Book Review: Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

Um so I am still not sure what just happened. I opened this book at about three today. I finished it about forty minutes ago. I am serious. I mean I know I read quickly but that's strange. I have pulled books off in a sitting but never without staying up all night and being really jittery. This one just flew right by me. Some of that might have to do with the chapter length. Seriously more than once the "chapter" was one page. I was laughing the third time is happened.

The book is decent. Its an interesting take on the tale of Dr. Jykel and Mr. Hyde in which the book is based on fact except Mr. Hyde was a separate person. So each male in his family ends up carrying the beast inside of them. While Dr. Jykel's family goes on to try and find a cure while also attempting to hide the formula. The two main characters are cute and play off each other sorta well. But I have read it all before. The cute shy science nerd with the slutty best friend has the mysterious guy fall in love with her. I mean this is pretty much the same characters from the book Hush Hush I read last year. I swear to god when the best friend was suddenly trying to hurt the main girl to make her jealous I just skipped the page because I have read it all before.

The issues is the climax, or rather the lack there of. I have been cock blocked when it comes to sex scenes in the past but never before has the really epic climax been taken from my grasp. Right when the boy is about to face his father in a battle to the death the chapter ends and skips to the mother fucking epilogue. I kid you not. There is simply no climax. I get that the author was trying to avoid a graphic scene but after having spend a rather long time hinting at and then out right talking about sex I assume a certain age range for the readers. I think if they can handle the possibility of sex they can handle a semi graphic fight scene, thousand of other young adult authors have accomplished it. This was just a complete cop out.

Final Verdict: Unless you really like twists on old stories don't even pick it up. The book flap gives just about everything away.

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

In the last few years i have become more and more wary of the young adult section in my local book store. At one time i would make a bee line there and then not leave for hours until i had turned over every book to make sure there was not something that i had missed.

Then came Twilight. Twilight effectively killed the young adult section as i knew it. what was once a place to find stories that invovled teens as the main characters suddenly became the head quaters for romances involving emo teenagers. I started to shun what was once my safe heaven.

Twilight also did another horrible thing. It took what had once been a dark and entertain subgenre of vampires, werewolves, wizards, fairies, angles, demons, and all things occult and suddenly turned all previously stated creatures into brooding emo teens who have way too much hair gel. My once hard to find favorite creatures have suddenly become the only thing that is being published. I now must keep a critical eye on books with these creatures for fear they might be Twilight spawn.

So when i saw Hush Hush in the book store for several months in a row i became curious. The vampire books had been polluted, possibly the angles and demon books were still free of the evil taint.

These days it is really really hard for authors to surprise or confuse me when it comes to plot twists. I have read so many books that i can sense mood and pick up on foreshadowing before others even know it is happening. So when i say that half way through i was perplexed and asking Chris if he thought i was on track or guessing to what happens next that means something. (Chris told me i should be happy that for once i didnt know the ending half way through.)

Hush Hush is the story of Nora Grey, a curly haired smart girl who lives in Maine. Her father was recently murdered and her mother is never home due to work. (For any of these books to work the parents have to be missing, this is a fact.) When the biology teacher (why is it biology? i mean really. Nothing interesting ever happened in biology class, these teen writers need a new class for the interesting things to happen in) changes the seating chart she is suddenly sitting next to the transfer student Patch, who is the ever familiar tall, dark, handsome and cocky (not emo!)

Nora has a few near death and freaky shit things happen to her and suspects Patch, who is constantly making large sexual overtures at her. Then she meets two nice clean cut guys that seem to be really into her for no reason she can see. Oh and a new guidance counselor that is very anti-Patch, even though Nora never mentions him to the lady.

The book does creep well. And besides the fact that Nora doen't really get that she is pretty she is a pretty decent main character and she doesnt completely ditch her best friend for the hot guy which i totally approve. My issue is with the ending. It sorta comes out of nowhere. All sorts of strange things are happening left and right and i am going for a head spin when all of a sudden in a moment of cliche Nora learns about who Patch really is. But this is at three fours of the way in. Then all of a sudden she knows the truth, people try to kill her several times (not including the earlier failed attempts by none other than Patch, talk about issues) and there is a dark school building, and then its over.

When did this whole, put all the really interesting things in the last fifty pages become a thing? I know what a climax is, but it not supposed to be the majority of the plot condensed. The book was long and a hardcover, but i would have much preferred that the author maybe spread out the knowledge and the assassination attempts.

Over all the book was good. It suffers as all young adult novels suffer from the issue that being a teen for a main character means you always seem to miss the sensible options and do something stupid. The real test will be when the sequel comes out. Seeing as the book left some strings dangling it will be important to see how Fitzpatrick ties them up and either keeps the creep, or now that less people are trying to kill Nora, creates and equally puzzling chain of events for me to read.