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MaryJanice Davidson's cult hit Undead and Unwed is a delightful mixture of Sex and the City and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Waking up in a tacky coffin, and wearing off-brand shoes, Betsy Taylor can't believe the horrible turn her life has taken-then she discovers she's a vampire. Soon, Betsy becomes a participant in a power struggle between the forces of darkness. With only her friend Jessica and the hunky vampire Sinclair to help her.Tags
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BookLizard Funny, vampire chick lit.
anjileyes2001 Great series !!! I have read everyone of them so far!
Member Reviews
This is a fun read – a non-too-serious, entertaining, exuberant look at life, literally, from another side. Betsy led a somewhat normal one for a blonde, six-foot secretary, obsessed with designer shoes. But on her 30th birthday Betsy loses her job and has a fatal contact with an SUV – and it just gets worse when she ‘wakes', two days later, in a funeral home dressed, courtesy of her detested stepmother, in an absurd pink suit and cheap shoes!
Welcome to the new world of Betsy Taylor, who, though still as shallow in death as in life, is not your average ‘newly arisen’ vampire. Betsy just wants to keep her old ways – despite her sensory powers being much greater, her movements much faster and stronger, her bodily functions show more virtually non-existent and being unable to eat her favourite foods; well any food actually. As she comes to terms with these unreal experiences, thrown into the mix are the change in associations with living friends and family, the inevitable interest of the local vampires in her presence; and the difficulties in addressing the politics and power-plays inherent with becoming their foretold queen. And a mother who is adamant: "You know, Betsy, just because you're dead doesn't mean you have to be unwed."
With tongue-firmly-in-cheek this is an engaging, impertinent swipe at aspects of modernity through a brash, sassy blonde bombshell heroine, who, though easily swayed by a good pair of shoes, has a heart of gold and an essential belief in decency. Taking nothing too seriously, with some laugh-out-loud moments I expect the future anecdotes of Betsy’s experiences will, like this book, be most amusing, and very enjoyable.
(Apr 19, 2008) show less
Welcome to the new world of Betsy Taylor, who, though still as shallow in death as in life, is not your average ‘newly arisen’ vampire. Betsy just wants to keep her old ways – despite her sensory powers being much greater, her movements much faster and stronger, her bodily functions show more virtually non-existent and being unable to eat her favourite foods; well any food actually. As she comes to terms with these unreal experiences, thrown into the mix are the change in associations with living friends and family, the inevitable interest of the local vampires in her presence; and the difficulties in addressing the politics and power-plays inherent with becoming their foretold queen. And a mother who is adamant: "You know, Betsy, just because you're dead doesn't mean you have to be unwed."
With tongue-firmly-in-cheek this is an engaging, impertinent swipe at aspects of modernity through a brash, sassy blonde bombshell heroine, who, though easily swayed by a good pair of shoes, has a heart of gold and an essential belief in decency. Taking nothing too seriously, with some laugh-out-loud moments I expect the future anecdotes of Betsy’s experiences will, like this book, be most amusing, and very enjoyable.
(Apr 19, 2008) show less
This book is just what I needed. After reading a series that was mostly devoid of humor and way too serious, I went searching for something lighthearted and cheesy and I found it. I belly-laughed until I peed my pants many times throughout this book. It’s hilarious!
Betsy was not having a good day. She woke up late for work. Her bus was late and then she sat on gum. When she got to work, she and all the other administrative personnel were laid off. When she got home, a freak snow storm hit. She went to go get her cat out of the middle of the road, was hit by a car and died.
Things just got worse after she died. She woke up in an ugly cheap pink suit and cheap shoes. She figured her step-mom was responsible for her awful wardrobe She show more figured she was probably a zombie or something awful like that so she tried to kill herself in many fun and amusing ways that didn’t work. Finally, she figured out that she was a vampire which was way better than a zombie in her book but not much.
Six months before her death, she was attacked by something resembling humans who bit her and then ran off. That is what probably made her turn into a vampire when she died.
