Jekel Loves Hyde

Author: Beth Fantaskey

Jill Jekel who is shy and withdrawn meets a guy, completely the opposite of her, who falls in love with her from the first time he sees her. His name is Tristan Hyde. As Jill gets to know Tristan who just happens to be in her Chemistry class, her life spins out of control. Her father is already dead and her mother is devastated. Now Jill has little financial support and she desperately needs the money to go to college, so Jekel teams up with Hyde in a Science Competition. However, Jekel and Hyde find out more than they had bargained for.

This book was a joy to read. Reading about the dual natures of humanity and the classic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is always stupefying. Who would have thought to continue Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde's bloodline? Who would have thought that Dr. Jekyll might have kept his lab/experiment notes? Obviously, this author did and she did a good job with it too. The plot was well-developed and most if not all of the characters were interesting to read about, especially Tristan Hyde. I found him more well-developed than Jill Jekel. A great book and recommended read!

Karma Bites

Franny is a nice girl who just wanted her two best friends, Kate and Joey, to get along and she wanted her world, her life and school, to be at peace. Then her Granny shows her the Hindi Help Box and from there Franny starts to make wish after wish and then things spiral out of control leading to a major disaster.

Franny, Karma bites.

However, Franny tells her grandmother the truth after she was found breaking and entering her Granny's friends apartment (Franny was after the box because her Granny had let her friend borrow it). Things go back to the way they were and Franny learns not to mess with the universe and its magic.

I have to say. Franny was starting to get on my nerves. Her endless wishes were annoying and the whole breaking and entering thing was just icing on the cake. I am not to impressed with the story because Franny is an A+ liar. Throughout the story, Franny lies to cover up tracks so her grandmother doesn't find out that she has been using the Hindi Help Box. Now I don't know if being annoyed with Franny is a good thing because the author does manage to get an emotional response out of me. However, that doesn't make me like the character. I know people are not perfect but lying is just wrong especially since she was trusted with this secret box. She's twelve years old and I know that. She has no understanding nor the maturity to handle such secret and her actions do portray that. I don't know about you, but I'm not liking Franny. Even though the end turned out to be good.

I would recommend reading this book if you like drama, laughter, love, friendship, school cliques, Granny and a whole lot of  craziness.