Review: Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey (Jessica #1)

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (Jessica #1)
Beth Fantaskey
Published: Feb. 1, 2009 (Harcourt)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: purchased

Reviewed by: Jill

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

This book was so not what I was expecting. I have found in my old age that I have no patience for teenagers and their angst (even though I was the most angsty of them all). And Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is all about teenage vampire angst. I guess I should have gotten a clue from the words “vampire princess.”

Jessica Packwood is just a normal, nerdy, teenage girl who’s focused on her next boyfriend. When the quintessential mysterious, tall-dark-and-handsome, foreign exchange student shows a weirdly obsessive interest in her, she’s thrown into a new world that includes vampires and arranged marriages.

Turns out that Jessica is actually a long-lost vampire princess from Romania and she’s been promised to Lucius (the mysterious stranger) since birth. And so ensues the teenage drama. She doesn’t want to be a princess; she just wants to be a normal girl. She doesn’t believe in vampires; she believes in math. She doesn’t want to marry Lucius; but wait, maybe she does! Eventually the teenage drama dwindles and the real action begins.

Aside from the cliché story, it’s an enjoyable read. Jessica starts to mature to take her place as the princess of her clan. She takes the reigns of a multifamily organization, and she comes off as both stubborn and compassionate. I’m not sure if those things a princess make, but what do I know? It’s not like I’ve actually ever met a princess.

The story has a finite ending with everything wrapped up very nicely. I don’t think I’ll move on to the next book, just because the happily ever after part of the love story already happened.

If you like books about teenage love and vampire angst then Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side is a really good read. Despite my humor above, the characters were interesting and the end of the story was dramatic. When the characters finally do get together they seem to be a really good fit for one another. They both grow and mature, and end up and at a really good place for them both. If you would like a light, high school love read, then this would totally be the book for you.

Sexual content: Kissing