Then she abducted by some lunatic vampire who wants her to kneel and become his subject and when he isn’t able to control her he seems perplexed. She is told that she is the foretold Vampire Queen which she thinks is just ludicrous but as she gets more and more into the vampire world, it gets harder and harder to deny.
I loved this book. I don’t know how to describe Betsy. She’s tall and blonde, an ex-model turned administrative assistant who loves expensive shoes. She isn’t dumb but she isn’t the brightest crayon in the box either. She seems to run into problem after problem and sometimes seems even a little vain but loveable at the same time.
I’ll have to make sure I keep my bladder emptied while I read the next book because if it is anything like this book, I am sure I will be laughing a lot.
www.paranormalromanceslut.com show less
Betsy was not having a good day. She woke up late for work. Her bus was late and then she sat on gum. When she got to work, she and all the other administrative personnel were laid off. When she got home, a freak snow storm hit. She went to go get her cat out of the middle of the road, was hit by a car and died.
Things just got worse after she died. She woke up in an ugly cheap pink suit and cheap shoes. She figured her step-mom was responsible for her awful wardrobe She show more figured she was probably a zombie or something awful like that so she tried to kill herself in many fun and amusing ways that didn’t work. Finally, she figured out that she was a vampire which was way better than a zombie in her book but not much.
Six months before her death, she was attacked by something resembling humans who bit her and then ran off. That is what probably made her turn into a vampire when she died.
Then she abducted by some lunatic vampire who wants her to kneel and become his subject and when he isn’t able to control her he seems perplexed. She is told that she is the foretold Vampire Queen which she thinks is just ludicrous but as she gets more and more into the vampire world, it gets harder and harder to deny.
I loved this book. I don’t know how to describe Betsy. She’s tall and blonde, an ex-model turned administrative assistant who loves expensive shoes. She isn’t dumb but she isn’t the brightest crayon in the box either. She seems to run into problem after problem and sometimes seems even a little vain but loveable at the same time.
I’ll have to make sure I keep my bladder emptied while I read the next book because if it is anything like this book, I am sure I will be laughing a lot.
www.paranormalromanceslut.com show less
First Read: April 2006
Most recently re-read in: August 2014
When I first read Undead and Unwed it was a breath of fresh air; so funny and different in an almost perfect melding of paranormal romance, chick-lit, humour, and urban fantasy. I love Betsy Taylor in this story. Killed by a truck on her thirtieth birthday she is unexpectedly revived. Unbeknownst to her she had been carrying the vampire virus since a vampire attack a few months ago, and this allowed her to be re-animated as not just a vampire, but a vampire queen. But Betsy is not cut out for vampire-queendom. Before her death she worked in an office as a secretary, lived alone in a small house with her cat and spent all her wages on shoes.
The Queen Betsy/Undead series has just show more wrapped up with book fifteen recently published. Over the course of the series Betsy and her world become darker and more convoluted as the story progresses. Characters change and evolve and MJD even brings her Wyndham Werewolves series into the Undead world to interact with each other. I know the most recent books have received pretty poor ratings here but I have enjoyed reading every one book in the series (up to book twelve as I am now three books behind!) and I am looking forward to finding out exactly how Davidson is going to wrap up the story for Betsy, Sinclair, Marc, Laura, Jessica and all the other characters I have been following now for over a decade.
Rating for this book: 5/5 stars *Favourite*
Rating for the series up to book twelve: 4/5 stars show less
Most recently re-read in: August 2014
When I first read Undead and Unwed it was a breath of fresh air; so funny and different in an almost perfect melding of paranormal romance, chick-lit, humour, and urban fantasy. I love Betsy Taylor in this story. Killed by a truck on her thirtieth birthday she is unexpectedly revived. Unbeknownst to her she had been carrying the vampire virus since a vampire attack a few months ago, and this allowed her to be re-animated as not just a vampire, but a vampire queen. But Betsy is not cut out for vampire-queendom. Before her death she worked in an office as a secretary, lived alone in a small house with her cat and spent all her wages on shoes.
