Undead and Unstable

I hated Undead and Unfinished so much that I figured I was through with this series. Luckily, Undead and Undermined and Undead and Unstable have changed my mind.

Marc Spangler is no longer one of the normal human inhabitants of the Vampire Central mansion. He's back from the dead, but he's not a vampire. Betsy and her best friend, Jessica, are more than a little freaked out by the change. So is Dick (formerly 'Nick,' love of Jessica's life and father of her unborn baby).

Betsy's husband, Eric Sinclair, and his right-hand vamp, Tina, are taking it better. So are Antonia Wolfton and her lover, vampire fiend Garrett. Yes, we're still in the changed timeline where Ms. Davidson has undone the Jess/Nick breakup and the even less welcome deaths show more of Antonia & Garrett.

The ghost of the Ant [Antonia Taylor, Betsy's unpleasant stepmother] isn't annoying Betsy this book. The vampire queen has her future self, Ancient Betsy, and Satan for that. Laura Goodman, the Antichrist and Betsy's half-sister, is spending time with mama Satan, which has Betsy worried.

Betsy's stress level goes way up when she learns the dread truth about the Book of the Dead. I didn't see the solution coming. I'm also wondering what changes that might bring.

Many snippets of conversation and situations made me laugh aloud. I'm glad that Ms. Davidson didn't destroy this amusing series after all.

Notes:

Chapters 14 & 33: for George Romero zombies, watch Night of the Living Dead (decide for yourself whether you prefer the original or the remake -- the original scared me and the remake made me glad I was living in a second floor apartment at the time.) and Dawn of the Dead (the original), and Day of the Dead.

Chapter 36: Betsy's snark about a lake and sexy teens reminds me of Friday the 13th.

Chapter 45: There's a spoiler for the remake of The Thing, if you haven't seen that Kurt Russell movie.

Cat lovers: Giselle has a brief appearance.

Dog lovers: Not only are there plenty of dogs to enjoy more than Betsy does, there are two delightful black Lab puppies, Fur and Burr. show less

The third book in a trilogy within the Betsy series where Betsy must deal with the changed timeline—due to her going back in time with her sister in Undead and Unfinished—and trying to prevent the horrible future she’s responsible for, which she saw when going forward in time—same book.

Marc committed suicide in the last book after learning what he becomes from his future self. Betsy is determined to bring him back from the dead; after all she’d already brought Antoine back from Hell.

Adding to her stress are the frequent appearances of both Satan, and to Betsy’s horror, her future self. Neither will tell her what she’d done to trigger such a horrid future, but she should get off her butt and fix it so it doesn’t happen. show more She’s urged by them to stop whining over a role she doesn’t want and use—again, very cryptic-- an ability she’s capable of but doesn’t know she has.

The author’s considerable wit is in full swing, as is Betsy’s inability to stay focused on a topic without her mind going in multiple directions with each thought. That aspect was both unique and charming at the beginning of the series. And while still humorous, it’s also getting somewhat worn out and even confusing at times. There were some conversations in scenes that I couldn’t figure out who said what.

We, not Current Day Betsy, do finally learn after the disaster from the old timeline has been averted, just what Betsy had done to cause it. Nothing truly sinister; she’d had the best intentions. And the answer to diverting the disaster? I didn’t see that one coming.

I expect this will be the last Betsy book I’ll be purchasing. I don’t know if it’s me getting older that’s causing my difficulty in keeping track of the original thought or conversation that Betsy’s apparent ADD hijacks, or if Betsy’s lack of focus has gotten worse as the series progresses. But it’s been a problem for me in the last two or three books.

I did enjoy the characters and much of the humor, but I found too much of the story distracting. show less

I'm officially done with Betsy. Her constant ignorant chatter and her inability to concentrate was annoying but to have everyone in her life call her stupid or remind her that she's easily distracted by shiny things is beyond palatable. She thinks she's as dumb as a box of rocks. Her friends think she is as dumb as a box of rocks. Her husband thinks stuff too but loves her anyway. Not only has Betsy not grown over the course of 11 books it is apparent that she is sliding backwards. If Betsy was this stupid in book 1 I never would have read book 2.

The actual storyline was all of 3 chapters scattered throughout the book. The rest was filler where Betsy drinks smoothies or semi-mourns her cat or gets chased by dogs or gets arrested. None show more of which is actually pertinent to the plot.

The time traveling aspect is just silly as there are some events that were altered for the sake of humor but for the life of me I can't figure out how they happened. Nick is now Dick and throughout the book (and the last one) Betsy calls him D/Nick or Nickie-Dickie or some other annoying name. I have no idea how Betsy's visit to the past could have changed one of the character's names but having her repeatedly calling Nick, De-Nick annoyed me.

The writing itself seems chaotic. It's written from Betsy's perspective which is just awful. As I mentioned earlier she is easily distracted by shiny things so her mind wanders. We, as readers, are unfortunate to get to read about how she wonders what hair products so and so uses while that character is talking to her. In addition to this, one chapter opens up with something along the lines of 'and that is how I got arrested' BUT the end of the chapter before that had nothing to do with being arrested. The explanation of her arrest and the actions leading up to it are explained AFTER the opening of that chapter.

So, because of the lack of growth on Betsy's part, the lack of a decent plot, the fact that the book is trying to be funny to the point it isn't and the chaos like writing I doubt I will ever pick up another Queen Betsy book. show less

I love this series. It's light, it's funny, & you just can't help yourself & love Betsy. I've read the whole series & previously reviewed several of them.

Betsy's life is a mess, like it always is, & she's the only one that can solve things, like always. Sinclair, her husband, has a bit of a smaller role in this book, which was actually a nice change of pace.

This one does a great job solving lots of ongoing questions in previous books.

I'm not sure why I am still reading these books. I think because I know the main story arc is drawing to a close and I want to see how she wraps it up but for the most part I keep thinking it has jumped the shark. The book is over a very short period of time and lots of the talking as usual gets done in the kitchen. At this point I'm not even sure if I will read the next one or just wait until someone posts an entire plot synopsis on the web instead.

Enjoyable. Ties us the time travel storyline. Satan is dead, long live the new Satan, even if Laura did not really want the job. Antonia is alive, Sinclair can sunbathe. Now if only Betsy weren't so darned annoying --a drama queen with ADHD.

Why read: Reading the series

What impressed me: I still love all the characters and can sort of see why certain events had to play out as they have thus far to round out the series.

What disappointed me: Of course, this book could also be random, rambling nonsense depending on what actually does happen in the future. The Marc story line combined with the Satan story line are both very unrealistic (even in this fantasy world) and neither is as happy-go-lucky as we'd expect from a Queen Betsy book. Undead and Unstable continues the recent trend of Betsy never learning, never sharing key information and never really evolving to fill her potential.

Recommended: Sort of. This wasn't nearly the best Queen Betsy book, but series fans that plan on show more completing the series may need to know what happens here.

Continue series: Yes, I'm hoping to continue the series to the end. show less