Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The first time I saw him, a heavy, gray fog clung to the cornfields, tails of mist slithering between the dying stalks..." (more)
Key Phrases: vampire royalty, vampire princess, Lucius Vladescu, Faith Crosse, Hell's Belle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. A romance involving a high school girl and a handsome vampire may sound a little too familiar, yet this first novel quickly bursts ahead of the pack of Twilight-wannabes. Down-to-earth mathlete Jessica Packwood is completely horrified when, a few months shy of her 18th birthday, a Romanian named Lucius Vladescu 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 snobberies that Jessica's girlfriends find irresistible. Jessica's laidback parents serve as foils for imperious Lucius (Can I ever again be happy in our soaring Gothic castle after walking the halls of Woodrow Wilson High School, a literal ode to linoleum? he asks sarcastically); a scene at a steakhouse where the vegan Packwoods meet the carnivorous Vladescus is first-rate comedy. The romance sizzles, the plot develops ingeniously and suspensefully, and the satire sings. Ages 14–up. (Feb.)
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From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up—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. Fantaskey's fast-paced story is full of plot twists and turns that keep readers guessing until the very end. The story is highly entertaining with plenty of action, drama, romance, as well as self-discovery.—Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1 edition (February 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152063846
• ISBN-13: 978-0152063849
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (106 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,494 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #38 in	Books > Teens > Social Issues > Dating & Intimacy > Fiction
  #67 in	Books > Teens > Social Issues > Being a Teen

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Handy tips for dating the undead, November 26, 2008

By	Veggiechiliqueen - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

(What's this?)

Beth Fantaskey's "Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side" is a tongue-in-cheek teenage vampire romance that will have you cheering for its heroine. Jessica Packwood is an adopted Romanian orphan with loving, hippie parents. Raised on a strict vegan diet, she's a math geek, and at seventeen, she's never been kissed. She's not afraid of getting dirty; she helps muck stables and does household chores on the farm as the only child. Her invisible social life goes on predictably until the first day of her senior year, when a creepy guy in a velvet coat suddenly turns up as the new Romanian exchange student living on her farm.

Lucius Vladescu is tall, dark, handsome, multilingual and irritating: he's on several medal-winning sports teams and picks up new skills with ease. He claims that Jessica is really a vampire princess, the last of her line, and that he's a vampire prince and her betrothed. Jessica is very grounded in math and proven fact, and can't tolerate his claims of being a supernatural creature (perhaps Jess's literal thinking is also a rebellion against her New Age hippie parents and their vegan lifestyle). He gives her the "Teen Vampire's Guide to Dating, Health, and Emotions" to aid her in her transition (according to Fantaskey's mythology, a female vampire reaches maturity at eighteen, and cannot complete her transformation without being bitten by a male vampire), buys her beautiful prom dresses, and encourages her to embrace her intelligence, beauty and royal status.

Jessica and Lucius's clans are teetering on the brink of a full-scale vampire war if the two fail to marry as set forth in their contract, but Jessica insists on pursuing all-too-human Jake, who's none too bright but "nice." But as time goes by, Jessica finds herself slowly reaching out to Lucius and finds cracks in her carefully tended façade of scientific fact. Her world shifts from black and white to grey, and as it does, she loses her famed ability to compete in math competitions. Lucius ramps up his campaign to woo Jess, but after a series of fateful events, a horrific chain of revenge is unleashed and Jess's newfound love is in danger of being crushed.

Jess is a multifaceted character full of her own talents and a fierce independent streak buried under teen insecurity. She does not pine endlessly over Lucius; rather, her affection for him is gradual and increasingly hard-won. Lucius is irritating and all-too-human: intelligent, cunning, and always dangerous, we see a frightening transformation as his vampire uncles come to the US to chastise him for breaching the treaty. He struggles constantly against his own desires and the effects of years of physical and psychological abuse (there are graphic scenes of violence and a good deal of swearing) as he slides into a terrifying spiral of detached violence.

The narration is divided between Jess's observations and first-person letters penned by Lucius to his uncle (often containing amusing recollections of encounters with the feisty Jess). This narrative trick wasn't always a smooth transition, but it allows readers to get a better grasp on the otherwise mysterious Lucius's upbringing and vampire traditions. The writing is briskly paced and lushly evocative (lots of high level vocabulary, particularly from Lucius). The vampire universe is lushly drawn and utterly engrossing; much like Twilight's vampires, Lucius can go out in sunlight, survive grave injury, and possesses great strength, but he can't transform. The relationships between Jess and her best friend Mindy, Jess and her adopted parents, and Jess and her evil rival Faith Crosse bring back all the awkwardness and insecurities of high school and first love in a believable portrait of a girl discovering her larger-than-life heritage and her fight to hold onto the vampire she loves. A haunting love story set against a backdrop of a combination of high school and of ominous Romanian woods populated by craggy fortresses and howling wolves, this will be sure to appeal to fans of Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) and other teen vampire fiction.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it., May 16, 2009

By	Jessica Kennedy "Book Reviews by Jess" (Waynesboro, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Originality: 5
Characters: 4
Writing: 5
Setting: 4
Plot: 5
Passion: 4
Overall: 27/30 90% = A
Cover Bonus: 0

First off, I need to address why I ended up reading this book. I was NOT going to read this. I'll address some of these reasons *cough* cover *cough*, *cough* title *cough* later. Until I read Beth Fantaskey's guest blog on Wondrous Reads. This guest post [..] in and I purchased my copy that very afternoon. And please note that if I can help it I do not buy books that I can't purchase in Kindle format. I will wait until it's out on the Kindle before buying the physical book. Not with this book. I HAD to have it. Now, on with my review.

