Undead and unemployed (original 2004; edition 2004)

4.25 stars. (When they finally do start doing half stars, I'm going to start asking for quarter stars, just to be annoying... :) )

I think I liked this book even better than the first one. It had all the humor and stuff that book 1 had, but with less.... ummm... gross stuff. That whole scene with Sinclair and his three "sheep" in the first book was a little much for me.

I love me some Eric. :) ( )

Betsy, Queen of the Vampires, is back and needs a job. Thankfully, the re-employment center is open late one night a week. In addition to looking for a job she is having problems with her house and some vampires are being killed. This book is just as good as the first and full of more adventures. ( )

Betsy gets a job in the shoe department at Macy’s, which she calls “Heaven,” but unfortunately she misses work a lot because someone’s trying to kill the vampires. I was really hoping it wasn’t Buffy (spoiler alert: it’s not!). Betsy also wears yummy sushi jammies, which has to be a nod to Buffy, because if it isn’t that’s an incredibly improbable coincidence. I still don’t really like Betsy that much because she is kind of vacuous, but I love Tina, Jessica, Marc and the yummy Eric Sinclair, so I’m going to keep reading these. They’re light, fast-paced, and fun. ( )

My introduction to Betsy the Vampire Queen was one of the later volumes, which our local library has on CD. It made me laugh so much that I listened to it again before returning it. Yes, I was spoiled for some revelations in this book, but it didn't matter. I read this series for the humor and there was plenty of it. It's probably just as well that Betsy's language is not exactly 'suitable for all ages'. I might have been tempted to quote too many of the great lines, especially the one where Betsy tells the vampire hunters what she thinks of the name they call themselves.

Sigh -- Chris Long's cover is amusing, but I'm not that fond of cartoony covers. (Chris Long did the cover of Betsy reading the 'help wanted' section of a newspaper while sitting on a white coffin. Blue, yellow and orange, and green shoe boxes are on the floor. There's also a purple shoe box and a red & pink one. We can see the shoes in some of them.)

There's an 8-page preview of Derek's Bane by the same author, followed by a 12-page preview of For Pete's Sake by Geri Buckley, at the end of this book. I didn't read them. ( )

read full review at talksupe.blogspot.com

This book continues the antics of our reluctant Vampire Queen, her Consort Eric Sinclair and their variety of human and vampire friends. I like how Mary Janice Davidson sort of puts a 'humanistic' spin on our Vampire heroine. Turning into a Vampire hasn't turned Betsy into to cliched dark and mysterious dark hunter. She's still as immature, superficial, snide and vapid as ever. And the fact that Betsy insists on living a 'normal' like just like she did before is a breath of fresh air in the typical vampire genre. The humorous banter between Betsy and friends makes these books a quick and easy read ( )