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

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Series: Jessica Book 1
Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult
Synopsis
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

At first thought, one would think another young adult vampire book would be such a drag to read, and after the summary I thought it was just that. Despite my lack of interest with what the book was about, my reasons for picking this book up was so that I could get it off my to-read shelf. 

Oh boy was I wrong about it being a drag to read. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side was a surprising, funny, enthralling and a little bit dark novel. Don't worry the dark comes in towards the end.

The first few chapters too a while to glue me to the book but as I read on, and after the first laugh and an intrigued "mm.." came out, I was hooked. 

The main focus of the book was on how Jessica transitions from the average teenage mathlete to the elegant vampire princess that she was meant to be, and Lucius Vladescu on how he attempts to try and convince his bride to be that she really is a vampire and they must marry. Lucius Vladescu is what made the whole book fun and entertaining. How he adapts himself to the American lifestyle of high school and basketball was just hilarious to read through. 

I didn't expect the book to end the way it did. I expected more fluff, but I kind of liked the ending. It was filled with mystery and trust. Not really a cliff hanger but it has a sense of it. 

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is an entertaining and intriguing read that is filled with sarcasm, teenage romance, high school bullying, politics, and evil vampire uncles. 

I sometimes think that I'm getting too old for these books, or I'm growing out of this genre. But this book tells me otherwise. This book shows me that there are some YA books that are still worth reading, and this is one of them. It's a great addition to the Paranormal YA genre. 

Perhaps in time I'll give the second book a shot. In the mean time, here is a link to the epilogue of Book 1. http://bethfantaskey.com/wedding/wedding-chapt1.html

  

Have a wonderful day everyone! :3