Name: Lori Stewart's review of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Item: Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side
Rating: 4
Author: Lori Stewart

Beth Fantaskey

Vampires, adolescence, true love and high tension . . . all feature prominantly in Beth Fantaskey's exciting, biting book for the YA reader in us all. Marrying a vampire definitely doesn't fit into Jessica's senior year 'get-a-life' plan. Enter a bizarre new exchange student named Lucius Vladescu who claims Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth and he's her long-lost fiancé. He's arrogant, officious, embarrassingly overprotective, and, well, incredibly hot. Armed with a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire's Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica tries to imagine the transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess. But just when things start to heat up with Lucius, a devious cheerleader sets her sights on him. Soon Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war – and save Lucius's soul from eternal damnation. All of which leaves her to wonder: Wouldn't life be easier if she could just fall for a nice mortal boy? For more please visit bethfantaskey.com JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE is a fast, enjoyable read with a nice balance between comedy and drama. It doesn't get too bogged down in vampire lore. Beth Fantaskey borrows only a few of the usual bloodsucker staples (eg. stake + heart = death) and puts her own spin on the genre. I adored Lucius. He's showy but endearing. His incredulous comments about America in correspondence with his cruel uncle Vasile were side-splitting. If you want a break from dark, dark vamp stories, give this one a go. weloveya.wordpress.com

Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Lori Stewart

Kirsten Simkiss

Okay. So I started this and thought it was pretty terrible, but enjoyable for all the tackiness and cliches. But after about page 50 it really picks up and gets into the actual meat of the plot. 

Vampires have been a bit overdone in fantasy literature lately. It's just how the trend went. At this point, it's hard to break from the cliches of typical vampire lore. This book did a little bit to shake off the usual lore, but kept with the bare bones of it and the general stylistic tendencies of the vampire community.

As I said, the first 50 pages were tacky. I joked to my family that the lines seemed like something out of a romance plot line on an episodic dating sim for your phone. Embarrassing family and friend choices of phrase, awkward situations, boys magically appearing at inconvenient times - except you couldn't choose the ending, of course. After that, when the characters start to grow into themselves, it gets better and it becomes a tangle of a love triangle and two conflicting set of morals.

I'm not sure I really bought that they're totally in love with each other at the end, but they're definitely somewhat functional as a pair. I wish them well.

Lori Stewart &
Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

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Lori Stewart &Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Reviews

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Lori Stewart &
Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey