Review: Jekel Loves Hyde By: Beth Fantaskey

Title: Jekel Loves Hyde

Author: Beth Fantaskey

Published: May 3rd, 2010

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

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

My Thoughts:

I was really excited to read this book, I had seen some really good reviews and I thought that a book with the aspect of Jekel and Hyde sounds so good but, unfortunately for me this one just didn't do it. The pacing and the flow of the book wasn't bad and I really enjoyed Fantaskey's writing but, as far as the plot went I had a hard time getting through it.

Jill Jekel is trying to keep her and her mother afloat, after her father's murder everything in her life seems to be falling apart. Her college savings vanished along with her father. But, her science teacher gives her the opportunity to enter a chemistry scholarship contest to earn back that money. She comes up with the idea to recreate the experiments of Jekel and Hyde, working with another genius chemistry student Tristan Hyde, hoping they could play off their shared names. Little do they both know that they have more in common with their historical namesakes then they know.

Honestly, this book felt kind of depressing to me, Tristan is brooding and whiny through much of the book which didn't leave me a lot to love. Although he was very protective and cared a lot about Jill which did give him some points for me. Jill was also always sad, which was understandable given what her family was going through but, she was constantly second guessing herself and everything she did. I just wanted to enter the book and makes some decisions for her.  Tristan and Jill's romance was just weird in my opinion, you could say that it was insta love but, I almost wouldn't even call it that. 

Overall, this book just wasn't for me. I haven't read the original Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde, which from this book definitely seems a bit creepy. If you enjoy retellings and books with a bit of creep in them you will definitely enjoy this one. Do you guys like retellings or would you rather just have the originals?