The Queen Betsy/Undead series has just show more wrapped up with book fifteen recently published. Over the course of the series Betsy and her world become darker and more convoluted as the story progresses. Characters change and evolve and MJD even brings her Wyndham Werewolves series into the Undead world to interact with each other. I know the most recent books have received pretty poor ratings here but I have enjoyed reading every one book in the series (up to book twelve as I am now three books behind!) and I am looking forward to finding out exactly how Davidson is going to wrap up the story for Betsy, Sinclair, Marc, Laura, Jessica and all the other characters I have been following now for over a decade.
Rating for this book: 5/5 stars *Favourite*
Rating for the series up to book twelve: 4/5 stars show less
When some people have a bad week, they really have a bad week. In the case of former model and now executive secretary Betsy Taylor, being laid off is actually the bottom of her list of concerns. When Betsy is run over by a car and wakes up in a morgue, she immediately believes that she somehow missed the bright light. After trying to kill herself in several different ways and talking to clergy about the state of her soul, Betsy decides to try and pick up the pieces of her life. Unfortunately for Betsy, this means getting involved in vampire politics and dealing with telling her family that she's actually not dead. What's a girl to do when she finds herself jobless, dead and without her precious designer shoes? Luckily for Betsy, it show more turns out she a vampire queen and so perhaps her death might be more interesting than the life she left behind.
Betsy Taylor is easily one of the most unlikable protagonists that I have discovered recently. Betsy is shallow, with no impulse control, collects marginalized people as BFF's and has a little problem with Kellie Independence. Originally, Betsy wants to stay far away from vampire politics, convinced that she has to worry about getting a job and finding regular people to feed from. Even when she learns that Nostradamus, the ancient vampire who has been responsible for several massacres might possibly be gearing up for yet another power grab, thus endangering vulnerable humans, Betsy simply wants no part of it. What finally pushes her over the edge is a bribe of designer shoes. Really? I'm supposed to root for this person?
Even if I could get over that, the fact that Betsy's favorite movie is Gone With the freaking Wind, her justification for the book and film are something I simply could not embrace. Betsy absolutely refuses to acknowledge that this nasty plantation story is not some wonderful antebellum romance but actually a glorification of White supremacy and slavery, even when told so directly by a character of colour. That little factoid almost made me slam the book closed.
"It's a book that glorifies white people at the expense of blacks."
"The vain white people who ended up alone and unhappy, or the white people who got the shit kicked out of them by the Union Army? Or the white people who starved to death during Reconstruction? Or-"
"All right."
"You know, for somebody who could buy London. you're awfully touchy about slavery. I mean, no one in your family was ever a slave."
She sniffed. "You can never know my pain."
"The pain of being the first kid on the block to have her own Patek Philippe watch? You poor oppressed creature."
She giggled. "Thank God you understand. This is of course, why I tolerate your bigotry and snobbishness." (pg 178-179)
Seriously WTF? Who argues that a black person who has never been enslaved is overly touchy about slavery? This is supposed to be funny but instead I found it to be horribly racist. Defending the racist Gone With The Wind, is one thing but absolutely ignoring the connection between slaves and the lives of modern African-American is simply beyond the pale.
I suppose this moves us onto marginalized characters. Jessica is an extremely wealthy Black woman who has been BFF's with Betsy since they were children. Yes, this puts her straight into the sidekick category, a label which Jessica actively identifies as. Jessica buys Betsy's home, thus providing Betsy with a place to live after her untimely death and is more than willing to support Betsy for the rest of her life. Jessica's characterisation is so absolutely problematic that it makes me wonder if Davidson has interacted with a WOC at anytime or just believes that she can write our experiences from watching some crappy television portrayals. Davidson actually has Jessica call Betsy's father, "honky". It's clear that Davison simply planned on making Jessica a female George Jefferson with her her own Moving on Up theme song except in this version, Jessica is there to see to every conceivable need that Betsy has.
If only Betsy's interactions with Jessica were the sum total of Betsy's interactions with women of colour but I suppose, in for a penny, in for a pound. The first time Betsy sees Mitzi, Mitzi is having sex with Sinclair ( Betsy's love interest) and allowing him to feed off of her. Betsy asks Mitizi where the bathroom is and Mitzi lets her have it.
