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

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

Genre: Paranormal Romance / Young Adult

Jessica Packwood is a normal teen attending Woodrow Wilson High School. Her mathematical nature has even given her a slightly geeky reputation, which is about to change with the arrival of Lucius Vladescu, who seems to be stalking her. She tells her mother about him and learns that she is really a Romanian vampire princess who has been betrothed to Lucius at birth. She knew she was adopted, but this revelation comes as a shock. It is this agreement that has kept rival vampire clans, the Dragomirs and the Vladescus, at an uneasy peace. If the marriage does not take place, war will ensue and threaten the ultimate destruction of Jessica's vampire family. To say that this is a lot for the teen to take in is an understatement. Lucius is gorgeous, old world, tender as well as arrogant, and very overprotective of her. However, she chooses to date Jake, a handsome but rather dull boy. But not all is as it seems in the vampire world, and as the story progresses, circumstances force Jessica and Lucius to take matters into their own hands; in doing so, they examine their true feelings about themselves, family, and duty.

Down-to-earth mathlete Jessica is completely horrified when, a few months shy of her 18th birthday, a Romanian named Lucius shows up on her doorstep, claiming that he and she are vampire royalty betrothed to each other since infancy—what's worse, her adoptive parents verify the betrothal story and explain that her birth parents identified themselves as vampires, too. Fantaskey makes this premise work by playing up its absurdities without laughing at them, endowing Jessica with a coolly ironic sensibility and Lucius with old-world snobbery that Jessica's girlfriends find irresistible & dub him the nickname "Luscious Lucius".

I've had this book on my TBR pile for awhile now and finally got around to it. I'm glad I did! I was so absorbed in the conflict between Jessica (or known by her original Romanian name - Antanasia) and Lucius that I finished the book in one day! It begins like many of the cooky vampy love stories out there, but the more you get into the actual tale - the more you enjoy the characters and get sucked (haha no pun intended) into where their lives are leading them. I loved the flip of feelings between the two and it even had me crying at parts . . . a mark of a great book to touch me so emotionally! Perfect weekend read if you want to become absorbed in a fun paranormal book!!! Check out Jessica & Lucius's continuation HERE.

Likes: I was surprisingly shocked how wonderful this book was!

Dislikes: Starts out rather slow and then it ends too quickly!

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