Jekel Loves Hyde

Jekel Loves Hyde Beth Fantasky

Good girl Jill Jekel is entering her senior year with a host of family secrets that are about to explode. Tristen Hyde is hot, British, nice, but with a violent past. Working together, if they can ignore their feelings for each other, they might win a chemistry competition that would pay for Jill to go to college, but even more, save both of them.

The basic premise is that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was based a real story. Jill's the descendant of good-scientist Jekyll, but Tristen is descended from the monster Hyde, and all of the men in his family carry the Hyde curse.

Jill had a tendency to really annoy me. She linked to whinge and moan about how plain she was and no one would ever like her (not just boys, but friends too.) Part of me was like "of course no one likes you, all you do is think about how unlikable you are!" And she was a little... too good without motivation. There's good girl, and then there's Jill, who's expected to be in bed at 9:30 every night (even though her mom isn't around to enforce this rule and she's a senior in high school. I was a good girl, too. But at 9:30 I wasn't in bed, I was watching ER.) Her parents didn't seem strict enough to enforce these hardcore rules, but they seemed to be there-- a lot of Jill's goodness seemed imposed on her instead of self-directed, but I couldn't see where or why it was imposed...

BUT! THAT SAID! I did really like this one. Fantasky unfolds the dark secrets of Jill's family very deftly-- I couldn't put the book down. Plus, the romance with Tristen is well done, even if it is another weak-plain-girl-likes-monster. And while Tristen pushes Jill away for her own protection, he ACTUALLY PUSHES JILL AWAY. Not the whole 'oh, I love you, but I might kill you but I love you and am being a jerk so you'll come back and I don't have to feel guilty about it.' I have a hard time accepting Tristen as a good guy-- even when he's not the monster... some things give me pause, but... I can't help it, I do have a bit of a crush on him even though my head knows I shouldn't.

Not as good as Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (mainly because, in order to set up the proper Jekyll/Hyde dichotomy, Jill was a bit of a dishrag and Jessica was awesome) but I still really enjoyed this one.

Book Provided by... my local library

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And then Buffy staked Edward. The End.

Today I bring you three (THREE) books about vampires that aren't at all scary, except for maybe in their views on love, women, and relationships.

Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe) Kimberly Pauley

Mina (yes, named after the character in Dracula) is experiencing a crisis of epic proportions:

1. Prom is just around the corner and she hasn't even had time to think about it.
2. She turns into a tongue-tied idiot whenever she sees a cute guy, especially her crush.
3. What is up with all this English homework?!
4. She has to take really boring vampire classes to decide if she wants to be a vampire.

Yeah, a vampire. Her parents are vampires. And now she has to decide if she wants to be one, too. And she has to decide soon, because she didn't have enough on her plate already. It also soon becomes apparent that the decision is even trickier and stickier than she thought it would be.

First of all, it's just plain funny. Everything from Mina's voice to the beginning of every chapter that had a vampire myth, the truth, and a cute/funny little doodle drawing to illustrate it. Second of all, this would still be a pretty workable book if you cut the vampire stuff-- there's a lot more going on than regular vampire knowledge. Also, a lot of talk about Dracula, because they're reading it in English class. I love how Mina wants to stand up for vampire rights. The romantic sub-plot is entirely predictable, but I like that it involved more than two guys.

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side Beth Fantaskey

At his first day as an exchange student in her high school, Lucius dumps a lot of Jessica. First off, he’s a vampire and she’s a vampire princess and they’ve been betrothed since birth. It’s time for them to get married, move back to Romania, and rule the vampires. But, until then, he’s going to live in her barn. What makes it worse is that her parents seem to know all about this! She always knew she was adopted from Eastern Europe, but vampires? They don’t even exist!

A fun romantic comedy that gets heated up by the hott boy next door and the meaner than mean cheerleader. Plus, possible vampire war. Lucius was a little too moody and tortured for my tastes, but Jessica could stand up to it, and did. I can handle controlling male leads if the girl is willing to give him a reality check. And Jessica was.

Got Fangs? Katie Maxwell

Fran's mother is a bonafide witch. Her best friend is 400-odd years old (she's related to vampires) and Fran is stuck traveling around Europe in the Goth Faire where everyone can use their freaky talents, because her dad got remarried and wanted 6 months alone with his new trophy wife.

Fran also thinks she's a freak, because she can read your memories and emotions just by touching you with her bare hands. She tends to wear gloves.

And then Imogen's brother shows up, and he really is a vamp. And he says Fran is his "Beloved" and can save his soul. Yeah, right. She's not buying it, but why does he have to be so cute? And why is her mother so determined to get her to appreciate her "gift" to the point where she's blackmailed into solving a mystery.

Funny and light, I really enjoyed this one and want to read more of Maxwell's works, especially her more realistic fiction like The Year My Life Went Down The Loo.