Read Our Lips! Book Review Blog: Review: Jessica Rules the Dark Side (Jessica #2) by Beth Fantaskey

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?

Our Halloween Vampire Week is finally done! Today’s read features another mystery filled with a lot of angst and OMG YA moments! Hope you enjoyed our vampire week.
Have a great weekend, Fellow Readers.

My Review:

Jessica (Antanasia) has finally crossed over to the dark side. No, she didn’t turn evil; she’s become overly dependent on Lucius! The character we met in book one is totally gone as there are no remnants of the spunky, math genius girl we all fell in love with.

In Jessica Rules the Dark Side, Antanasia is a fish out of water among her vampire subjects and nothing she does or says is ever the right thing. She becomes afraid of opening her mouth as everything always seems to be misconstrued or ends in disaster. So, she relies on Lucius to do everything for her. EVERYTHING.

This is fine, except that when Lucius is tried and convicted of murder, Antanasia will have to dig deep and come out of that hole she buried herself in and find a way to free her innocent husband.

But things aren’t going to be easy. Someone in her camp is betraying her, but Antanasia just can’t pinpoint who the traitor is. Could it be her uncle, her cousin, or her best friend, Mindy who just can’t seem to help her as she’s got vampire troubles of her own with Raniero?

Antanasia will have to trust in Lucius’ right hand man, Raniero, or she will find her rule of the vampire race to be short-lived. Time is of the essence as the more time Lucius spends imprisoned, the more he goes without feeding. Will Antanasia come out of her dependent shell and find the real murderer in time to save her husband?

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The spunk so prevalent in book one wasn’t present in the second installment of the Jessica Series. I really didn’t like how dependent Antanasia has become with Lucius, but I still enjoyed the book. There were still some humorous moments, and the mystery and intrigue surrounding Antanasia is written wonderfully!

This second book was written back in 2012 and there is still no word if there will ever be a third installment in this series. In checking the author’s website, I found there have been no updates from Beth Fantaskey since February 2013. Though we do get another free epilogue-type short story on Mindy and Raniero. So at least we have some resolution with that storyline. Could that be the author’s way of telling us there will be no book three? *sad julie* I hope not.

Hope we hear from her soon!

Jessica Rules the Dark Side features: