Book Review: Hyde (Hyde Book 1) by Lauren Stewart

 
 
Mitch has spent half of his life learning to tame the violent, raging monster inside him, Hyde, by being a jerk to everyone, but then he meets Eden. The real problem though is that Eden doesn't even remember who Mitch is when she wakes up in his bed. When she keeps waking up in strange places (usually Mitch's doorstep) and not remembering how she got there, she turns to Mitch for help, and no matter how much he tries to push her away, he can't seem to get rid of her... and isn't sure he wants to.

Book Review: Hyde (Hyde Book 1) by Lauren Stewart | reading, books, book reviews, fantasy, paranormal romance, paranormal/urban fantasy
Title: Hyde
Author:
Series:
Book Number: Book 1
Pages: 378
My Rating: 4 Stars
More Info: Goodreads, Amazon
 

Review:

This book was really good overall, but there were still some things I liked and some things I disliked.

I’ll start with the dislikes:

1) I was annoyed by the little sections of conversation between Jolie and The Clinic; I don’t like vague mysteriousness and felt like, either tell the reader what’s going on or don’t.

2) The book got a little too romance-y and sappy and big-emotional-character-growth-all-the-sudden-y for me during the part where they spent like for whole days doing nothing but screwing.

3) Normally I can deal with lack of communication/miscommunication because it’s realistic, but in this case it was just aggravating (though thankfully fairly short-lived).

Now the likes:

1) The reactions of the characters in the beginning, when all the weird stuff was happening and neither one knew what was going on, were surprisingly realistic, especially the way Mitch just thought Eden was wacko, then thought she had an actual psychological disorder and needed help, and regardless just kept trying to shoo her out of his life.

2) Most of the characters and their interactions were realistic and at times pleasantly complex, *MILD SPOILER* like when Carter screwed up and Eden got upset and Mitch basically wanted to kill him but then decided the guy was just an overwhelmed idiot who was in over his head and ended up kinda feeling bad for him and not wanting to hurt his feelings. *END SPOILER*

3) Mitch’s asshole-ness was hilarious. And I wasn’t put off by it because he had an actual legitimate, understandable reason for being an asshole.

4) This wasn’t truly a retelling of Jekyll & Hyde, but it was still a creative use of the original as inspiration.

5) This moment:

She took the condoms out of his hand and said, “I had to put one of these on a banana at a party once. It was a dare.”

“Dare you to try it again.”

“And if I can do it?”

“Anything you want.”

She smiled. “And if I can’t?”

“Anything you want. In addition to a how-to lesson.”

5 cont.) I loved that quote because, number one, yay for safe sex! And number two, he didn’t make her feel bad in any way about her lack of experience, and he even wanted to teach her how to use a condom if she didn’t know how so that she could always practice safe sex, even if she wasn’t with him, and not have to rely on men. It just struck me as a really great moment.

To be honest, I’m not planning on continuing with the series because I just never truly connected to the characters and don’t feel invested, but I think it was a “me” thing, not the book. Overall, this was definitely a good book and one that I would recommend to paranormal romance readers!

 

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12 thoughts on “Book Review: Hyde (Hyde Book 1) by Lauren Stewart

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  1. Danya @ Fine Print

    I’m really intrigued by this story (especially the Jeckyll/Hyde aspect), although I have to admit that the romance sounds a bit over the top. I’m not a big fan of character development that happens all-of-the-sudden-y either, hahaha.

  2. verushka

    Now I am curious about the truth they find out. I have to admit though, some of your list of dislikes, I really do dislike. ALOT. Boo.

  3. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    I don’t like retellings much and Jekyll & Hyde is not one of my fav stories either but it seems it was not really retelling but maybe just “inspired on” and I’m glad you enjoy the realistic characters! 🙂 I still remember being in love with this cover when it was on your sidebar! 🙂 me and butterflies 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Oh, see, I think J&H could make for a very interesting retelling! But this was more just inspired by, not a retelling. Ah, yes, I remember your love for this cover lol.