Tags: YA, paranormal, vampires, romance, war
Summary
In rural Pennsylvania, math nerd Jessica Packwood is about to enter her senior year of high school, determined to have a good time, potentially date Jake Zinn, a nice and handsome boy in her grade, and win some more math competitions. But her carefully imagined plan goes down the drain with the arrival of Lucius Vladescu, a hot but arrogant student from Romania who is under the unfortunate delusion that he is a vampire prince destined to marry Jessica, who is apparently a vampire princess from a rival vampire family. Their marriage would end a centuries-long war between the two families and ensure peace for all their vampire relatives.
Jessica, who loves scientific facts, is understandably confused, scared of her reluctant attraction to Lucius and unable to believe the “parlor tricks” that he performs: a flash of fangs here, a miraculous recovery from a serious injury there. But just as she begins to finally believe—in Lucius, in herself—Lucius suddenly begins to court Faith Crosse, the evil-souled reigning cheerleader-slash-prom-queen of Woodrow Wilson High, and Jessica finds herself struggling to win him back, and not just for the sake of her own heart. For if she doesn’t, both vampire families, not to mention Lucius, could end up being destroyed.
Review
Wow! It is almost unfortunate that this book has such an unwieldy and frothy, though eye-catching, title, because I did not realize the extent of what I was in for when I started reading. Jessica and Lucius are two of the best main characters that I have read about in a long time: they are fully three-dimensional and undergo incredible growth through the 350-some pages. Lucius’ intensity and arrogance makes me simultaneously laugh and be attracted to him at the same time, and some of my favorite chapters were those that consisted of Lucius’ letters to his uncle back in Romania. The relationship that develops between Jessica and Lucius seems totally natural, the growing love not forced.
The plot goes beyond a typical Twilight spinoff (which all current YA vampire novels are inevitably being compared to), and reaches its awe-inspiring conclusion wonderfully. My one complaint is minor, and that is that I felt like most of the minor characters were not developed enough. However, the complexity of Jessica and Lucius’ characters—not to mention their wonderful interactions—more than made up for it, and I am happy to overlook the fact that I don’t get to know Jessica’s friends well in return for feeling immersed in Jessica’s life.
Action, love, mortal danger, family, humor—JESSICA’S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE has everything. I am wholeheartedly a fan, and you will be too.
Similar Authors
Stephenie Meyer (Twilight)
Kelley Armstrong (The Summoning)
Writing: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Wow - a 4.5?! Sounds like a great read; I'll definitely have to check it out. Seems like another case of a misleading title/cover ;)
ReplyDeleteAwesome. I really want to read this book...even more now. Sheesh!! amazing review. :)
ReplyDelete-Lauren
Wow! Doesn't sound like my type of thing, but cool all the same! I have heard a lot of great feedback from lots of reviewers on this one!
ReplyDeleteNice review, Steph!
Brilliant review Steph! I'm so excited to read this :)
ReplyDeleteI am really not into vampire romances at all, but who knows? This does sound kinda entertaining!
ReplyDeleteI love that cover so much. And now I have a recommendation for the story too! I must buy it =)
ReplyDeleteI actually really like the title, even if it is a little long. It's definitely what drew me in to read this review.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, and it sounds amazing!
ReplyDeletegreat review, now I am even more excited that this won my poll!
ReplyDeleteI'm not really into vampires but it sounds pretty great!
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds really good. I'm such a vampire fanatic. I mean since I was little! Okay, I really want to read it! :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so good, I really want to read it.
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ReplyDeleteAward, you has one.
ReplyDeleteI have this book waiting in my TBR pile. I can't wait to get to it!
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ReplyDeletenice review, I'll look into this one. You're so lucky to have swim the fly!! I've been pining 4 that one too...It looks really funny and I like reading from a guys perspective, don't know why, it's just different...
ReplyDelete-amy
This sounds like a great book! I hadn't been paying attention to it before because I figured it was just another supernatural story following in the popularity of Twilight, but now I really want to read this!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that the characters are well fleshed out. It's really rare in books these days!
ReplyDeleteLesley
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ReplyDeleteOoooh! This is on my TBR list. Your review just made me want to read it even more!
ReplyDeleteHave it and LOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteI adore this book and it saddens me that more people haven't been reading and reviewing it on their blogs. Beth's created some lovely characters that I would love to see revisited.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I am really excited to read her follow up novel, Jekel.
Great review.
I've been wanting to read this. It sounds really good, even though I'm not a huge vampire fan in general, especially after Twilight.
ReplyDeleteWow! I really really want to read this. Last time was when I heard the intriguing title. Now actually knowing the plot.
ReplyDeleteI got this from the library and loved it so much I just bought it and got it in the mail yesterday!
ReplyDeleteThat book looks amazing. I just found out about it recently, and I've been dying to read it ever since. I can't WAIT to read it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little wary of vampire novels since Twilight made the genre so saturated... but since Evernight was good, I'm thinking I should give this a try too. Thanks for the review! I'll be keeping an eye out for this!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it. I loved this book and now is one of my favourites.
ReplyDeleteI liked the letters Lucius wrote to his uncle as well.
VAMPIRE book! Aaaah, I want to read this.
ReplyDeleteI vant to vead vthis vook! AHHAHAHAHAHAAH.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so good that I'd want it to be more than 350 pages! Will check it out too! You've found so many cool books for me, my TBR list is growing fast. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteI really want to read this book!!! It sounds great! nice review :)
ReplyDelete