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

Jessica Packwood is just a normal teenager who goes to a normal high school. Very good at Maths she has earned a geeky reputation but she doesn't care. Then Lucius Vladescu appears in her school and starts to stalk her. Concerned about the new arrival in her life she talks to her adoptive mother about the strange boy. She finds out that she is really a vampire princess and has been 'engaged' to Lucius since her birth.

To say that all this information is a bit of shock for Jessica is an understatement. She knew she was adopted and Romanian but the whole vampire and engagement story is not something she can deal with very well. So Jessica attempts to ignore the vampire that her parents invite into the house as a guest. She tries to keep him out of reach by dating someone else. However back in Romania her family and Vladescu family are ready to go to war again if the couple don't marry.

I have been looking forward to reading this book ever since I came across it. However I found it hard to get hold of a copy here in Europe and any copy I found took me over my book budget. So this book was the first one I ordered with some book vouchers I got for Christmas. Now I have read it, I can see what all the fuss was about.

In the The first half of the story we get to know the characters. Lucius is from another world than the one Jessica lives in. She has grown up in America while he has had a totally different upbringing in Romania. His strange behaviour and ways are an instant problem with the pair who should be getting married and not fighting. Then Jessica makes things worse and before she realises the mistake she has made, it is too late.

The second half of the book focuses on Jessica trying to get Lucius interested in her again. A typical kind of love story that will not be new to the adults who read this young adult book. It was interesting to see what Jessica goes through in the fight to get Lucius back. The twists and turns keeping the story entertaining.

All in all this was a wonderful read and the letters Lucius writes to his uncle throughout the story made me giggle more than a few times. Well written and thought out, I am interested in seeing what else this author will bring out in the future. Well worth reading, especially if you are a fan of teenage vampire love stories.