A review by its_tara
Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey
4.0
This review can originally be found on my blog Hey, Tara.
Since reading Jessica’s Guide and Jessica Rules… I’ve become quite a fan of Beth Fantaskey, though I have to admit I wasn’t too sure about the premise of this one. I could forsee a very goody-goody character, and a very violent pushy character, and yeah, the whole mental scenario just wasn’t working so well for me. I was also worried given how I loved the classic novel this was based on, and basically didn’t want to ruin it for myself.
Thankfully, this book wasn’t anything like what I’d thought, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was in Fantaskey’s usual easy-to-read style, and sucked me right in, I literally found myself doing the whole “just one more chapter” thing, which was made easier by the fact that the chapters in this are really very short, as they are in the other two books.
For me, this was a really fun twist to the familiar lore of the classic novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which was a book I loved when I read it anyway. That said, I don’t think you’d need to have read it in order to see where it fits in with this story, or for this story to make sense – it’s not one of those books.
In terms of the characters, I liked Jill and Tristen for being interesting. I don’t think either of them were typical YA protagonists, and that was actually fairly nice. I did think for a while that Jill was going to be a little too timid, and at times, she was for me – but I think that may also have been part of her charm for some people. Tristen was a complex character, and I think preferred him over Jill. He was very flawed, but he had passion and compassion, and he was smart. (Yes, I have a thing for smart guys).
This all said, I didn’t feel particularly ‘attached’ to either of them, though I’m not really sure why.
In terms of the love story, it was nice that whilst it was there simmering away, it wasn’t at the forefront of the story. Much of this focuses on the actual events, and finding a cure for Tristen’s condition as well as figuring out what happened to the missing people in both Jill and Tristen’s lives. I appreciated that – and there was no love triangle, which made me happy!
By the end of the book, there were lots of plot twists, and whilst I could see some of them coming, some of them genuinely surprised me, which I loved.
Overall, this is a fun read, and definitely one for you if you’ve enjoyed Fantaskey’s other works.
Since reading Jessica’s Guide and Jessica Rules… I’ve become quite a fan of Beth Fantaskey, though I have to admit I wasn’t too sure about the premise of this one. I could forsee a very goody-goody character, and a very violent pushy character, and yeah, the whole mental scenario just wasn’t working so well for me. I was also worried given how I loved the classic novel this was based on, and basically didn’t want to ruin it for myself.
Thankfully, this book wasn’t anything like what I’d thought, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was in Fantaskey’s usual easy-to-read style, and sucked me right in, I literally found myself doing the whole “just one more chapter” thing, which was made easier by the fact that the chapters in this are really very short, as they are in the other two books.
For me, this was a really fun twist to the familiar lore of the classic novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which was a book I loved when I read it anyway. That said, I don’t think you’d need to have read it in order to see where it fits in with this story, or for this story to make sense – it’s not one of those books.
In terms of the characters, I liked Jill and Tristen for being interesting. I don’t think either of them were typical YA protagonists, and that was actually fairly nice. I did think for a while that Jill was going to be a little too timid, and at times, she was for me – but I think that may also have been part of her charm for some people. Tristen was a complex character, and I think preferred him over Jill. He was very flawed, but he had passion and compassion, and he was smart. (Yes, I have a thing for smart guys).
This all said, I didn’t feel particularly ‘attached’ to either of them, though I’m not really sure why.
In terms of the love story, it was nice that whilst it was there simmering away, it wasn’t at the forefront of the story. Much of this focuses on the actual events, and finding a cure for Tristen’s condition as well as figuring out what happened to the missing people in both Jill and Tristen’s lives. I appreciated that – and there was no love triangle, which made me happy!
By the end of the book, there were lots of plot twists, and whilst I could see some of them coming, some of them genuinely surprised me, which I loved.
Overall, this is a fun read, and definitely one for you if you’ve enjoyed Fantaskey’s other works.