Her nostrils flared, Since she had a - shall we say - heroic nose, the effect was startling. I nearly took a step back. When she spoke, her voice was surprisingly deep and throaty. "Oh so because I'm a sister I know where the kitchen is?"
"I thought - "
"You thought because I'm a black woman in my bathroom at eight o'clock at night, I must be kitchen help? Because you've got that all wrong. For your information, I don't know a frying pan from my own ass."
"Er - I'm sorry to hear that?"
"I'm not the help, I'm the boss's right-hand lady, and I know you know that shit because I know you watched us and got your jollies."
I was flabbergasted. I don't think I'd ever been accused of prejudice before. I mean everybody who knows me knows Jessica's my best friend. And anybody who knows Jessica knows she's smarter, prettier, thinner, and richer than I am. There's just no comparison. If anything, I tended to assume blacks ("Never African Americans," Jessica had schooled me. "Shit my grandparents were from Jamaica.") were smarter and more successful than I was because the ones I knew were. (163-163)
Do you see what happened there? First, Mitzi the Black woman has a big nose - so large that it is shocking when she flares her nostrils. If that isn't a racialized description of Black features, I don't know what is. Naturally, Jessica cannot be racist because she has a black best friend. Everyone knows that having one black friend gives you a lifetime pass on all racist actions. Then there's the characterization of Mitzi being a sapphire juxtaposed to Betsy's situational calm politeness. Here's the thing, being thought of as the "help," regardless of what one is wearing, is a normal commonplace occurrence for a WOC. Mitzi, despite her abruptness, is not outline though she is very much portrayed as the uppity Black lady who needs to be taken down a peg. Thanks for that Davidson. Finally, what makes a white lady think that she gets to announce whether we are called Blacks or African-Americans? Just the absolute never of this author is galling.
If you're going to have a Black BFF, why not pair it with another popular token like the Gay BFF? Betsy first meet Marc when she finds him standing on top of a roof considering suicide. Betsy comes racing to the rescue and manages to talk him out of killing himself. Marc is a doctor who is sick of kids dying, is in debt from med school, dealing with a father who has cancer, has General Anxiety Disorder, hasn't had sex in two months and is gay. The aforementioned, pretty much sums up the characterisation of Marc, excluding however the over excited utterances whenever Sinclair is around. After allowing Betsy to feed off him once, Marc quickly moves into Betsy's home and it becomes apparent that he is more than willing to sacrifice himself on her behalf. This is weird because Betsy's vampire mojo apparently shouldn't have worked on Marc because he is not attracted to women.
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Betsy Taylor is easily one of the most unlikable protagonists that I have discovered recently. Betsy is shallow, with no impulse control, collects marginalized people as BFF's and has a little problem with Kellie Independence. Originally, Betsy wants to stay far away from vampire politics, convinced that she has to worry about getting a job and finding regular people to feed from. Even when she learns that Nostradamus, the ancient vampire who has been responsible for several massacres might possibly be gearing up for yet another power grab, thus endangering vulnerable humans, Betsy simply wants no part of it. What finally pushes her over the edge is a bribe of designer shoes. Really? I'm supposed to root for this person?
Even if I could get over that, the fact that Betsy's favorite movie is Gone With the freaking Wind, her justification for the book and film are something I simply could not embrace. Betsy absolutely refuses to acknowledge that this nasty plantation story is not some wonderful antebellum romance but actually a glorification of White supremacy and slavery, even when told so directly by a character of colour. That little factoid almost made me slam the book closed.
"It's a book that glorifies white people at the expense of blacks."
"The vain white people who ended up alone and unhappy, or the white people who got the shit kicked out of them by the Union Army? Or the white people who starved to death during Reconstruction? Or-"
"All right."
"You know, for somebody who could buy London. you're awfully touchy about slavery. I mean, no one in your family was ever a slave."
She sniffed. "You can never know my pain."
