This book was not given to me, recommended to me, etc.
Synopsis
AS FAR AS anyone at her high school knows, Jill McTeague is an average smart girl trying to get her dream date to ask her to the prom.
What no one knows, except for Jill’s mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is not Jill at all. She is Jack, a genuine boy—complete with all the parts. Jack lives his four days per month in the solitude of Jill’s room. But his personality has been building since the cycling began. He is less and less content with his confinement and his cycles are becoming more frequent. Now Jill’s question about the prom isn’t who she'll go with, but who she'll be when the big night arrives.
What no one knows, except for Jill’s mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is not Jill at all. She is Jack, a genuine boy—complete with all the parts. Jack lives his four days per month in the solitude of Jill’s room. But his personality has been building since the cycling began. He is less and less content with his confinement and his cycles are becoming more frequent. Now Jill’s question about the prom isn’t who she'll go with, but who she'll be when the big night arrives.
Review
3 stars
Walking the shelves at the library, the title Cycler drew me to check this out. Different, I thought, but if it's about bikes I'll puke. I picked it up and the front cover was a girl in a bra and boxers while on the back was a guy who looked like the girl and was also in the same boxers. Hmmmm.... Ok, interest piqued. I read the synopsis and though, ok, now here's something original. A girl who turns into a guy in every way, shape, and form, for four days out of the month.
On one side we have Jill. Your average high school senior. She has a friend who is a bit out there and a crush whom everyone seemingly avoids. She has a secret too...Jack.
Now we have Jack. Complete opposite of Jill. Can't keep his hands off his junk, yep, you read right, and due to his porn addiction, has managed to get the internet removed permanently from the house. Oh, and he has desires for Jill's BFF.
The story seriously dragged for about half the book. The slang words such as "mal" and "deeply" were used so much you could create a game out of it. It took everything to keep me reading and for my family who was around me, they heard the groans everytime the slang words came up so they thought I was going senile.
Finally, halfway through the book, the author finally got to the meat of the story. At the same time the slang words diminished too. Almost like they were fillers.
Jill & Jack, opposites, started to fight for the power over the other. Jill, who learned to block Jack's life out, started to get unwanted glimpses of Jack's doings. At the same time, Jack, who was locked away in the bedroom during his 4 days, wanted to spend time with the person he wanted to be with. Yep, Jill's bff. You can imagine how Jill was feeling when she started realizing what Jack was doing/feeling. Things get crazy, many lines are crossed which lead the way to a scrumptious ending.
The ending, well, scrumptious fell flat. It went from a banana split sundae with all the fixings to a a plain vanilla cone. After finally bringing me to the point where I was finally glad I had kept reading the ending went into chaos. The storyline had some twists that made you wonder why the character would even do that and what did stay in place went by with a quickness that left me going, say what? After getting the story streamlined, I wish the author would have stayed that way and not rushed it. And the absolute ending, well, you kind of figure out what's going happen, but you are a bit surprised of where it happens.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but honestly, I love YA fiction but this just isn't up to par with what's out there and available for everyone, so I wouldn't suggest anyone go out of their way to read this right now. Now, my college going daughter read the sequel, "Recycler", and she said that the second book was way better than the first. I will have to check that our for myself.
On one side we have Jill. Your average high school senior. She has a friend who is a bit out there and a crush whom everyone seemingly avoids. She has a secret too...Jack.
Now we have Jack. Complete opposite of Jill. Can't keep his hands off his junk, yep, you read right, and due to his porn addiction, has managed to get the internet removed permanently from the house. Oh, and he has desires for Jill's BFF.
The story seriously dragged for about half the book. The slang words such as "mal" and "deeply" were used so much you could create a game out of it. It took everything to keep me reading and for my family who was around me, they heard the groans everytime the slang words came up so they thought I was going senile.
Finally, halfway through the book, the author finally got to the meat of the story. At the same time the slang words diminished too. Almost like they were fillers.
Jill & Jack, opposites, started to fight for the power over the other. Jill, who learned to block Jack's life out, started to get unwanted glimpses of Jack's doings. At the same time, Jack, who was locked away in the bedroom during his 4 days, wanted to spend time with the person he wanted to be with. Yep, Jill's bff. You can imagine how Jill was feeling when she started realizing what Jack was doing/feeling. Things get crazy, many lines are crossed which lead the way to a scrumptious ending.
The ending, well, scrumptious fell flat. It went from a banana split sundae with all the fixings to a a plain vanilla cone. After finally bringing me to the point where I was finally glad I had kept reading the ending went into chaos. The storyline had some twists that made you wonder why the character would even do that and what did stay in place went by with a quickness that left me going, say what? After getting the story streamlined, I wish the author would have stayed that way and not rushed it. And the absolute ending, well, you kind of figure out what's going happen, but you are a bit surprised of where it happens.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but honestly, I love YA fiction but this just isn't up to par with what's out there and available for everyone, so I wouldn't suggest anyone go out of their way to read this right now. Now, my college going daughter read the sequel, "Recycler", and she said that the second book was way better than the first. I will have to check that our for myself.
Author Info:
I grew up in the small town of Wenham, Massachusetts. After college and a brief flirtation with anthropology I spent ten years in the film business as both a screenwriter (Hypercube, Prisoner of Love, Specimen) and producer (American Psycho, Buffalo ’66, Vig, Stag, and others) before turning my attention to novels. I am the author of the teen novels, Cycler, (Re)Cycler, and Scored, as well as the upcoming children’s picture book series, Preschool Detective. I am currently at work on my fourth novel.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurenMcWoof
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