Thursday, October 20, 2011

Review: Jessica Rules the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

Jessica Rules the Dark Side
(Jessica #2)
by Beth Fantaskey
Publication Date: January 10th, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9780547393094

Available for Pre-Order:
B&N | Amazon | The Book Depository
It’s one thing to find out you’re a vampire princess. It’s a whole other thing to actually rule. Newly married Jessica Packwood is having a hard enough time feeling regal with her husband, Lucius, at her side. But when evidence in the murder of a powerful elder points to Lucius, sending him into solitary confinement, Jessica is suddenly on her own. Determined to clear her husband’s name, Jessica launches into a full-scale investigation, but hallucinations and nightmares of betrayal keep getting in her way. Jessica knows that with no blood to drink, Lucius’s time is running out. Can she figure out who the real killer is—and whom she can trust—before it’s too late? (Goodreads)
Jessica Rules the Dark Side is the sequel to Beth Fantaskey’s Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, which I read and enjoyed last year. I jumped when the opportunity arose to read this book!

Jessica Rules the Dark Side starts off where Jessica’s Guide ends. Jessica and Lucas are now married, and are trying to prove to the elders that they are capable enough to be king and queen. In the beginning of the book, I found Jessica to be a little disappointing. She was a pretty strong character in the previous book, but here she seemed a little overwhelmed with the royal role that she has been given. We see her back down quite a few times, much to the dismay of Lucas. She does, however, become a stronger character again towards the middle of the novel. Lucas is as great as always, and still somewhat mysterious. We don’t see much interaction between the two this time around, and I did miss seeing them together. The times they were together were great!

I really enjoyed the secondary characters, mostly Mindy and Raniero. Mindy is the most perfect best friend, ever! I really liked her, and glad we got to see a lot of her in this book. Raniero is a new character to me, and I really liked him as well. He is definitely a complex character, and I enjoyed seeing the different sides of him. The elders are as villainous as always, and I didn’t really care for them, or for Jessica’s relatives, Uncle Dorin and her cousin, Ylenia.

The writing in the book was well paced and held my attention. I really enjoyed the parts where Lucas and Raniero communicated back and forth through email. Those parts reminded me of the letters that Lucas wrote to his ‘uncles’ in the previous book.

Overall, I thought Jessica Rules the Dark Side was a good read. I would totally love it if Ms. Fantaskey would write a third novel for the series!

Enjoy, and Happy Reading!

14 comments:

  1. This was my WOW book for yesterday and I'm really looking foward to get my hand on this. Really loves the first one and the wedding too.

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  2. Oh fun! I've briefly heard of this one but haven;t gotten to it, yet.

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  3. I'm glad you enjoyed this! I really loved Jessica's Guide... so I've been so excited to see where Beth takes the story in Dark Side. Shame that you found Jessica disappointing at times, but I'm happy to hear she grows stronger.

    Oh and love that there are email communication! Loved those letters in book one haha. Great review! :)

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  4. I'm so curious about this book. I loved the first one. This sounds like it's good but not as good as it could have been. Too bad they don't spend as much time together. I love Luca. At least he's still likeable in the book even if he's not always with Jessica.

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  5. Christie, I'm soooo jealous you got this!! Awesome review...glad you like it! :)

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  6. Hmm, I haven't read the first one, or read many reviews on them. But I like the sound of it! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

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  7. I've heard good things about the first book. I think i'm going to have to check them out. I'm really curious. Great review!

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  8. I really want to get into this series I haven't read book 1 yet but it sounds really cool with great characters. Awesome review!

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  9. Ooh, this book sounds SO good! I can't believe I haven't started this series yet!

    I love the whole vampire princess idea, and the fact that it has some pretty great characters is right up my alley! :) And I'm really glad that Jessica has some character growth in the middle!

    Awesome review, Christy! I'm definitely going to be starting the first book really soon! :)

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  10. I really need to read the first one, everyone says that it's amazing! I hope I can get to this series soon. Thanks for the review!

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  11. I have heard so much about the first book and I am hoping to get it to soon.

    Sounds like a great read with some good characters.

    I am a huge vampire fan, so I think I might end up enjoying this series.

    Great review Christy!

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  12. I have the first one in this series sitting on my shelf & it sounds like I need to read it then pass it on to my students! Thanks for the review.

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  13. I loved the first in the series and can't wait for this one...God I hope she writes a third also....This really could be a full and perfect series. Thanks for the post.
    veltara(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  14. I have the first book, I just haven't gotten to it yet. I can hardly wait to dive into this series.

    New follower

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