been born in 50 years. She is revered within the world and kept safe away from everything. She has her best friend ‘Holly’, to look after her and Eve’s job is to save the human race with one of three potential suitors.

I’m a huge Gi Fletcher fan and I have read a lot of Tom’s books with my 9 year old and honestly I was apprehensive how this would work as it’s definitely different from Gi’s usual stories but no fear it works and was an enjoyable read. Can’t wait to see what happens.

Really enjoyed this first book in the series and I’m looking forward to the next instalment - after the cliffhanger ending!

Content warning: Infertility and miscarriage, discussion of rape, some violence

I’ll start with my main issue with this book, which is that this book made no attempt to address members of the LGBTQIA+ community whatsoever (or if it did I missed it). I understand that the whole crux of the matter is that humanity needs to breed, I get the concept. But it wouldn’t have hurt the plot to have had trans women, non-individuals and so forth. Especially given that at least one of the authors has a huge internet following so can’t pretend that they aren’t aware of these issues. Any book that takes sex and/or gender as a central issue should be being held to high standards, particularly in YA where a lot of the readers are pretty well-informed of these issues. It bothered me that this didn’t get addressed.  

There are also a couple of moments where the fact that Bram is playing a hologram of a woman (and therefore ‘wearing women’s clothing’) is shown as being something inherently funny or weird. It’s 2018, I feel like no-one should have to tell people that kind of humour isn’t ok.  

Another problem I had (I have some nice things to say later don’t worry this isn’t a wholly negative review) was that I felt like Bram was set up to be Eve’s saviour in a very ‘damsel in distress’ kind of way. I mean, she effectively lives in the highest room of the tallest tower, it’s not hard to draw the princess comparison here. The reason I started to enjoy the latter half of the book much more than the former was because Eve herself starts being a more active participant in her own destiny. I think there is an argument to be made for her being incredibly sheltered and naïve, but it just didn’t quite sit right with me, especially in a genre with so many amazing female characters, to have one who didn’t quite hit the mark. A little more balance between the two characters would have been appreciated.

Romance, because there is some, ok a lot. I’m a little torn with this one because, on the one hand, I can’t argue that it is the dreaded ‘insta-love’ as in one way these characters grow up together. However, I found that from the moment Eve works out who Bram is to her being in love with him is a little speedy. I think this could have benefitted from some time for them to get to know each other as themselves before declaring undying love. But I can see that the set-up wouldn’t allow for that so I can’t fault it too much.

I did think this was an interesting concept. I always love an unreliable narrator and so, of course, I loved the idea of having both Bram and Eve’s perspectives of the world (which are very different). I thought that once the plot really got going in the last 20% of the book this read as a very enjoyable YA dystopian novel. I think that, if some of the issues are addressed, this could be a very interesting series to follow, certain mysteries have been set up that it would be good to know the endings to.

Should you read this? Maybe? I think it depends how sold you are on the concept. I don’t think it’s something I would re-read immediately but I’m interested to see if the good parts of this book can be salvaged for later books.

My rating: 2/5 stars

I received a digital advanced review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is definitely a promising start to a YA dystopian trilogy. It’s got some great and original ideas and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

I liked the characters, the friendships between the male characters, the bond between Eve and her ‘mothers’, even the bad relationships felt real and well developed. I could really feel Eve’s anguish and the pain of her isolation and lack of true knowledge. I truly felt for her, a young girl who’s slowly discovering what’s real and what’s not in her life. The ‘mothers’ were great. I absolutely adored the relationships between them and Eve, genuinely warmed my icy heart a little.

I have a particular fondness for books that are told from more than one character’s perspective, which this book is. Definite bonus points for that. I enjoy seeing how those two or more narratives fit together, the different ways the characters can view an incident, and when one character knows something another doesn’t and how that plays out within each of their narratives.

This book had its peaks and troughs, but for the most part I found it pretty fast paced and despite feeling like I knew where the book was headed almost from the outset, I still couldn’t put it down and powered through it in a day or two. Definite page turner!

Unfortunately this book did itself the disservice of falling into some common YA tropes. The unique, one-of-a-kind female protagonist, the love that isn’t allowed, the guy who will stop at nothing to save her. I’ve read enough books now that follow these basic and all too common storylines that I can see it coming almost within the first chapter, which just strips away a little of the magic for me.

That being said, I can see that due to the rather well known status of the authors, this may well be an entry book to YA for a lot of people who are fans of G&T Fletcher but have never ventured into YA before, so for them those things I consider to be overdone tropes will be new and refreshing storylines. This definitely isn’t a bad book to welcome new people to the world of YA, when you take away the tropes it does still have a well-crafted world, characters, and overall plot.

Aside from my gripe about seeing in this book some of the same things I’ve seen over and over again in stories of this type, this is still a good book, and I’m definitely still looking forward to reading where it goes next. As I’ve already mentioned, the world building in this is great, particularly when describing the world outside of the tower. Would definitely recommend.

Many thanks to the publisher, Penguin UK, for providing a copy of this arc via NetGalley.