"The pain of being the first kid on the block to have her own Patek Philippe watch? You poor oppressed creature."
She giggled. "Thank God you understand. This is of course, why I tolerate your bigotry and snobbishness." (pg 178-179)
Seriously WTF? Who argues that a black person who has never been enslaved is overly touchy about slavery? This is supposed to be funny but instead I found it to be horribly racist. Defending the racist Gone With The Wind, is one thing but absolutely ignoring the connection between slaves and the lives of modern African-American is simply beyond the pale.
I suppose this moves us onto marginalized characters. Jessica is an extremely wealthy Black woman who has been BFF's with Betsy since they were children. Yes, this puts her straight into the sidekick category, a label which Jessica actively identifies as. Jessica buys Betsy's home, thus providing Betsy with a place to live after her untimely death and is more than willing to support Betsy for the rest of her life. Jessica's characterisation is so absolutely problematic that it makes me wonder if Davidson has interacted with a WOC at anytime or just believes that she can write our experiences from watching some crappy television portrayals. Davidson actually has Jessica call Betsy's father, "honky". It's clear that Davison simply planned on making Jessica a female George Jefferson with her her own Moving on Up theme song except in this version, Jessica is there to see to every conceivable need that Betsy has.
If only Betsy's interactions with Jessica were the sum total of Betsy's interactions with women of colour but I suppose, in for a penny, in for a pound. The first time Betsy sees Mitzi, Mitzi is having sex with Sinclair ( Betsy's love interest) and allowing him to feed off of her. Betsy asks Mitizi where the bathroom is and Mitzi lets her have it.
Her nostrils flared, Since she had a - shall we say - heroic nose, the effect was startling. I nearly took a step back. When she spoke, her voice was surprisingly deep and throaty. "Oh so because I'm a sister I know where the kitchen is?"
"I thought - "
"You thought because I'm a black woman in my bathroom at eight o'clock at night, I must be kitchen help? Because you've got that all wrong. For your information, I don't know a frying pan from my own ass."
"Er - I'm sorry to hear that?"
"I'm not the help, I'm the boss's right-hand lady, and I know you know that shit because I know you watched us and got your jollies."
I was flabbergasted. I don't think I'd ever been accused of prejudice before. I mean everybody who knows me knows Jessica's my best friend. And anybody who knows Jessica knows she's smarter, prettier, thinner, and richer than I am. There's just no comparison. If anything, I tended to assume blacks ("Never African Americans," Jessica had schooled me. "Shit my grandparents were from Jamaica.") were smarter and more successful than I was because the ones I knew were. (163-163)
Do you see what happened there? First, Mitzi the Black woman has a big nose - so large that it is shocking when she flares her nostrils. If that isn't a racialized description of Black features, I don't know what is. Naturally, Jessica cannot be racist because she has a black best friend. Everyone knows that having one black friend gives you a lifetime pass on all racist actions. Then there's the characterization of Mitzi being a sapphire juxtaposed to Betsy's situational calm politeness. Here's the thing, being thought of as the "help," regardless of what one is wearing, is a normal commonplace occurrence for a WOC. Mitzi, despite her abruptness, is not outline though she is very much portrayed as the uppity Black lady who needs to be taken down a peg. Thanks for that Davidson. Finally, what makes a white lady think that she gets to announce whether we are called Blacks or African-Americans? Just the absolute never of this author is galling.
If you're going to have a Black BFF, why not pair it with another popular token like the Gay BFF? Betsy first meet Marc when she finds him standing on top of a roof considering suicide. Betsy comes racing to the rescue and manages to talk him out of killing himself. Marc is a doctor who is sick of kids dying, is in debt from med school, dealing with a father who has cancer, has General Anxiety Disorder, hasn't had sex in two months and is gay. The aforementioned, pretty much sums up the characterisation of Marc, excluding however the over excited utterances whenever Sinclair is around. After allowing Betsy to feed off him once, Marc quickly moves into Betsy's home and it becomes apparent that he is more than willing to sacrifice himself on her behalf. This is weird because Betsy's vampire mojo apparently shouldn't have worked on Marc because he is not attracted to women.
