Evelyn

by Jacob Ross

Luke Herrick can't stop thinking about Evelyn Hamilton. He fell in love with her at first sight, and she ended up breaking his heart. While waiting to board a flight to start a new chapter at college, Luke reflects on his relationship and offers his own insights on the mysterious and often somber topic of love.

204 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2014

About the author

Jacob Ross was born in Grenada, and has lived in Britain since 1984. He is a poet, playwright, journalist, novelist and a tutor of creative writing. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has been a judge of the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, the Olive Cook, Scott Moncrieff and Tom-Gallon Literary Awards.
~ Sources: Government of Grenada and Peepal Tree Press

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evelyn Proves That Love Hurts
Jacob Ross’s Evelyn is a riveting tale in which a boy learns that love isn’t always positive. The main character, Luke Herrick falls in love with Evelyn Hamilton, which sparks a journey in Luke’s life that he will never forget. If you are into love stories enjoy romance tales and all that love offers, this book is for you. I personally enjoyed Jacob’s point of view on Luke’s life, as well as his portrayal of Evelyn’s feeling toward Luke.
Luke Herrick’s life is a bit obsessive and weird. Ever since he meets Evelyn, he cannot take his mind off of her. Jacob did a fantastic job of exemplifying Luke’s daily activities as well as Luke’s thoughts each and every second of the story. Jacob Ross portrayed Luke and Evelyn’s romance in depth, which really helped me justify how obsessive Luke was over Evelyn. I think that this was one of the best portrayals of obsession by an author that I have ever read, and can be compared to Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Ross did a truly phenomenal job of illustrating Luke’s love obsession.
Jacob reads leaders to believe that Evelyn may like Luke, but not adore him as much as Luke adores her. Ross highlights that Luke shows much more enthusiasm toward the relationship. Evelyn on the other hand appears to “like” Luke for a short period of time, and then she eventually loses her interest in him. Jacob’s in text details yet again help readers to get the clear understanding of Evelyn’s opposing interests toward Luke.
Overall, this book adds a new twist to love that most people have never been accustomed to before. The author Jacob Ross illustrates to readers the screwed up side of love. Ross did a fantastic job writing this novel, indeed showing that this is not a book that belongs next to the toilet for people to occasionally read.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is highschool love really meaningless? That is the question I constantly asked myself when reading Evelin. The story follows a high school boy madly in love. Although, it seems this affection with a classmate named Evelin seems to border om the line of utter obsessions. I respect this piece of literature, especially coming from a local author. I enjoyed the writing styles and story all the way through, though, I do have a problem with it. During the story the main character always seemed to almost become creepy. His love for Evelin was obsessive and occationally off setting. This book is great for a quick and easy read. Easy to understand with a relatable main character. There is something aboout this highschool boy that I found oddly relatable. Relatively painless, even for non readers, Evelin is a wonderful story to pick up and instantly be entertained. Overall, I would rate Evelin a 6.5/10. The story was entertaining though unsettling at some points. I truly enjoy the fact that there are authors so close to me geographically getting published. A fast read, I recommend it to anybody who is interested

[Wyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Jacob Ross’ book, Evelyn, it tells the story of an individual in high school by the name of Luke Herrick and how he goes through the ups and downs when it comes to love. Luke Herrick is a very comparable character and the author, Jacob Ross, did a phenomenal job making the main character, Luke, a universal character.
Within the story it is accurately described how love can not only be the most wonderful feeling in the world but also bring the most pain and sorrow. This is accurately described in a quote, “She changed my life forever.” This quote demonstrates that your first true love will affect you positively and negatively and that’s what love is. I would highly recommend this book to all, especially those who are dealing with a hard break-up because it shows that life does in fact get better and there is no reason to dwell on the past. Instead everybody should live for now, rather than living in the past.
This is a wonderful book and very impressive to have been written by a high-school senior. I hope there are more books to come in the future!

[Taylor Messina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evelyn A Romantic Tragedy
I very much enjoyed reading this novel written by a fellow Abington Heights student. This book gave a great insight into the requirements for a healthy relationship. Healthy decisions and expressing one's feelings were also much more of the underlying themes in this story. The conflict between Luke and Evelyn were very saddening as the plot progressed. Even though this was geared mostly towards the young adult/late teenage audience, humor and insight made it enjoyable for any age. I was pleasantly surprised by the exceptional style and grammar used by Jacob when he was writing. I could tell that Luke really cared for Evelyn by a quote I found in the novel multiple times. "She changed my life forever" were the words Jacob used to express Luke's feelings and a solidity with the true love he had for this girl. I felt engaged the entire time reading and never wanted to put the book down. This would be great for any age to read and I would highly recommend it.