Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

by Beth Fantaskey

Book Overview

The undead can really screw up your senior year . . . Marrying a vampire definitely doesn't fit into Jessica Packwood's senior year "get-a-life" plan. But then a bizarre (and incredibly hot) new... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152063846
• ISBN13: 9780152063849
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.6" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Loved it.

Originality: 5 Characters: 4 Writing: 5 Setting: 4 Plot: 5 Passion: 4 Overall: 27/30 90% = A Cover Bonus: 0 First off, I need to address why I ended up reading this book. I was NOT going to read this. I'll address some of these reasons *cough* cover *cough*, *cough* title *cough* later. Until I read Beth Fantaskey's guest blog on Wondrous Reads. This guest post [..] in and I purchased my copy that very afternoon. And please note that if I can help it I do not buy books that I can't purchase in Kindle format. I will wait until it's out on the Kindle before buying the physical book. Not with this book. I HAD to have it. Now, on with my review. Originality: I awarded this element of the book a 5 not because it was "truly" 100% original but it's execution was original. I have never read a book where a young male swoops in and insists on wooing a young female into being his beloved for fear that if he fails his family and her family will throw themselves into all out war. Characters: Jessica (woot! my name!) is someone that I immediately related to. It's strange though because we are incredibly unalike but that doesn't matter because ultimately she was just an average, teenager blossoming into a young adult and all that entails with that change. She was real. She was also very mature, unwilling to rush into anything with out thinking it through. Her parents were a wacky pair but they too where amazing parents. Lucius. Now Lucius is a guy that I could fall head over heels for. He's 110% chivarly. His accent (yes!) had me lured in from the get go. He was way too funny at points that I was wiping tears from my eyes. But I did hate him in this book too. He gives up and I can't stand a weak male lead character just as much as I can't stand a weak female lead character, but I have to give him credit because Jessica does not make it easy for him, not in the least. He does evolve and seeing him do that is very fulfilling. The other characters play some huge roles too. (I read this a while ago so I can't think of their names!) Writing: Now this is what [...] in! Beth's writing is phenomenal. I only read that guest blog and couldn't get enough. It seems to come naturally to her or something. Everything flows so well. Nothing is pressured, nothing is presumed to happen. I hate it when I "know" what's going to happen and I never felt that with this book. The ending was just craziness but it all worked out and I really hope to be able to continue learning about Jessica's world. Setting: The setting was just the coolest to me! It's set in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. This is just north of where I live so it felt very familiar to me. Some of the story took place in Romania, I believe, which is where Lucius comes from. There's some amazing castle scenes that I just loved! I would have loved more of that in this book. Plot: The plot was awesome. I hate giving away any major details concerning books so I'm just going to paste a bit of the first chapter here i

Dating On The Dark Side is never easy..

What do you get when you put a normal high school senior, a vampire prince and high school together? Problems. C'mon, what did you think I was going to say?! Jessica has always been normal, with a normal life, she was adopted when she was really young and doesn't know a lot about her birth parents. She's ready for her senior year to be the best year and hopefully she'll get to score a date with Jake. But, when Lucius Valdescu shows up, he has the surprise of her life waiting for her. Lucius tells Jessica that she's a vampire princess in Romania. And, not only that, but they are to be married. That's one way to dampen your senior year. Jessica doesn't believe a word he says, though, until her parents back up everything. Jessica has to try and figure out a way to get herself out of this. Lucius lives with Jessica's family and goes to school with her. Hoping to sway her to believe him so he can take her back home with him. But, when Lucius is about to give up, he meets Faith. Faith is a cheerleader who is use to getting what she wants and she's set her eyes on Lucius. With the freedom that Lucius has in the United States, he decides not to force Jessica into being a vampire or even married and he starts to date Faith. That's when things start to go all wrong. Will Jessica and Lucius be able to figure out what it is that they want? I'm sure you've heard the whole "Don't judge a book by it's cover" saying. This stands true for Jessica's Guide. If you look at the cover, you might assume, as I did, that this book is going to be a fluffy teen vampire romance. Well, you're kinda right. But, this book is more than that. Not only is Jessica a vampire princess, she's not one to be messed with. She can hold her own. Lucius is cocky, arrogant, and sometimes got on my nerves. Not to say I didn't like him, he's just not the usual vampire lead that you see in books today. This book also has a dark side. I can't get into that too much, because I don't want to give anything away, but it is dark. Maybe not at the beginning, but, trust me, it gets there. I hope that if you pick up one book this month, then this will be one of the books you get. It'll make you want to laugh, scream, and maybe even cry. This book will jerk at your emotions!

