Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

Summary:

Jill Jekel and Tristen Hyde are two high school students who gradually discover that they share a mysterious, possibly dangerous, connection to the old novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. As they race against the clock to figure out the puzzle, they start to fall for each other - which is probably the worst thing that could happen to them.

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, this good girl is tempted to peek inside, because the contents just might be key to winning a lucrative chemistry scholarship.
To better 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. As things heat up in the lab though, Jill’s accidental taste of a formula unleashes her darkest nature and will compel her to risk everything – even Tristen’s love – just for the thrill of being… bad.

Review:
Romance, Murder, Mystery and a touch of a classic; this book screamed to me read me, read me my formula is perfection. Well, just like the original Dr. Jekyll’s formula this book was just bad.
The two main characters are not well developed, the author falls back on characteristics of Jekyll and Hyde from the Classic instead of making them into today teens. This would have been fine if the author had not relied so much on her readers having read the classic. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not a book that I read when I was a teen and I do not think that it is on many teen reading lists.

The Romance has no sizzle. Yes it is a “rocky” relationship and you wonder if they are really going to end up together but it is lacking that page turning element.

All of the murders take place before the book starts, so they are all memories/haunts. Which is fine but using the same formula over and over was unexciting. As for the “who done it” portion, it is very predictable. I guess all in all this book is totally predictable which made it boring.

When I started reading this book I was immediately hit with another parent who was totally incapable of taking care of herself. I am so tired of this trend in Young Adult novels. Being an adult with children I know that this is not a common occurrence and I guess I am getting tired of being portrayed as going to fall apart at the drop of a hat. Also, teens that take care of their parents, pay bills etc etc… without difficulty seems a bit unrealistic to me. Yes I know it happens but I would imagine it would put a load of stress on the teen decreasing their grades and relationships with others. These book (and others that I have read) seem to glorify this situation.