▼

Sunday, March 22, 2009

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

Tags: YA, paranormal, vampires, romance, war

Summary

Debut author Beth Fantaskey explodes onto the heavily populated YA vampire lit world with her amazing book, JESSICA’S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE, which is sure to convert Twilight fans into having a new favorite vampire and vampire-novel heroine. Or if it doesn’t do that, then at least it will leave you smiling, biting your nails, and reading far into the night.

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
at

32 comments:

  1. deltayMarch 22, 2009 at 2:24 PM

    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 ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shooting Stars MagMarch 22, 2009 at 2:28 PM

    Awesome. I really want to read this book...even more now. Sheesh!! amazing review. :)

    -Lauren

    ReplyDelete
  3. BookwormMarch 22, 2009 at 2:30 PM

    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!

    Nice review, Steph!

    ReplyDelete
  4. prophecygirlMarch 22, 2009 at 2:40 PM

    Brilliant review Steph! I'm so excited to read this :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lenore AppelhansMarch 22, 2009 at 2:46 PM

    I am really not into vampire romances at all, but who knows? This does sound kinda entertaining!

    ReplyDelete
  6. HMarch 22, 2009 at 3:16 PM

    I love that cover so much. And now I have a recommendation for the story too! I must buy it =)

    ReplyDelete
  7. SadakoMarch 22, 2009 at 3:25 PM

    I actually really like the title, even if it is a little long. It's definitely what drew me in to read this review.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Luisa at ChicklishMarch 22, 2009 at 6:48 PM

    Wonderful review, and it sounds amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Erika PowellMarch 22, 2009 at 11:42 PM

    great review, now I am even more excited that this won my poll!

    ReplyDelete
  10. ThaoMarch 23, 2009 at 2:49 AM

    I'm not really into vampires but it sounds pretty great!

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownMarch 23, 2009 at 9:49 AM

    Wow, that sounds really good. I'm such a vampire fanatic. I mean since I was little! Okay, I really want to read it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. So Many Books, So Little TimeMarch 23, 2009 at 2:34 PM

    This sounds so good, I really want to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. juiciliciousss reviewsMarch 23, 2009 at 8:20 PM

    gave you an award!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Donna (Bites)March 23, 2009 at 10:28 PM

    Award, you has one.

    I have this book waiting in my TBR pile. I can't wait to get to it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Minding SpotMarch 23, 2009 at 10:54 PM

    I've sent you an award! Please visit my blog to get the details @ http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  16. AmyMarch 24, 2009 at 6:56 PM

    nice 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...
    -amy

    ReplyDelete
  17. pepsivanillaApril 16, 2009 at 10:18 PM

    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!

    ReplyDelete
  18. LlehnApril 17, 2009 at 12:04 AM

    I'm glad to hear that the characters are well fleshed out. It's really rare in books these days!

    Lesley

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousApril 18, 2009 at 12:50 PM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  20. PissenlitApril 18, 2009 at 11:52 PM

    Ooooh! This is on my TBR list. Your review just made me want to read it even more!

    ReplyDelete
  21. ChristinaApril 19, 2009 at 9:29 PM

    Have it and LOVE IT!

    ReplyDelete
  22. AdeleApril 19, 2009 at 9:46 PM

    I 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.

    That being said, I am really excited to read her follow up novel, Jekel.

    Great review.

    ReplyDelete
  23. ellie_enchantedApril 21, 2009 at 11:05 AM

    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.

    ReplyDelete
  24. LiyanaApril 22, 2009 at 11:29 PM

    Wow! I really really want to read this. Last time was when I heard the intriguing title. Now actually knowing the plot.

    ReplyDelete
  25. JessicaApril 25, 2009 at 11:00 AM

    I got this from the library and loved it so much I just bought it and got it in the mail yesterday!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Max BrownApril 25, 2009 at 5:45 PM

    That 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.

    ReplyDelete
  27. AnonymousApril 25, 2009 at 7:22 PM

    I'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!

    ReplyDelete
  28. SilviaApril 26, 2009 at 10:32 AM

    I'm glad you enjoyed it. I loved this book and now is one of my favourites.
    I liked the letters Lucius wrote to his uncle as well.

    ReplyDelete
  29. AshleyApril 28, 2009 at 6:15 PM

    VAMPIRE book! Aaaah, I want to read this.

    ReplyDelete
  30. babygirlGMay 5, 2009 at 2:24 AM

    I vant to vead vthis vook! AHHAHAHAHAHAAH.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Gaby317May 8, 2009 at 10:06 AM

    This 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!!

    ReplyDelete
  32. DominiqueJune 1, 2009 at 8:50 PM

    I really want to read this book!!! It sounds great! nice review :)

    ReplyDelete

Hello! I'm so excited to read what you have to say. Due to high amounts of spam, I'm forced to disabled anonymous comments for the time being. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes, and I hope you can understand and still appreciate the content here!