Review Detail

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this novel. The first half was excellent, the second half was just...I don't know, a mess?

What I did enjoy about Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side was the main character, Jessica, or should I call her Antanasia? She was strongly portrayed. I loved her different sides - the typical American teenager and the Romanian princess that she is by birth. I enjoyed see how she went against Lucius even though everyone else seemed to be in love with his good looks and this was the part where I felt her royal bloodline stood out the most because she can still have rational thoughts and not be distracted. I also loved her scientific and rational mind which stood in the way of beliving Lucius was, in fact, a vampire. I thought it was extremely entertaining when she kept describing Lucius as a mad man who pretended he was a vampire and liked to drink blood. And, she also thought the fangs that he had was a parlor trick...hahaha.

Lucius was funny and dark at the same time. I think he's part of the reason why I enjoyed reading the first half but the second half just wasn't for me. In the beginning, he was a funny guy and through his letters to his uncle, you could tell how humorous he actually is despite the way he is portrayed. I especially loved this PS's because they're just hilarious. However, when he realized that he's a creature of the dark, around the second half of the book, that's when things started to get dark and morbid and just generally not very interesting.

The two characters definitely changed and in some perspective, improved their personalities. Jessica became more regal and strong while Lucius managed to mellow out a bit and became more modernized.

The relationship between the two was carefully developed. It was a realistic portrayal of what real love was like.

The ending, however, was extremely rushed and I didn't feel like it concluded the book well. It left a long of lingering questions and basically, I didn't feel satisfied with it.

Overall, Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side was an intense, funny and morbid story of vampire love.