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

Title: Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side	Loved it	Graded
Author: Beth Fantaskey
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Graphia
Elements: Vampires
Series: Stand alone

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 exchange student named Lucius Vladescu shows up, claiming that Jessica is a Romanian vampire princess by birth - and he's her long-lost fiancé. Armed with newfound confidence and a copy of Growing Up Undead: A Teen Vampire's Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions, Jessica makes a dramatic transition from average American teenager to glam European vampire princess.

But when a devious cheerleader sets her sights on Lucius, Jess finds herself fighting to win back her wayward prince, stop a global vampire war - and save Lucius's soul from eternal destruction.

How can I review this book without gushing? I can't, so I won't even try.

JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE is one of the best YA books I've read in a long time. It made me laugh out loud since the first page, and I'm not sure if it's because I've been looking forward to reading it since last year. I found it wholly addictive and pleasureable. If a book could make you feel pleasantly full, this is it.

There was a hint of danger that wasn't full explored until the second half, but fully balanced the lighthearted humour in the first half. Some parts made me mourn with Jessica, yet laugh the next paragraph. Those times, I wasn't sure if I wanted to cry or laugh. It was so bittersweet.

Lucius is not like some All's Well Ends Well comedy's vampire prince, prince in name only, a prince with all the pros and non of the cons of ruling a nation, or clan in this case. He's not the dangerous playboy prince who looks forward to his next conquest, but always falls in love with the 'ugly' MC despite his will.

Lucius had his responsibilities and he took them seriously. He was smart (especially in Literature!), chivalrous and loyal to a fault. I warmed up to both Lucius and Jessica fast as they got to know more about each other. Jessica is rightly skeptical and fearful of this stranger who comes out of nowhere, thinks that he's a vampire and stalks her all in the name of a marriage pact.

Despite herself, Jessica is soon attracted to him. Rational, smart Jessica found it impossible to believe Lucius, but learnt that there's more that maths and little Lebanon County. Lucius acted more like a normal American teenager as the story went on, but abruptly changed when the situation got dire.

The changes were subtle, but they were most apparent in the letters that he wrote to his bloodthirsty uncle. They gave me a look into his psyche and his motivations. His language slowly turned from formal stand offish exchange student to the informal impertinence that us teenagers talk in. He got more human as time went on, and it's due to the love and kindness he got from Jessica's family that was lacking in his life in Romania. Their love story soon blossomed into one that was so full of torment that I'm sure I sound like a sadist when I say that I liked it. It was a stark contrast to the lighthearted, snappy banter they had at the start.

Of course, none of this would have happened without Beth Fantaskey's writing. (Don't you just love her name? She seems born to write fantasy.) JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE gave me the same feeling I had when reading Sophie Kinsella's CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET.* This is one of the rare books that I will continually be amazed by. Every time I reread it, I'm going to find every little nuance that I hadn't the time before. I really grew to love and care about Lucius and Jessica. The range of emotions that was portrayed was outstanding.

JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE (It's quite tiring typing out the full title. I'm copying and pasting from now on.) showed that there were more things to vampires than the blood. And if you took out all the vampiric elements from the story, there's a love story that can stand by itself. It's not just a story about their love, but a story about the awakening of a princess.

Like Lucius said,

"Why is every­one so obsessed with the blood? There's so much more."

The supporting cast was believable, if a bit two dimensional in some cases. I don't think that's a fault, because if those characters came to life, they'd really be two dimensional. One of the things that irked me about Jessica's parents was how supportive they had been for most of the book, and yet when things got tough, they changed their minds. Even though it was for good reason, I thought it was too little, too late and unnecessary. Tsk, parents!

I'm going to stop typing now. There's so much to write about the depth and breadth of the story and characters, and this is already the longest review I've written. And I haven't even gotten to some of the best bits. I'd love to read more of how Lucius and Jessica rule their clans, and I'm really excited to find out more in the sequel that Beth is writing. I hope it comes to fruition! The tone will definitely be different than JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE and attached to my excitement is the fear that the sequel might not live up to my expectations, but I'm looking forward to it.

I'm going to review Jessica and Lucius's wedding another day, because that deserves a review of its own. Isn't the cover gorgeous? I love that this book has this ridiculous long and funky title. It really captures my attention.

Fun fact: There's this nice guy called Jacob who's also fighting for Jessica's affection. Sounds familiar? No, he's not a werewolf. I didn't even realise that he was called Jacob until Jessica's uncle called him that. JACOB, WHY DID YOU LEAVE BELLA? Move your ass back to Forks!

Pssst! Pssst! What do you think of a forum? For JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE. I don't have a lot of experiences with forums, but it's be a great place for discussion, fans to meet and all things JSTDOTDS.

*I read CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET after almost a year of waiting. Good things definitely come to those who wait a long time.