Review of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

My review of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey is based on a hardcover copy of the book that I borrowed from my local library. The following review is my honest opinion of the work.

Goodreads Summary: "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."

I opened this book expecting a fairly typical vampire romance complete with a weakling heroine but found myself ultimately surprised by Jessica. She started off as your fairly typical teenage girl but she grew throughout the novel to fulfill her role. Jessica wasn't the kind of heroine that played the damsel in distress card, she took charge of herself. She was strong, smart and not letting a guy rule her life. What I loved was the fact that she was an equal to the males portrayed in the book.

I know Lucius met several of the typical vampire stereotypes but he still managed to stand out for me. I loved his sense of humor that shown through in the letters that he wrote home to his Uncle. He had more depth to him than just your standard dark prince. Much like with Jessica I enjoyed watching him develop into something more from the stereotype of the rich brat that he started out as.

The story itself I absolutely loved. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side actually at times reminded me of the Princess Diaries movies that I love to watch. AND it was actually the first book in forever that I had stayed up all night reading; which means I didn't go to bed until a little after two because I just had to finish it.

I'm giving Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey a four out of five stars review. I really recommend picking this book up if you haven't already read it; I know it's on bargain at Amazon and if you can't manage that you should definitely pester your local library about getting in a copy for you. It's fun, romantic and just a little bit dark. All in all a great summer read.