The Betrayal of Eden by Erin Phillips

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Description:

I’m on the precipice of a cliff. One light breeze away from falling off.

At 16, Eden Fortin sees nothing but a bright future ahead of her. With a valuable promotion on the horizon, she is granted a coveted spot as a debutante alongside her wealthy friend, Fallon Riviere, an important step in escaping the sordid South Bout and securing a future with her beau, Myles Taillefer, the son of a powerful congresswoman.

But the happily ever after of Eden’s fairytale rise will be more dangerous than she realizes.

Hunter Calder, an indentured servant in the Riviere household, is far too familiar with the family’s schemes. Forced to pay off his father’s debt, he discovers a dark secret about the mysterious grimoires Cartier City uses to maintain order. However, revealing the truth might not provide the freedom he seeks. As Eden becomes overwhelmed with the requirements of high society, her rivals uncover the means to her undoing. Just as grimoire magic works in ripples, so the ruin of Eden Fortin will be the catalyst for bringing Cartier City to its knees.

Filled with suspenseful mystery, shattered dreams, and dire consequences, the first book in this sweeping reimagining of Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece, The Count of Monte Cristo, invites you into the resplendent world of Cartier City and will make you question everything you know about happy endings.

Age Recommendation: 15+ or 9th grade and up

General Content:

Language: 0/10- Little to no derogatory terms or language.

Alcohol & Drugs: 2/10- Small amount of social drinking. Officers get drunk in prison. A captain is seen drunk.

Violence & Gore: 5/10- A moderate amount of violence and some gore. Also, a bit of bullying and discrimination.

Sexual Content: 2/10- Very little sexual content. Some kissing and flirting.

Parent Guide:

Tropes: Betrayal, social climbing, identity after loss.

Prologue:

-A little girl, Eden, watches as her mom collapses and begins bleeding from her side. The town around her rushes to help, but nothing can be done. Eden’s mother is lying in her own pool of blood, dying.

Ch. 1

-Gerard, a bully, is seen harassing Eden after she accidentally catches him stealing a test answer key.

-After the mention of a possible promotion, Myles, Eden’s boyfriend, sweeps her up “in his arms for a congratulatory kiss”. Eden reminds herself that “with him she is safe”.

Ch. 2

-Myles jokes with Eden about being married one day. Eden mentions that her heart “leaps at his words” because a “betrothal at sixteen is not uncommon” in their world.

-“On my fifteenth birthday, Myles gave me a kiss as my present. But I have always known that he is too good for me. It seems like wishful thinking that I might stay at his side, protected by his family power and his personal prestige, and yet, with every embrace, every wink, every touch, I’m emboldened to hope for a future together.”

-““We could have more time…” He tilts his head toward the door, asking for an invitation. My stomach rolls, and I force a smile, shaking my head. “You know my father’s rules. And the remodeling still isn’t finished.” Tugging on the lapels of his jacket, I pull myself up to him for a chaste peck on the tip of his nose. I’ve found the easiest way to be believed is to deal in half-truths and a bit of distraction. Wrapping his arms firmly around me, he playfully kisses my cheek, my nose, my neck, making me giggle and try to squirm away from him.”

-Eden learned early in life that“grimoire magic helps maintain order and promote prosperity, but their usage is strictly regulated;”.

Ch. 3

-Fallon Riviere’s mother is overheard telling her daughter, Eden’s “friend”, that “a poor(in wealth and status) girl like Eden is not someone to be jealous of”.

-Hunter, another main character and servant in the Riviere family household, admits that he was talking with Viviane at a party last year, when she spread around all he had said. Hunter was then “locked in his room for three days without food”.

-The Rivieres drink wine with dinner.

Ch. 7

-A member of the Rivere family, Jorge Rivere, returns home shouting, followed by thumps and crashes. Hunter assumes he is drunk.

-Jorge accuses Hunter of stealing from him, and he then grabs him by the neck, slightly choking him, as he yells.

Ch. 12

-As Eden walks to work, she realizes that she is being followed. She breaks out into a run and doesn’t look back.

Ch. 14

-Gerard asks Eden what she’s hiding in “the south bout” the worst of the worst in their town, and where she secretly lives with her father. Gerard then vows to find out for himself and use it against her to blackmail and destroy “every inch” of her life.

Ch. 18

-Hunter talks about the day his father died. “The door closed. And the police showed up the next day. Father had been found dead and alone. No suspects, but he had a debt so large that they assumed he thought it was inescapable.”

