Author: Beth FantaskeyRelease Date: May 3 , 2010
Pages: 288
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Most Appropriate For Ages: 12+Where I Got It: From Around The World Tours
Challenges it counts for: Read Your Name Challenge (The J in Jessica)
Jill Jekel has always obeyed her parents' rules--especially the one about never opening the mysterious, old box in her father's office. But when her dad is murdered, and her college savings disappear, she's tempted to peek inside, as the contents might be the key to a lucrative chemistry scholarship.
To improve her odds, Jill enlists the help of gorgeous, brooding Tristen Hyde, who has his own dark secrets locked away. As the team of Jekel and Hyde, they recreate experiments based on the classic novel, hoping not only to win a prize, but to save Tristen's sanity. Maybe his life. But Jill's accidental taste of a formula unleashes her darkest nature and compels her to risk everything--even Tristen's love--just for the thrill of being...bad.
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It's fair to say that with such an intriguing premise and an author who wrote a book as great as Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side that I was expecting greatness from Jekel Loves Hyde. Too much greatness, I guess.
The plot has such promise! Originality, romance, and a twist on a classic. Unfortunately, to me it felt like it dragged on for just a tad too long for such a short book. Luckily it got better. I saw most of the twists coming, but there were one or two that I wouldn't have guessed.
The characters were decent. I didn't fully connect with Jill. I mean, I listen to my parents all of the time (we've got a pretty awesome relationship) and cheating is wrong, but at some points she seemed a little too goody-two-shoes. I really liked Tristen, though. He was kind of dark, very smart, and pretty swoony-worthy too. Jill and Tristen were great together, however, and I was really rooting for them their relationship to work out.
The writing was, as expected, very good. Descriptive, dark, and everything that Beth Fantaskey showed us in JGTDOTDS. (Except for the humor. There's very little, if any, humor in this book.)
The ending literally left me going, "Huh? How did that work?" But once I'd figured it out it satisfied me since it wrapped up the story nicely. Overall, Jekel Loves Hyde didn't fully live up to my expectations. But I did like it and I will definitely be picking up Fantaskey's next book.
