Monday, September 15, 2014

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



Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (Jessica, #1)
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.







MY THOUGHTS
I was very doubtful about this book at first. Mainly, the title. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. It just sounds so cheesy! Add the fact that my own name is Jessica, and reading books with characters named Jessica is an awkward experience.
Then, I started the book, and I was still doubtful. We begin with Jessica waiting for the bus and seeing a creepy guy near her bus stop. Of course, she is freaked out by this, but she gets on the bus and later, in class, discovers that the same guy is the new exchange student. See, this is starting to sound like a typical paranormal teen book, and it gets worse. When Jess in in class, she gets a paper-cut and our creepy new friend starts licking his lips at all that blood. So, I was thinking, "This is not going to be anything new. This is just another cliche paranormal and it's going to take her forever to figure out that he's a vampire, even though it's so frexing obvious!"
I judged this book way too quickly. Shorty after the paper-cut, maybe a few short chapters, Jess stabs him in the foot with a pitchfork. That turned this book around for me! I knew that this girl wasn't going to take any crap and that she would think logically!

I admit it, one of my favorite things about this book was the romance. A majority of the book did not have the romance, but I was shipping it so hard. Almost the entire book is both Jess and Lucius ignoring the fact that they have feelings for one another. The relationship also had a bit of hate-to-love which is one of my all-time favorite tropes relationship-wise!

The downside of my hardcore shipping, was that I was endlessly frustrated with the characters and the story. I just wanted them to kiss, but they just wanted to go off an date other people, and completely ignore my constant shouting of "JUST KISS ALREADY!" But this all this means that I was deeply invested in the book. I was emotionally invested and I absolutely was not about to stop reading.

Yes, the ship is the main reason why I enjoyed this book, but in order to ship is, I have to actually like the characters I'm shipping. But not only were the main characters amazing, but the minor characters were great as well. And, yes, this book was surprisingly humorous!

I would also like to mention that my doubts about the main character's name being the same as mine as ridiculous. It didn't make the book awkward at all! Not only does she mostly go by a nickname, Jess, but her personality and looks in general are completely different than mine, so I never though of her as myself!

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I'm glad that I didn't let the doubt control me and I actually ended up really enjoying this book! Filled with enjoyable characters, humor, and a ship to root for, this was a very unexpected read. I do recommend it and I am definitely continuing the series! I need to see more of my ship!

I hereby give this book
4 Wheels!
Meaning: It was amazing!

2 comments :

  1. I'm glad people are still enjoying this one even though it came out a few years ago (older books don't get enough love sometimes). It's one of my favourite YA vampire books, for the same reason you mentioned: it has awesome characters. Give me Lucius over Edward any day!

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    1. I know what you mean, a majority of the reviews I see are for ARCs and new releases! And, yes, the characters are really amazing and it makes me sad that this book is so underrated!

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