Much Better Than Twilight

Twilight has been getting a lot of press. Making a movie out of it and having loads of teens reading it. I believe that Jessica's Guide is better. Having read both I would say that this novel appeals more to an older age. The writing is less sophomoric and the implications of sexual acts are much better. The story is about Jessica, a small town girl who lives in farm country Pennsylvania. Near her 18th birthday a Romanian exchange student shows up. Through conversations with her adoptive parents she finds out that she is a vampire princess that is betrothed to this prince. Jessica (or as she is known in Romania, Anastasia) just wants a normal life. She tries to hide from bullies and keep her self as inconspicuous as possible. Luc, pulls her out of her shell and makes her a strong impressive girl who can rule high school and a vampire nation. This story is written incredibly well and will be on our local vampire reading list once it comes out in February.

Just couldn't put this book down!

I finished this book in about 2 days because I just could not put it down. I was very interested in what happened next to Jessica. The basis of this book is that a handsome boy from Romania shows up as an exchange student at Jessica's school and informs Jessica that she is a vampire princess and promised to him. Their marriage is said to end a feud between two vampire clans. Jessica is basically someone who does not believe in illogical things. She is a mathlete and has a hard time imagining in things such as vampires. Moreover, she has never even dated anyone and has a separate romantic interest in an average human boy. So who should she choose? Do not expect these vampires to be the traditional scared of sunlight, bat flying vampires. It seems that lately, authors have changed the premises of vampires to something each of their own. The one that sticks out in my mind is Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)by Stephenie Meyer. Having recently read that book myself, I could not help but compare the books. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, in my opinion, is better than Twilight could ever be. Twilight's main vampire is anything but scary. However, Beth Fantaskey wrote Lucius to be the perfect vampire: mysterious and yet really scary at times and sweet at others. There were times when it felt like what Lucius does is bone chilling. Furthermore, I got really drawn in to the characters. Jessica is a very strong female in this book, very much unlike the less than appealing Bella, the main character from Twilight. The reader gets very much sucked into Jessica's world and start to cheer her on every step of the way. The author also emphasized on Jessica's dress size more than once. Jessica is suppose to be a curvatous size 10 and to me, it is a great message for teenagers nowadays. So many are stuck in the mentality that size 0 is sexy and yet over and over, Lucius reminds Jessica of how sexy she is just the way she is. I felt that message itself was a very strong one throughout the book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in vampires and a good romance. Let me say this, while I am one of the people who enjoyed Twilight as a feel good book, Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side beats it, hands down.

Handy tips for dating the undead

Beth Fantaskey's "Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side" is a tongue-in-cheek teenage vampire romance that will have you cheering for its heroine. Jessica Packwood is an adopted Romanian orphan with loving, hippie parents. Raised on a strict vegan diet, she's a math geek, and at seventeen, she's never been kissed. She's not afraid of getting dirty; she helps muck stables and does household chores on the farm as the only child. Her invisible social life goes on predictably until the first day of her senior year, when a creepy guy in a velvet coat suddenly turns up as the new Romanian exchange student living on her farm. Lucius Vladescu is tall, dark, handsome, multilingual and irritating: he's on several medal-winning sports teams and picks up new skills with ease. He claims that Jessica is really a vampire princess, the last of her line, and that he's a vampire prince and her betrothed. Jessica is very grounded in math and proven fact, and can't tolerate his claims of being a supernatural creature (perhaps Jess's literal thinking is also a rebellion against her New Age hippie parents and their vegan lifestyle). He gives her the "Teen Vampire's Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions" to aid her in her transition (according to Fantaskey's mythology, a female vampire reaches maturity at eighteen, and cannot complete her transformation without being bitten by a male vampire), buys her beautiful prom dresses, and encourages her to embrace her intelligence, beauty and royal status. Jessica and Lucius's clans are teetering on the brink of a full-scale vampire war if the two fail to marry as set forth in their contract, but Jessica insists on pursuing all-too-human Jake, who's none too bright but "nice." But as time goes by, Jessica finds herself slowly reaching out to Lucius and finds cracks in her carefully tended façade of scientific fact. Her world shifts from black and white to grey, and as it does, she loses her famed ability to compete in math competitions. Lucius ramps up his campaign to woo Jess, but after a series of fateful events, a horrific chain of revenge is unleashed and Jess's newfound love is in danger of being crushed. Jess is a multifaceted character full of her own talents and a fierce independent streak buried under teen insecurity. She does not pine endlessly over Lucius; rather, her affection for him is gradual and increasingly hard-won. Lucius is irritating and all-too-human: intelligent, cunning, and always dangerous, we see a frightening transformation as his vampire uncles come to the US to chastise him for breaching the treaty. He struggles constantly against his own desires and the effects of years of physical and psychological abuse (there are graphic scenes of violence and a good deal of swearing) as he slides into a terrifying spiral of detached violence. The narration is divided between Jess's observations and first-person letters penned by Lucius to his uncle (often containing amusing recollections of encount