Author: Beth Fantaskey
Year: 2009
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Pages: 351
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Romance
Location: Pennsylvania and Romania
Time Period: Present Day (2009)
Plot: On the first day of her senior year, Jessica is surprised to meet Lucius Vladescu, the prince of a powerful Romanian vampire clan, who claims that Jessica is Antanasia, his betrothed vampire princess. A mathlete with an exceedingly rational mind raised by hippies, Jessica finds Lucius' claims hard to believe. She couldn't be a vampire princess--she doesn't even have fangs! Besides, what about Jake Zinn, the cute farm boy next door? As she gets to know Lucius, Jessica struggles with her budding attraction to him and with the idea that vampires are real. SPOILER! When Lucius is severely injured by a horse, Jessica sees Lucius healed by drinking blood. She can no longer deny that he's a vampire, and she can no longer deny that she cares for him. On seeing Jessica's reaction to his injuries, Lucius realizes that Jessica is too tender-hearted to be a vampire princess and that she would be an easy target for their enemies. He tries to push Jessica away in a number of ways: by dating the most popular girl at school, deciding he's not going to honor the betrothal, and eventually returning to Romania without her. Jessica, knowing the horrors that await Lucius if he returns to Romania without a bride (a war between his vampire clan and hers), follows Lucius to Romania. Jessica forces Lucius to acknowledge his love for her by proving that, although he is a ruthless vampire, he could never harm her.
Comments: I didn't realize how dark this book was until I started writing the plot down--and I skipped the attempt the high school kids make to stake Lucius. When I finished the book, my overall reaction was that it is one of the better Twilight knockoffs out there. Then, as I wrote this review, almost talked myself out of that idea.
As much as I liked the story's sense of humor and I liked the chemistry Jessica and Lucius share, there is the glaring problem of the fact that the Jessica/Lucius plot comes to a dead stop right in the middle of the book. I liked Lucius for the first 150 pages. I thought he had a good sense of humor (mostly revealed in his letters home) and I liked how his respect for Jessica actually encouraged her to have some respect for herself. Then, right in the middle, he declares that he's no longer interested in Jessica and thus starts 150 pages of Lucius being a jerk and Jessica trying to get him back. This sudden switch made the plot come to a screeching halt for me, and it took awhile to get going again.
Also, for some reason, some of the names were hard for me to read. I kept reading "Antanasia" as Anastasia. And Jessica's kind-of boyfriend, Jake Zinn, will always be Zake Jinn to me.
Despite the glaring plot problem, this may still be one of the better Twilight knockoffs out there. The writing is still smarter than most. The dialog is witty, and the characters are fleshed out. Lucius is funnier than Edward ever could be, and Jessica is much smarter and more self-confident than Bella. This book is also shorter, which is a mercy.
Red Flags: Some swearing, fighting, an attempt to stake a vampire, vampires biting each other.
Multicultural Elements: Lucius is a Romanian vampire.
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