Originality:
I awarded this element of the book a 5 not because it was "truly" 100% original but it's execution was original. I have never read a book where a young male swoops in and insists on wooing a young female into being his beloved for fear that if he fails his family and her family will throw themselves into all out war.

Characters:
Jessica (woot! my name!) is someone that I immediately related to. It's strange though because we are incredibly unalike but that doesn't matter because ultimately she was just an average, teenager blossoming into a young adult and all that entails with that change. She was real. She was also very mature, unwilling to rush into anything with out thinking it through. Her parents were a wacky pair but they too where amazing parents.

Lucius. Now Lucius is a guy that I could fall head over heels for. He's 110% chivarly. His accent (yes!) had me lured in from the get go. He was way too funny at points that I was wiping tears from my eyes. But I did hate him in this book too. He gives up and I can't stand a weak male lead character just as much as I can't stand a weak female lead character, but I have to give him credit because Jessica does not make it easy for him, not in the least. He does evolve and seeing him do that is very fulfilling.

The other characters play some huge roles too. (I read this a while ago so I can't think of their names!)

Writing:
Now this is what [...] in! Beth's writing is phenomenal. I only read that guest blog and couldn't get enough. It seems to come naturally to her or something. Everything flows so well. Nothing is pressured, nothing is presumed to happen. I hate it when I "know" what's going to happen and I never felt that with this book. The ending was just craziness but it all worked out and I really hope to be able to continue learning about Jessica's world.

Setting:
The setting was just the coolest to me! It's set in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. This is just north of where I live so it felt very familiar to me. Some of the story took place in Romania, I believe, which is where Lucius comes from. There's some amazing castle scenes that I just loved! I would have loved more of that in this book.

Plot:
The plot was awesome. I hate giving away any major details concerning books so I'm just going to paste a bit of the first chapter here instead of me rambling off every detail that I can think of.

Excerpt: (briefly, read the rest here)

Chapter 1

The first time I saw him, a heavy, gray fog clung to the cornfields, tails of mist slithering between the dying stalks. It was a dreary early morning right after Labor Day, and I was waiting for the school bus, just minding my own business, standing at the end of the dirt lane that connected my family's farmhouse to the main road into town.

I was thinking about how many times I'd probably waited for that bus over the course of a dozen years, killing time like any mathlete would, by doing the calculations in my head, when I noticed him.

And suddenly that familiar stretch of blacktop seemed awfully desolate.
He was standing under a massive beech tree across the road from me, his arms crossed over his chest. The tree's low, gnarled branches twisted down around him, nearly concealing him in limbs and leaves and shadows. But it was obvious that he was tall and wearing a long, dark coat, almost like a cloak.



Passion:
The passion in this book gets to a boiling point a few times. The pot never spills over but that's okay. The true meaning of love is what matters in this book. They are teenagers with hormones but it never steals the scene completely. It was kind of sad at times for Jessica and Lucius because they both end up fighting their hearts.

Cover & Title:
You probably noticed that I did NOT give any bonus points for the cover. That's because I HATE it. I mean it's not the ugliest thing but what hurts me to look at it is the title and the cover together. It just doesn't make sense. Even after you read it you're still not going to like the title. The cover kinda makes sense but not the title. There is a "guide" book in the story but it's not what I would have picked, at all. I can't really make a suggestion as to what I would have named it but almost anything would be better than what it is. Or at least a cover that reflected a guide book in some fashion.

Overall:
I LOVED this book. I had the hardest time putting it down in any fashion. It made me laugh and I might have teared up a bit at a point, but ultimately it made me smile. It was a true love story with teenaged angst and super natural twists. I didn't mention the vampire element in any of the above because it's really not what swayed me to loving the book. Lucius could have been just any normal exchange student and the story would still make sense, minus the impending uproar between the two vampire clans of course. :)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Witty Tales about Dating a Vampire, April 28, 2009

By	Vania Stoyanova "Reverie Media Book Reviews" (Atlanta, Ga) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side" is a vampire story with a unique spin on what it means to date, love and be with a vampire. Jessica quickly finds out that she is not only a vampire but a vampire princess betrothed to a Romanian vampire prince. Jessica finds herself in a tight spot; she already has a human boy crush, she isn't a full blown vampire yet, and doesn't believe in it. Lucius has strict orders to bring Jessica, Antanasia, home to rule over her clan of vampires to ensure peace among the clans or else a war will break lose. Lucius sadly has a hard time convincing Jessica to not only believe him but to marry him.

Both characters grow tremendously from beginning of the book to the end and we see them both step into adulthood and take responsibility for their choices. Jessica becomes a woman and the kind of woman her parents would have been proud of. Lucius battles his demons but he always looked to take care of his own, the people he loved, even if it meant hurting them to protect them.

Fantaskey not only takes this genre and twists it to give us a little something different, unique and refreshing, but the whole story was funny, witty and a joy to read. Considering my last few books were hard and heavy to read, I was completely engrossed in this book and was anxious to get to the end. To see what would happen: will Lucius succeed in convincing and marrying Jessica? Does Jessica fall in love with Lucius? Does Jessica learn about her lost heritage? Her family?

I cannot say enough good things about it! There was however a few minor, very tiny things I was sad about, or rather disappointed with. I wanted more of Romania and more family battles and issues and strife and struggle. With the amount of letter Lucius writers his uncle, Vasile, I wanted more of the straight up action instead of having to hear about it later from Jessica's uncle Dorin. Granted, stylistically (?) it would have been hard to move to that POV but nonetheless it was a small thing. Sorry, if I'm being picky. I do recommend this book to vampire lovers and non vampire lovers alike. This book is not so heavy in the mythology that it would drown you with the vampires this and that. It is an easy read, simple and a pleasure to enjoy.

I give this book a 84/100 B
Characters- 16
Plot- 17
Writing- 17
Originality- 18
Re-Readability- 16