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

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

First in the Jessica series

5 stars

Jessica Packwood’s senior year was supposed to be one to remember. It was, but only because Lucius Vladescu showed up in her small, quiet town. Lucius says that Jessica is a vampire princess and that she is destined to marry him to signify the pact their parents made before they died. Jessica thinks Lucius is crazy and just wants to be normal. As Jessica starts to realize that maybe she does have feelings for Lucius, a devious cheerleader sets her sights on him and Lucius gets caught up in it. As Jessica struggles to win back Lucius and stop a vampire world that could also kill humans, she realizes that maybe she really is ready to be vampire royalty and she won’t give up until she has what she wants. I had been wanting to read JGtDotDS (the title is lengthy and even a mouthful when I type it so I’m using acronyms) since I had accidently stumbled upon it in Walmart. Never having enough money to buy it and when I finally did they didn’t have it, I decided to wait until the day I would find would come. It came last week when I walked into my school’s library for the first time. This book is everything I hoped it would be. It was funny, sweet, romantic, full of drama, and entertaining. I wasn’t bored when reading and Lucius Vladescu can suck on my neck any day.
 


The main female character is Jessica Packwood. Jessica was born as Anastasia and Lucius refers to her old name more than her American name. I liked Jessica, she was funny and her thoughts were entertaining. Throughout the story we see a drastic change in Jessica. She becomes more accepting and stronger. She also seems to be regal than as Lucius would say commoner. Sometimes I hate these kinds of changes, but not this time. I felt that this change in Jessica was necessary for her to survive in the vampire world.


Kick-Butt Heroine: 9.5


The main male character is Lucius. Lucius is dreamy and I like him. Of course I was off put by his stalking of Jessica at first but he was staking out the place and at least he didn’t show up in her room uninvited. Well he did once but it was to drop off Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire’s Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions. Which is helpful and at least he didn’t pull and Edward. I think you either love him, hate him, or he grows on you. I instantly loved him and don’t want to spend the whole review fangirling.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 9.5

The Villain- Lucius’s uncle Vasile is the villain, along with Faith Crosse. Vasile is a villain but more of an underlying one and he was brought down before he could do harm. Faith is a typical Regina George.
 

From now on any bitch I come across in YA will be considered a Regina George.
I hate Faith and she belongs in the nut house along with every other crazy that self-inflicts pain for revenge.


Villain Scale: 8


Jessica’s other love interest was Jake. That was his name right? If it’s not sorry I’m watching reruns of Awkward and the guy reminds of him. Just a nice guy that’s all he is and well what he did in the end was heroic but he is nice just like Jake from Awkward. Jessica’s friend, Mindy, was refreshing and when she and Jessica were together were funny. I’m not sure where there relationship stands now though.


Character Scale: 9 


I could go on and on about how great this book is, but then I would ruin something. I try not to do that. Jessica’s Guide is definitely a great read and I totally recommend it. I can’t wait to get sink my teeth into (I did that on purpose) Jessica Rules the Dark Side. I hope for some total vampassery and a fun novel.


Cover Thoughts: I like the cover a lot. It’s cheesy and cute. Kind of like this book, but the book also has some dark tones to it. It’s not one of my favorite covers but I definitely like it.