Eve & Adam

This is super fun. Short and punchy, dripping with attitude. Eve & Adam is Animorphs all grown up and saucier, and considering the fact that Animorphs could get pretty saucy, that's saying something.The appeal here is the pacing. If you like science fiction and genetic engineering, that's cool too, but this is far far from hard sci-fi. The actual science is just hand waved. It assumes that there are people involved who understand how all this works, but those people are not the main characters. The main characters are interested mostly in each other, but also tangentially with the secret goings on of Spiker Biopharmaceuticals (also a side plot involving gang bangers and dumb boyfriend which is completely dropped by the end of the book, which I was fine with because it was kind of dull). So there's a taste of ethics involved as well. But mostly its snarky dialogue, zippy pacing and caustic, compelling characters.The last book I read was [b:Shiver 6068551 Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) Maggie Stiefvater https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388196030s/6068551.jpg 6244926] and I complained that while the main character, Grace, is said to be a highly logical young woman, I never really got that impression when reading about her. However, when Evening's (or Eve, or E.V. depending on who you ask) is described by her mother as someone who can think both like an artist and a scientist, you don't have to believe her, because you know its true. Likewise, when people say Solo, her love interest, is not the sharpest tool in the shed, you know that for a fact because from his first chapter you can tell that boy thinks he's way smarter than he actually is. And can I talk about for a second how refreshing it is to occasionally have a character that is not supposed to be that smart? Solo is driven and clever for sure, but rather oblivious. Which is fine, no one can be everything. Like how Aislin can be Evening's supportive best friend, but also someone with poor impulse control and judge of character; and Evening's mother, Terra Spiker, can be dragon lady personified but still have a moral core. Grant and Applegate's greatest strength will always be their characters, and that's what makes a story feel whole.I mean, the romance I suppose is rather instalove-ish, but most teenage romances are. Love is animal, not conscious, and in a story about science and genetics and building the perfect boy, the unconscious is key. The point is that Solo and Evening find something in each other that they want more than what they thought they were looking for. Like this book, they're more than the sum of their parts.