Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

by Beth Fantaskey

[Angie]

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is another one of those books that I had wanted to read for a really long time, but never got to it until now. I love vampires, but I'm kind of the fence about this one. I did enjoy it, but the vampires themselves are a bit disappointing and the ending was rushed and jumpy. Jessica is just a normal girl who doesn't believe in the paranormal. She likes facts and logic (she's a mathlete), but her world is turned upside down when her parents take in a "foreign exchange" student from Romania. Lucius is a vampire, and claims he is Jessica's betrothed. If there's anything more unbelievable to Jessica than vampires, it's her being promised to a stranger before she was born.

I really liked Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side in the beginning. Jessica isn't dazzled by Lucius and she certainly doesn't believe that he's a vampire, even when he flashes his fangs. Her parents are a bit eccentric, so she thinks this is some kind of cult occurrence, even when they show her the scroll with the agreement on it. It isn't until Lucius is gravely injured and her parents bring him back to the house to be seen by a special doctor that Jessica realizes that maybe they're telling the truth. It takes her a bit longer to accept that she herself is also a vampire princess and it's up to her to save her people from an impending war by joining with Lucius.

The story does kind of remind me of The Princess Diaries, but with vampires. And instead of a long lost grandmother appearing to give princess lessons, it's the infuriatingly sexy fiance. There's a lot of humor in the beginning, and Jessica and Lucius bicker a lot. But then the story grows gradually darker as secrets are uncovered. I liked the inclusion of letters from Lucius to his uncle. This gave us some behind the scenes info that Jessica doesn't have, as well as a lot of funny bits as Lucius ruminates on American culture.

My disappointments came in the form of the vampires and the ending. The vampires really aren't all that interesting, and in fact, Jessica asks what's so great about being one since apparently all of the myths are false. They're really not that different at all, except they can only be killed by a stake to the heart, have fangs, and occasionally drink blood. Great. As for the ending, the last 15% or so just seemed to skip ahead too much at a time, and Lucius got a personality transplant, then went back. It was like flipping a switch a few times, with nothing in between. I also don't get how he did his disappearing act.

In the end, I did like Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. I do wish the vampires had been more interesting and special. Not necessarily into sparkling territory, but something other than just drinking blood. The conclusion does make me curious about what comes next though, since I don't think Jessica has fixed this problem so easily.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.