A self-published book by YouTube indie author Jenna Moreci, published in 2015.
Marketed as a New Adult novel, Eve: The Awakening is the first book of the "Eve" series. Set 20 Minutes into the Future, where a new breed of humans called Chimeras have cropped up, possibly the next stage in human evolution. Chimeras look human, but possess superior strength, speed, intelligence, and have telekinetic powers. Naturally, everyone hates them. Earth is also receiving visits from an alien race called the Interlopers, whose purpose has yet to be revealed.
Evelyn "Eve" Kingston is an orphan Chimera whose powers were awakened at a very young age. An outcast in her hometown, she uses her Chimera smarts to get herself in to a prestigious college, Billington University, where no one knows her true nature, hoping to start a new life. However, Billington is harboring some dark secrets, and Eve and her newfound friends soon realize they must step up and take action.
Tropes in this work:
- The Ace: Eve eventually learns that she is the strongest chimera in the world.
- Action Girl: Eve is the only one. She's the only girl in combat class, which she excels at due to her Chimera abilities.
- Adults Are Useless: To be fair, there wounldn't be much of a story if this weren't the case. Even so, some readers find it a bit of a stretch that the army hasn't figured out some of these things about the Interlopers that a group of college students do (granted, Billington is a school for geniuses).
- An Aesop: Be yourself, do what's right, don't succumb to peer pressure, true love isn't about looks... really, there are a lot of good lessons for a young person to take away from this book.
- Asian and Nerdy: JJ, the group's Asian American hacker
- Beta Couple: Sancho and JJ are hinted to become this in future books
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Both Madison Palmer and Heather, who act friendly to Eve at first only to reveal a nasty side later on
- Camp Gay: Percy Le Fleur, to the point that his own mother is aware of it.Alicia Le Fleur: If seeing your sexy self in this dress doesn't give our Mr. Valentine a raging boner, I'd say he's about as gay as my darling Percy.Percy:Mother! My God, the mouth on this woman!
Alicia Le Fleur: What? What did I say? - Catchphrase: "Balls" and "Dynamic" for Sancho and Aarman respectively
- Deadpan Snarker: Most of the heroes, but particularly Percy and JJ.
- Dumb Jock: Eve's male bully "Dimple Chin" is meant to be this.
- Girl Posse: Oddly enough, despite this being set at a college, Madison and her cronies behave like a middle-school clique.
- Groin Attack: "Dimple Chin" is the recipient of this. The scene is Played for Laughs, and despite the damage no one cares because he is an Asshole Victim. This happens when Eve decides to use Confusion Fu by using her powers, then kick him in the crotch, although it's not explained why she Forgot About His Powers during the all the other parts of the fight as it could have been used as a One-Hit Kill
- The Ditz: Madison Palmer, to the point that she doesn't notice when the man she's hitting on is a flaming homosexual.
- Fantastic Racism: Chimeras are hated by the general public, for being supposedly being dangerous (which some of them admittedly are, before their powers are under full control). How well the book handles the subject of prejudice is an issue many reviews focus on.
- The Hero: A rare example of one that doesn't need a wise old mentor to tell her to take action.
- Hidden Depths: For a few characters. Percy, who at first seems like a typical Camp Gay, reveals himself to be a Gun Nut. Sancho, who seems small and meek, is actually pretty good and inventing large weapons. In the first half of the book, Eve herself tries to blend in as an unassuming human, only to have her status as a Chimera, and later the strongest one in the world revealed.
- Meaningful Name: Our heroine, who belongs to what might be the next step in human evolution and becomes a strong leader, is named Eve Kingston. And her love interest, who helps 'heal' some of her personal issues, is named Jason Valentine. (The name Jason means "healer.")
- Popular Is Dumb: Played straight with mostly all of the rich characters except for Jason, Percy and Percy's family
- Politically Incorrect Villain: "Dimple Chin" makes some old-school sexist remarks basically any time he gets a chance to open his mouth. And of course, all the villains are bigoted against Chimeras (for no given reason, other than they seem to find bigotry fun).