Ch. 20

-An elderly man, Wilhelm Urbain, sits in an armchair with a cigar.

-W. Urbain insists that he is worried for the life of his granddaughter, as she is the only one written into his will, in which a large inheritance is to be passed down.

Ch. 21

-Eden’s father suddenly returns from sea, and he fell and has a large gash in his leg. She removes the dirty bandages to see a wound barely held by stitches. She cleans it for him before he falls asleep.

Ch. 22

-Hunter meets with a man on the subway. When he enters a secret door, he is blindfolded. He feels the tip of a blade barely touching his neck.

-A room is decorated with a keg.

Ch. 27

-Her envious“friend”, Fallon, betrays her promise, telling the other girls and Myles where Eden actually lives. After finding out, the other girls harass Eden relentlessly.

-Finding out the truth, Myles gets very angry with Eden. He doesn’t give her time to explain before he leaves her in the alleyway, taking his carriage home.

Ch. 30

-Eden prepares for the ball; however, she looks around the room and realizes more and more that she doesn’t truly belong with the other girls of higher status. She continues to compare herself to them, causing her a bit of panic.

Ch. 33

-During the ball, police come in and arrest Eden for “treason”. She is innocent and tells them all she knows. However, when she goes to leave after being “confirmed” innocent, she is blinded, chained, and taken.

Ch. 34

-Eden discovers she is being taken to a high-security prison. When she arrives, the dock is lined with body bags.

Ch. 35

-Eden sits in prison, chained. She is starving and so thirsty, but only gets daily rations of watery rice. She states that if and when she gets out, “someone will pay”.

Ch. 36

-After Eden is betrayed, Hunter sees Fallon and Myles together on the couch. Myles’s head is in her lap, and she’s stroking his face. Hunter is surprised to see that his affections were so easily swayed.

Ch. 40

-While in prison, Eden is rewarded with a new job for her good behavior. She now serves the other prisoners their “slop” as well as keeps an eye out for any that may have passed away in their cell.

-At one cell, Eden smells burning flesh and sees a charred foot.

Ch. 43

-W. Urbain asks Hunter to go to the Bureau of Magic on his behalf in order to put a spell of protection over him.

Ch. 45

-The woman who cast the protection spells for the city explains to Hunter that in order to complete his requested protection spell, he must choose where to take energy from. He can either choose a targeted person or pick from a list of those within the prison. Whoever he chooses may die as a result.

-The woman begins chanting a protection spell: "Contra malum custodire. Ab exitio tutari. Desine impetum. Impediant omnia mala. Concreto fanguine. Ferrum adhuc. Contra malum custodire. Contra corruptionem defendat. Totum corpus serva. Corpus hoc ab interitu defende.”

Ch. 48

-Eden and Falia plan their prison break. Eden mentally notes the piano string Falia gives her, noticing that it could easily “strangle a guard”.

Ch. 50

-Eden recounts those whom she’s found dead in the prison and the peculiar ways they’ve died.

Ch. 51

-Mr. Rivière pins Hunter against a wall, close to choking him. He reveals that his dad's death wasn’t actually an accident.

Ch. 53

-Eden is caught trying to escape and interrogated. The warden questions her on who helped her: “There it is.” The warden trails a finger down the side of my face and underneath my chin, as if pulling the answer out from me. “There are fates far worse than you’ve faced in this place, girl. Tortures and torments that would break a pretty little thing like you…Rough fingers grab my jaw, squeezing and lifting my chin. “You are nothing here, little girl. No one will bat an eye at giving you a beating or watching you starve. You are worthless, nothing except a body waiting to be buried.” He spits on my face as he squeezes so hard my jaw pops from the pressure, and I let out a gasp. “Tell me who helped you!”

-Eden is whipped by the warden.

Ch. 54

-Hunter is handed over to a ship captain, with whom he will be forced to sail. It’s noon, and the man is already incredibly drunk. Hunter then gets a metal bracelet put on his wrist, letting others know that if he leaves the South Bout, he will be shot on sight.

Ch. 57

-Eden and Falia begin their second attempt at escape when Falia slumps against the wall. She lifts a bit of her shirt to reveal a bloody wound, similar to Eden’s mother’s wound all those years ago. Falia dies in Eden’s arms.

Ch. 60

-Eden escapes, but someone catches her as she rows away. In the distance, a pistol fires, and she ducks just in time.