A Season of Eden by J.M. Warwick

A Season of Eden:
He's my teacher. I shouldn't be alone with him. But I can't help that he's irresistible.

I let the door silently close at my back. He stared at me, and a taut quiet stretched between us. "I like hearing you play," I said, moving toward him.

He turned, in sync with my slow approach. He looked up at me but didn't say anything. I rested my clammy hand on the cold, slick body of the baby grand. "May I?"
The muscles in his throat shifted, then he swallowed. "Eden."

My knees weakened, like a soft tickling kiss had just been blown against the backs of them. "Is it okay?" I asked.

His gaze held mine like two hands joined. He understood what I was really asking. "Let me stay," I said. "Please."

"You're going to get me in trouble," he said.


J.M. Warwick is a pseudonym for Jennifer Laurens, and I simply cannot get enough of her writing. Jennifer tugs on your heartstrings with her emotional storytelling and with realistic characters that pull you right into the book. Jennifer writes honest characters that are flawed, but seek to change themselves in order to live a more fulfilling life. And the ending is so bittersweet that it makes me want more, just to see what could happen next. The respect in which James always treats Eden was refreshing, and although there were a few hot, tension filled scenes I didn't feel their student/teacher connection was turned into something 'dirty', and their relationship didn't make me at all uncomfortable as I might have imagined. Eden is an average popular girl at her school; she goes to parties, she hooks up and enjoys being at the top. Her home life is not as happy-go-lucky, and in turn, forced her to become strong and independent. But when James comes into her life as the young, new music and vocal teacher, her life comes to a spinning halt. Suddenly she sees how always getting what she wants by manipulating others makes her immature and kind of a brat. Things become complicated as their feelings for one another are laid out in the open, and hiding their feelings from the rest of the world becomes more and more difficult.