Book Review: Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (Jessica, #1) by Beth Fantaskey.

The undead can really screw up your senior year ...

Marrying a vampire definitely doesn’t fit into Jessica Packwood’s senior year “get-a-life” plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth—and he’s her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war—and save Lucius’s soul from eternal destruction.


Review:

Temperamental vampire romance series with potential.  Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is the first novel in the Jessica series by Beth Fantaskey.  Before purchasing this book I had read very mixed reviews, but when I found a bargain copy on Amazon I couldn't help my curiosity.  After completing JGtDotDS, I can now understand the mixed reviews.  This was a book that had me rolling my eyes in some parts and addictively reading late into the night in others.  I had a difficult time deciding if I loved or hated the characters.  Jessica and Lucious change so drastically that, by the time I reached the final page, it almost seemed as though I were reading about entirely different characters.  Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side begins with a fun, often humorous, high school vampire story, but becomes a dark, dramatic tale of paranormal romance.  This shift from light to dark, young to more mature, makes reviews and recommendations difficult.  I am curious to see what direction this series will take with book two and, though I did sigh at times, I have every intention of reading Jessica Rules on the Dark Side.  I really do have to find out what happens next!

I recommend Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (Jessica, #1) to readers of paranormal romance, young adult, urban fantasy, and especially to fans of romantic vampire fiction.  Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side may appeal to fans of Laney: The Brookehaven Vampires by Joann Martin Sowles, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey, and The Hollow by Jessica Verday.

Sensitive reader warning: some violence toward animals, sexual situations

Source: This book was purchased by E.J. for review.


Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side on Amazon.
Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side on Goodreads.