I thought this book was a really interesting concept but wasn’t sure what to expect as if not read any books by either of them. And initially for me, the first bit is a little glossed over, so I didn’t get a draw. And when it started in earnest it did take me a little while to get into it. But by the end I was reading fast to find out what happened!!

It’s not always spectacularly written, especially in the first half, but the concept is really well executed, and the impended and ever building sense “they did WHAT” is really well timed. I loved the general background about what happened to the planet (though I’d have loved more on this!) and thought it was probably accurate that women would end up both sidelined into breeding and segregated completely, even if it made me really sad. I think that was actually one of my major things I wanted more from the book - I wanted someone to represent that women aren’t just for breeding or even that men can control themselves around one.

However I love Eve, and her ways of picking things up - it just surprised me she got to 18 without doing more of it. And I love the whole concept of Holly and the pilots and even the mothers. I wanted more on what happened with Vivian but I loved the backstories we got on some of the others. And Bram was awesome. Though it must be odd pretending to be a girl sometimes! And I liked when he started to click just what was going on.

I definitely agreed with the Freevers when they were introduced and more and more as the book went on.

It’s hard to talk about too much without spoiling so I shall finish by saying - if you’re struggling at the start to stick with it, as the last half really started to fly by for me. And I’m definitely going to be checking out the sequel!

**
The review will be going live on my blog on 30th May

I found the premise of this book incredibly intriguing - Eve of Men is set in a future when it's been 50 years since the last girl was born. Humans are in the brink of extinction and, as the selfish race we are, we have exploited Earth's resources until there is nothing left, and nothing to save. Then, once day, Eve is born.

There was so much potential in this book. The last girl in the planet is held captive at the top of a tower (even if she isn't aware this is a prison) and she is given the task to start the repopulation of Earth. Then there is Bram, a boy that has grown up giving life to Holly, a hologram that has been Eve's best friend since she can remember. And, of course, one day they see each other in real life and they fall madly in love.

Everything good up to this point. However, I found that this book was quite slow in places, and some details made me really cringe – I love Bram, but he sometimes sounds like the protagonist of a superhero movie. Also, I thought that the love story between Eve and Bram was a bit forced on us. One day there were best friends, and the next they would give their lives for each other since they are so in love. I don't know why, I couldn't really care much about any of them, or about their relationship.

That being said, I found very interesting the questions placed around gender with the relationship Eve-Holly/Bram. Well, Eve doesn't fall in love with Holly until she learns that she (he?) is a boy – I think it would've been a cool twist to make it a LGBT relationship – but after that she doesn't seem to care what gender her friend is to develop a romantic relationship.

I also found the whole idea of the Tower really cool. This is a fortress built by a company where everyone would love to work – if you come in, you would have to be crazy to leave. The outside world is presented as a flooded, poor and dangerous futuristic London. The few women left are sent to sanctuaries since a world full of desperate men is not safe for them anymore.

To conclude, this book presents us with a lot of interesting questions about the environment, gender and power. It is a fast-paced, entertaining read, but I am afraid I won't be continuing the series. The premise was really promising and unfortunately the final text was underwhelming.

I was SO excited to get this book! I adore the Fletchers, when I heard they were bringing this out I was beyond happy and it did not disappoint! It is fast paced and so interesting! I loved the writing style and the plot was great! I can’t await for the next one!!

Was looking forward to this book as I loved some kind of wonderful by Giovanni Fletcher but sadly the same couldn't be said for this book couldn't warm to it at all probably apeal to some readers but sadly not for me

I really enjoyed this book, I thought the world they created was interesting and I liked the main characters especially Eve .Bram was great as well and there was plenty of action and original ideas.I was certainly not in the intended audience being far from a YA but that didn't matter.I did figure out the direction the plot was going to go but I don't think it was meant to be a secret as such.It still kept me in suspense and reading nervously at times to see how it was going to turn out.I thought it was great and look forward to reading the next book.Thanks to the Publishers and Netgalley for an ARC.

Eve of Man isn’t usually the genre I tend to read but as a lover of Giovanna Fletcher’s books I was curious to see what a collaboration with her husband would be like.

In all honesty, I found the book quite hard to get into at first, but as stated, this isn’t my usual genre but I was compelled to keep reading. However about quarter of the way through the book I did start to enjoy it. It’s a clever plot line, good characters and well written. I believe this book is part of a trilogy. I’m not sure whether or not I would read the other books, but never say never.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin UK Michael Joseph and the authors for her chance to review.

The book just ended on me and it's an ARC and now I don't know what to do! It startef off as i expected as I had listened to the sneak peak of ths opening paragraph before being accepted for this, I however, honestly did not expecting the middle to ending of what I have just read in this book, it's wonderfully written and I highly recommend it. I don't want to spoil anything, as the book won't be released for a couple of weeks, but Giovanna and Tom Fletcher are an incredible writing duet, a very symbiotic relationship between the two of them! ◇

Received as an #ARC via #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review (May do a proper review when the book has been released but for now add it to your #TBR lists!)

Always interesting reading a book written by two authors / two voices. It was a really good premise / world, but the tone of voices for me sometimes clashed.