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I did not expect to laugh this hard or to like this book. Reminds me of the great Jennifer Crusie but doesn't quite have the depth. Who cares? It's super fun if you like shoes and vampires and pure unadulterated silliness.
EDITED ON RE-READ 2025 -- This book was much cuter/fun than I remembered from my re-read so long ago (maybe 10+???) I remember not being in the mood for this type when I picked it up needing to find serious world urban fantasy. Now I don't care about that, and it was definitely amusing. I may re-read more of the series.
Goddddd, it's hard to know how to categorize some books. It's marked as Paranormal Romance, so I suppose I'll leave it at that. The story itself isn't heavy on the romance department as it's focal point, but instead is of a young woman coming to terms with her new undead status, vampires in her life trying to convince her she's the foretold queen savior, and embracing her love of designer shoes. Top this off with her best show more friend and new sidekick, a homosexual who has the hots for the vamp who has the hots for HER, and a strange and unsettling father-daughter-stepmother (stepmonster) relationship.
Comedy laden, this book was a delight to start but I soon feared it would fall short as the humor never let up. I was in the vein for some serious stuff - somewhere - and I do think that would have improved it a bit, but it was still funny as hell and completely readable. The main character is a valley girl type, completely obsessed with shoes and fashion, judgmental and constantly spurting out almost annoying, slang-filled one liners. Yes, sometimes this was tiresome, but other times I genuinely laughed. She's clearly self-centered and not the brightest candle in the room, yet her personality as an average is amiable and her spunk high.
I loved her best friend, Jessie, and the sidekick Mark (who seemed adorable in almost every way). The main vamp sounds incredibly sexy and I loved his domineering manner, even if I didn't blame Betsy for wanting to slug him half the time for his smugness. I especially grew errr, warm, with the scene of him in the alley and at the beginning with the finger. Grrrrroowwwwl. The ending with Betsy and him (Sinclair) was cleverly amusing and I didn't see it from a mile away. What a great turn-around!
Undead and Unwed stayed alive with active pacing. From chapter one the stakes are high and the plot is hell bent on being something strangely different. This is no average vampire tale by far; in fact, I've never read anything even remotely close. It's not something anyone would grow bored with, as action is always taking place and Betsy's never able to settle down for a simple breather. Her 'differences' as a vampire were a nice touch as well, especially loving the part where she got out of the car and "yawned" in the sun, not thinking about the typical vampire rules.
There are a few very sexual scenes, although that does not dominate the book by far. The romance impact is not high, more like the bickering fun lust-filled hero and heroine who you want to get together, but are not sure they really will (at least in this book, anyway). I'll leave what happens between them - if anything - a surprise. You can never say I ruin a book with my reviews *evil grin* On the violence side, there's some head crashing here and there but nothing strenuous.
Overall the book was laugh-out-loud hilarious, a different vein of vampire novels, with a main character you can't help but like (even if at times she's temporarily annoying enough to where you almost put down the book), and a hero you couldn't help but almost love. *wiggles brows* I'll definitely read more of this series, especially with an ending like that. show less
Goddddd, it's hard to know how to categorize some books. It's marked as Paranormal Romance, so I suppose I'll leave it at that. The story itself isn't heavy on the romance department as it's focal point, but instead is of a young woman coming to terms with her new undead status, vampires in her life trying to convince her she's the foretold queen savior, and embracing her love of designer shoes. Top this off with her best show more friend and new sidekick, a homosexual who has the hots for the vamp who has the hots for HER, and a strange and unsettling father-daughter-stepmother (stepmonster) relationship.
Comedy laden, this book was a delight to start but I soon feared it would fall short as the humor never let up. I was in the vein for some serious stuff - somewhere - and I do think that would have improved it a bit, but it was still funny as hell and completely readable. The main character is a valley girl type, completely obsessed with shoes and fashion, judgmental and constantly spurting out almost annoying, slang-filled one liners. Yes, sometimes this was tiresome, but other times I genuinely laughed. She's clearly self-centered and not the brightest candle in the room, yet her personality as an average is amiable and her spunk high.
