domingo, 29 de septiembre de 2013

Review: Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

Publicado por Lina Jiménez en 15:21
Title: Jekel Loved Hyde
Author: Beth Fantaskey
Pages:282
Published: May 3rd 2010
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Series: -
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.





The Story 

This book is inspired by the classic “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. But instead of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde being the same person in the book we have Jill Jekel and Tristen Hyde.

Jill and Tristen never interact much, but they are attracted to each other but when their teacher tells them about a prestigious competition they decide to team, use their excellent knowledge in chemistry and take advantage of their last names and try to recreate the formula described in Stevenson’s novel. They both have things to gain, in Jill’s case it’s the prize money, $30.000 that could help her pay for college; for Tristen recreating the formula could mean curing himself and being able to live, but how can he find the cure to a problem that even his father a world famous psychologist doesn't believe  exists? 

The Characters                                                                       

                                    
Jill: when we first meet Jill she is going through a hard time since her father has just been murdered and the investigation reveals he was involved in shady dealings due to stealing things from his job; due to her husband’s death Jill’s mom enters a severe depression. All these events make Jill feel helpless and she often comes out as whiny but considering all that has happened to her I think we can forgive her this type of behavior. Fortunately throughout the book Jill overcomes her problems and starts to enjoy life once more.


Tristen:  He is the bad boy that moved from England but he has his reasons for being that way. His mother disappeared but he is convinced she is dead, he hears voices in his head and suffers from blackouts and when he regains consciousness he finds out that during the blackout he committed acts of violence.  Tristen’s grandfather was convinced that the Hyde’s are descendants of the original Mr. Hyde and this is what causes them to be violent and to Tristen will do whatever it takes to prove and solve his “condition”.

The Writing                                                                                                                                                
 This is one of my favorite retellings so far it is very well executed since you can see elements of the original book yet it has unique elements. Although the pace of the story is a bit slow it worked well for this book.
The story is told in both Jill’s and Tristen’s point of view. This is an element I liked because we could see the way they were both dealing with the contest and all the things happening in their lives. I especially like Tristen’s POV since he was the one with a monster in his head as well as seeing how he dealt with it plus I loved seeing his feelings for Jill develop.

Final thoughts                                                                   

As far as retellings go it’s a good one, mind you not the best but I would recommend you read this book on a rainy day

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