Short Review: Average paranormal romance made appealing by an excellent reader. Likely to be more enjoyable for those already invested in the Dark-Hunter series.

Long Review: If you have read other Dark-Hunter books and know who Fang and Aimee are, then you will probably enjoy this book. If you have no idea what I am talking about, I feel pretty strongly that this isn’t the right way to start this series. This book ties together snippets from many other stories earlier in the series. There are lots of characters you meet briefly – but if you have read what comes before they are old friends rather than confusing drop-ins.

Graham’s reading is what convinced me to give this book over 3 stars. I suspect it was more entertaining delivered in his voice than it would have been had I read it on paper. I have read the earlier books (all on paper actually) and have a soft spot in my heart for authors who build worlds and weave complicated stories among a great throng of characters. This is one of those stories where all the loose ends that had been left dangling in multiple other books are finally tied up in a neat bow.

I will confess that I rolled my eyes the 25th time that a character “would have it no other way” – but that said, I enjoyed the story and the reading enough that it made my commute to work fly by. I even missed my stop to change trains once! It isn’t profound, but it is fun. Sometimes I enjoy a good romance novel precisely because I feel confident in the happy ending waiting around the corner. Kenyon loves her characters and I always end up rooting for them, even if I wish that they would all stop arching their eyebrows at each other.

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Author: Beth Fantaskey
Readers: Katherine Kellgren & Jeff Woodman

Short Review: Fairly standard ‘boy meets girl, boy turns out to be vampire’ romance – but with a few twists you likely won’t expect. A pair of excellent readers, endearing characters and a fresh take on Romanian vampires make this a very enjoyable story.

Long Review: Jessica was adopted from Romania as a baby by her parents who were there studying the reclusive vampire community. It turns out that she was also betrothed to a vampire prince as an infant. Fast forward 17 years and Lucius arrives in rural Lebanon County, Pennsylvania to meet his bride.

The next thing we know, Lucius is enrolled in the local public high school with Jessica and is trying to fit in among American teenagers. Lucius is tall, dark and handsome – enjoys fine literature and soon discovers basketball. Jessica is a super-rational mathlete who loves horses and is not confident about her beauty.

One of the nice things about this story is that we have two 17 year olds, not a seventeen year old and a 150 year old. There are major challenges ahead for Lucius and Jessica. This is a coming of age story for each of them as they move along their intertwined paths.

I appreciate the choice to use two readers – Kellgren for all the portions from Jessica’s point of view and Woodman as the voice of Lucius’s letters home. This story lurked in the back of my mind between listens. Yes, I had a notion of where it might end up – but I really didn’t know how it was going to get there. There was something especially believable about this cast of characters (and yes, I know that sounds a bit silly when talking about vampires). Witty, thoughtful and fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Sample audio clip available.