Review: Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein

Nov •  10 •  2013

I received this book for free from FTC: Exchange for honest opinion, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.
Review: Hideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote FrankensteinHideous Love: The Story of the Girl Who Wrote Frankenstein by Stephanie Hemphill
Series: Stand Alone
Published by Balzer + Bray on October 1st 2013
Genres: Young Adult-Historical/Contemporary
Source: FTC: Exchange for honest opinion, Publisher
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From award-winning author Stephanie Hemphill comes the fascinating story of Mary Shelley, a brilliant teenager who wrote one of the greatest literary masterpieces of all time: Frankenstein.

An all-consuming love affair.

A family torn apart by scandal.

A young author on the brink of greatness.

Hideous Love is the fascinating story of Gothic novelist Mary Shelley, who as a teen girl fled her restrictive home only to find herself in the shadow of a brilliant but moody boyfriend, famed poet Percy Shelley. It is the story of the mastermind behind one of the most iconic figures in all of literature: a monster constructed out of dead bodies and brought to life by the tragic Dr. Frankenstein.

Mary wrote Frankenstein at the age of nineteen, but inspiration for the monster came from her life-the atmospheric European settings she visited, the dramas swirling around her, and the stimulating philosophical discussions with the greatest minds of the period, like her close friend, Lord Byron.

This luminous verse novel from award-winning author Stephanie Hemphill reveals how Mary Shelley became one of the most celebrated authors in history.

Alright. This book is way more than what I thought it be. For sure, I love the writing. But the characters had my stomach in knots.

Love: Let me tells you the way this love is hideous. This love is doomed from the start. And iffy guy attracted to a young girl, romance moves fast. Oh and did I mention he is STILL married and has a child on the way while he is pursuing her. Yup.Cause he is. And I knew as soon as she feel for his antics there was no going back. This love isn’t one I enjoyed but really cringed at. There were so many underlying lies and betrayals, yet once she was married to this man she looks the other way. I mean, in this time period you have too.  She is woman and women in that time period solely relied on their husbands. But man, I felt sorry for this girl and what she went through.

Plot: This story is told in verse form. Like a poem. So it was a quick read for me. Each poem was written beautifully with full detail of what is happening in her life. From her courtship, to marriage, to giving birth, to struggles that any married couple goes through. Still, I think had this girl not been so infatuated with this man, she could of saved herself a lot of heartache.

Frankenstein: Because of that heartache, she is fueled to write. And write she does. She creates this magnificent story that goes on to successful. Even more successful than what she every thought.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. Though I would of preferred a more detail story rather than verse form. I mean, it does give good detail in verse but I think in a novel form it would have been richer. If you like verse form with plenty of  drama, check this book out. Hideous Love is good.

I give it 3 BITES!

3bites

Happy Reading!

2 Comments

  1. Wendy Darling
    Nov 11, 2013

    I couldn’t get into this one because I’m not a big fan of books told in verse, but it sounds like an interesting read. I do love gothics and the idea of learning more about Mary Shelley is cool.

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

  2. I was wondering how this book was going to be. I took IB/AP English in high school and we took an extensive amount of time analyzing every bit and piece of FRANKENSTEIN. We learned about Shelley but I had no idea Percy was married and such while he pursuing her. I can definitely see why this made you cringe. It would make me feel the same way! I don’t know if I would like reading a book completely in verse form. I figure the author probably did so to be different and to make it not seem like a boring biography.