Gotta Love Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey, in my opinion, has quite a misleading title, but I feel it is worth the read nonetheless. The title tends to give one the impression that Jessica will be giving tips, pointers, or advice to others who choose to date dark and tormented, yet strangely sensitive vampire guys. One the contrary, the novel captures the story of an arranged marriage between spoiled vampire prince Lucius Veldescu and Jessica Packwood (AKA Anastasia Dragomir, not-spoiled vampire princess who was adopted by humans). The problem? Well, regardless of Lucius’ tall, dark, and handsome routine, Jessica has no intention of being whisked away to Romania to live in a gothic castle with a bunch of vampires. Well, not at first anyway. So with this interesting plot line that deviates from the typical “to bite or not to bite” plot line, one can not help but be entertained. However, I felt that in some ways, the book left much to be desired. For example, I realize that Jessica is a highly intelligent, logical person. However, when one’s mother is a cultural anthropologist who tells her that Lucius is a vampire, that would probably be cause for belief. And the fact that Lucius sprouted fangs right in front of her couldn’t hurt the argument either. However, for some reason, Jessica refuses to believe in bloodsuckers for more than half the novel, which in my opinion, slowed down the plot a bit.  I believe if some of the elements of overly drawn out disbelief had been omitted, there would have been more time for the big finale. In the end, the reunion between Lucius and Jessica felt rushed, the main conflict resolution reduced to about three pages at the end of the book. Needless to say, the romantic reunion was not actually all that romantic and to be honest, a bit anticlimactic.  I would have definitely liked to have seen something more of their reconciliation.  However, though I have complained a bit, the novel’s characters completely made up for the rushed ending. So…what did I like about this story? Lucius Vladescu. One of my favorite songs of all time is “Cruel to be Kind” by Letters to Cleo, and that phrase certainly applies to the dangerously “naughty-to-be-nice” Lucius Veldescu. This anti-hero, though betrothed to the beautiful Jessica, will keep her at a distance, sometimes with bone-chilling heartlessness in an effort to protect her from the most dangerous fate of all–an eternity with him (which is, in fact,  dangerous, considering his uncle plans to kill Jessica shortly after her marriage to Lucius).  I also loved the amazing metamorphosis of Jessica, who transforms from a mathlete with a poor self-concept to a fearless vampire princess who embraces her curves.  Oddly enough, it is the “cruel-to-be-kind” Lucius who helps Jessica, who is not transformed by a man, but rather guided to embrace her true, extraordinary self. And what else do I love about Jessica? She is a strong-willed heroine who embraces her strengths, one of them being her size ten, curvy self. How many heroines do we read about who are not either tall and willowy model types or teeny, cutesy petite goddesses? I love that Jessica learns to embrace her body, her strength, and ultimately, her destiny by discovering a past she never knew existed. Overall, despite my picky complaints, I give this book a stamp of approval. If you are looking for a fun, sexy, and conflict-laced read, Jessica’s Guide to Dating on teh Dark Side is a must-read. I look forward to what Fantaskey will do next and must say, I would love to see a sequel to this novel as Jessica braves the perils of being a Romanian vampire princess.