I loved her best friend, Jessie, and the sidekick Mark (who seemed adorable in almost every way). The main vamp sounds incredibly sexy and I loved his domineering manner, even if I didn't blame Betsy for wanting to slug him half the time for his smugness. I especially grew errr, warm, with the scene of him in the alley and at the beginning with the finger. Grrrrroowwwwl. The ending with Betsy and him (Sinclair) was cleverly amusing and I didn't see it from a mile away. What a great turn-around!
Undead and Unwed stayed alive with active pacing. From chapter one the stakes are high and the plot is hell bent on being something strangely different. This is no average vampire tale by far; in fact, I've never read anything even remotely close. It's not something anyone would grow bored with, as action is always taking place and Betsy's never able to settle down for a simple breather. Her 'differences' as a vampire were a nice touch as well, especially loving the part where she got out of the car and "yawned" in the sun, not thinking about the typical vampire rules.
There are a few very sexual scenes, although that does not dominate the book by far. The romance impact is not high, more like the bickering fun lust-filled hero and heroine who you want to get together, but are not sure they really will (at least in this book, anyway). I'll leave what happens between them - if anything - a surprise. You can never say I ruin a book with my reviews *evil grin* On the violence side, there's some head crashing here and there but nothing strenuous.
Overall the book was laugh-out-loud hilarious, a different vein of vampire novels, with a main character you can't help but like (even if at times she's temporarily annoying enough to where you almost put down the book), and a hero you couldn't help but almost love. *wiggles brows* I'll definitely read more of this series, especially with an ending like that. show less
Undead and Unwed is the first book in MaryJanice Davidson's series about Betsy Taylor, Queen of the Vampires. Betsy gets killed trying to save her cat, Giselle, and rises from the dead in the funeral home. (Fear not, cat lovers, Giselle survives.) This being a humorous paranormal romance, Betsy draws the wrong conclusion about her status until she saves a woman and her child from some very nasty men. The book is in first person and Betsy keeps telling us what she's thinking. Often, she's thinking of designer shoes.
We're introduced to series regulars. The humans are Betsy's filthy rich Black best friend, Jessica Watkins; Betsy's mother, Dr. Elise Taylor (history professor); her father (called 'Arnie' only in this book), CEO John Peter show more Taylor, and her home-wrecking stepmother, Antonia O'Neill Taylor (whom Betsy refers to as 'the Ant' -- they mutually loathe each other), Police Detective Nicholas J. 'Nick' Berry, and emergency room physician Dr. Marc Spangler (whom Betsy saves from killing himself).
Of the vampires we meet, only Eric Sinclair (tall, dark, and gorgeous), Christina 'Tina' Caresse Chavelle (petite, gorgeous, and deadly), Alice, and the feral vampires known as 'the Fiends' will hang around.
Betsy is both attracted to 'Sink-lair' as she calls him, and repelled by his arrogance. She's deeply annoyed that her mother, Jessica, and Marc all think Sinclair is wonderful (Marc's gay).
The current ruler of the vampires is 'Nostro,' short for 'Nostrodamus'. (Betsy is correct both in thinking that's not his real name and that his real name is bland.) Nostro is evil. He's been a monster for centuries. The scene where he and Betsy first meet is quite funny, especially when he discovers that Betsy does not share certain vampire weaknesses.
According to the vampire Bible, The Book of the Dead Betsy is the foretold Queen of the Vampires. Betsy doesn't buy it. Tina's attempts to treat her as a monarch put her off. Betsy has no interest in vampire politics. She just wants to live her death pretty much as she lived her life. Too bad for Betsy that neither Nostro or Sinclair will let her.
I was introduced to the series through my local library's audio books of the series. I have my own copy of this book in paperback, but I enjoy Nancy Wu's narration. It was a pleasure to actually be able to listen to Undead and Unwed
Besides show less
We're introduced to series regulars. The humans are Betsy's filthy rich Black best friend, Jessica Watkins; Betsy's mother, Dr. Elise Taylor (history professor); her father (called 'Arnie' only in this book), CEO John Peter show more Taylor, and her home-wrecking stepmother, Antonia O'Neill Taylor (whom Betsy refers to as 'the Ant' -- they mutually loathe each other), Police Detective Nicholas J. 'Nick' Berry, and emergency room physician Dr. Marc Spangler (whom Betsy saves from killing himself).
Of the vampires we meet, only Eric Sinclair (tall, dark, and gorgeous), Christina 'Tina' Caresse Chavelle (petite, gorgeous, and deadly), Alice, and the feral vampires known as 'the Fiends' will hang around.
Betsy is both attracted to 'Sink-lair' as she calls him, and repelled by his arrogance. She's deeply annoyed that her mother, Jessica, and Marc all think Sinclair is wonderful (Marc's gay).
The current ruler of the vampires is 'Nostro,' short for 'Nostrodamus'. (Betsy is correct both in thinking that's not his real name and that his real name is bland.) Nostro is evil. He's been a monster for centuries. The scene where he and Betsy first meet is quite funny, especially when he discovers that Betsy does not share certain vampire weaknesses.
According to the vampire Bible, The Book of the Dead Betsy is the foretold Queen of the Vampires. Betsy doesn't buy it. Tina's attempts to treat her as a monarch put her off. Betsy has no interest in vampire politics. She just wants to live her death pretty much as she lived her life. Too bad for Betsy that neither Nostro or Sinclair will let her.
I was introduced to the series through my local library's audio books of the series. I have my own copy of this book in paperback, but I enjoy Nancy Wu's narration. It was a pleasure to actually be able to listen to Undead and Unwed
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Author Information
123+ Works 31,991 Members
Author MaryJanice Davidson was born in August 1969. She writes primarily paranormal romance, but she has also written young adult literature and non-fiction. She is the author of the Undead series, the Jennifer Scales series, and the Fred the Mermaid series. She won the 2004 Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award. (Bowker Author Biography)
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Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Undead and Unwed / Undead and Unappreciated / Undead and Unreturnable / Undead and Unpopular by MaryJanice Davidson
Undead and Unwed / Undead and Unemployed / Undead and Unreturnable / Undead and Uneasy by MaryJanice Davidson
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Undead and Unwed
- Original publication date
- 2004-03-02
- People/Characters
- Elizabeth 'Betsy' Taylor; Eric Sinclair; Jessica Watkins; Nostrodamus 'Nostro'; Christina 'Tina' Caresse Chavelle; Marc Spangler, MD (show all 17); Antonia 'The Ant' O'Neill Taylor; Nicholas J. 'Nick' Berry; John Peter Taylor; Elise Taylor, PhD; Shanara; Dennis; Mitzi; Karen Hembolt; Alice; Tom; Justine
- Important places
- Minnesota, USA; St. Paul, Minnesota, USA; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Hastings, Minnesota, USA
- Dedication
- This book is dedicated to Anthony Alongi, my editor, my partner, my bearded nemesis, and my friend. All praise to my darling husband.
- First words
- The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.
- Quotations
- Hampton & Son, realizing about a year too late that they had to slash costs, decided administrative layoffs were the way to go as opposed to, say, cutting the six figure salaries of senior management. The clerks and sec... (show all)retaries had been deemed expendable. But vengeance would be ours. Without us, those twits couldn't even send a fax, much less run the company. (chapter 1)
I love my cat. She's a pain in the ass, but she's dependable, and has never once told me to change my shirt because I look like a crack whore in periwinkle blue. Heck, the whole reason I was in this fix was, in part, becaus... (show all)e of Giselle, but I hadn't gotten rid of her, or even snacked on her. I was definitely a cat person.
Which is why it was unbelievably annoying that dogs now found me irresistible. Before I woke up in the funeral home, I had ignored dogs, and they had ignored me, and we'd gone about our separate business. No longer. (chapter 11) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I'm still waiting for this season's red Jimmy Choo slides.
- Blurbers
- Feehan, Christine; Spangler, Catherine
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