Product Description

This New York Times bestselling author's Undead series is more popular than ever!

With her birthday coming up, Betsy isn't in the best frame of mind to face the powerful European vampires who have finally come to pay their respects. Playing politics is not her strong suit, especially when she finds out her best friend Jessica may have a life-threatening illness. Sure Betsy can save her life by taking it-isn't that what friends are for?-but the choice isn't in her hands.

With her fiancé Eric dodging all the wedding plans, Betsy's plate is full-and not with birthday cake. But who has time to pout? Not even a reluctant vampire queen, who is taking it one high-heeled step at a time in MaryJanice Davidson's creative, sophisticated, sexy, and wonderfully witty series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #314331 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Booklist
With both her first anniversary as a vampire and her thirty-first birthday rapidly approaching, Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor still does not have everything lined up for her impending wedding. Her best friend is being testy; her pal, a veterinarian vamp, wants permission to bite her mortal lover; and a delegation of European vampires shows up to pay respect to the vampire royal couple and seek out any exploitable weaknesses. Betsy became the queen because a lot of the pesky vampire rules just don't apply to her. She doesn't even need to suck blood on a daily basis, so in the midst of all this turmoil, she decides to go on a blood-free diet, which leaves her in a perpetual state of annoyance as she eagerly anticipates the surprise party she has said is forbidden. Bubbly fun for fans of the series. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
MaryJanice Davidson lives with her husband and two children and is currently working on her next book.

Customer Reviews

Will appeal to MJD's fan base.....
MaryJanice Davidson continues her vampire series featuring the reluctant Queen Betsy Taylor and King Eric Sinclair with UNDEAD AND UNPOPULAR.

Betsy doesn't like certain aspects of being a vampire. After all, the whole live-forever thing is a bit overrated since one has to actually consume blood. So, for her 31st birthday, Betsy has decided to give up drinking blood- although she hasn't yet told Eric this.

Giving up blood makes Betsy a bit cranky, and she is less than thrilled when a contingent of European vampires finally show up to pay their respects to her as the new Queen. Much to her horror, one of the vampires, Alonzo, was responsible for forcibly converting her friend, Dr. Sophie Trudeau, to vampirism. Needless to say, Sophie wants revenge!

Betsy also has to deal with babysitting her baby brother, BabyJon, her best friend, Jessica's, recent diagnosis of blood cancer, and planning her wedding despite Eric's total avoidance of all details associated with it. And don't forget that there is a zombie in the attic!

Readers new to the series will probably wonder what the big deal is all about. The strength of the Undead series relies totally on the characters. Betsy is a sarcastic, sometimes airheaded, fashionista who was transformed into a vampire on her 30th birthday. Since then, she has become the Queen of the Vampires and acquired Eric as her consort. The humorous interaction between Betsy and Eric is always good for a laugh. However, if the reader hasn't been with the series from the beginning, this book will probably appear shallow and rather undeveloped. In addition, one must read the short story "A Fiend in Need" in DEAD AND LOVING IT or Garrett's transformation will make absolutely no sense.

The zombie in the attic is perhaps a bit superfluous but this part provides most of the action of the story. Finally, there is a flash of something besides whining and fashion tips from Betsy. Despite the concerns, however, this reviewer enjoyed the book as it was like a short visit with some old friends. UNDEAD AND UNPOPULAR will appeal to the fan base of MaryJanice Davidson but will probably not attract new fans due to the shallowness of the plot. Regardless, this very short book is still an entertaining read!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

Undead still going strong
After reading the book and truly enjoying it, I read the reviews posted here. I can agree with some of the opinions...i.e., the book is too short, the murderer's confession was a bit too convenient, and the zombie was never fully explained. That said, I still enjoyed Undead and Unpopular very much. I wish the books were longer since it only took me 4 hours to read this one. I still enjoy reading about Betsy and her menagerie of friends and roommates. I hope that in the future Ms. Davidson will make the books longer as that seems to be a standard wish of fans.

If you are a fan of Ms. Davidson's books, you must read this one. If you are new and looking for a good author, well, you've found one - but don't start with this one (you'll just be lost) - pick up the very first one of the series "Undead and Unwed". You'll be hooked if you do! And don't forget those wonderful Wyndom Werewolf books (Antonia is part of that series as well as this one).

All in all, I loved the book. Now, when is the next one coming out???? LoL

Undead and Unloved By This Reader
Mary Janice Davidson has created a funny, loveable, flawed Queen of the Vampires and her books have been a laugh- until recently. This book is not a book. It's a bunch of ideas thrown on paper with the hope something sticks. With unnecessary language (I'm not censoring, just think better minds can come up with better words) it is reduced even further.
In addition to a missing plot, it was particularly disturbing to see Sophie and Liam, such well-crafted, memorable characters from a MJD short story, trivialized and made to do things completely contrary to their previously-described characters. Their actions just left me cold. In the meantime, the other characters came into a scene and left, contributing little except maybe a diaper change to a visiting nephew.
The editing and proof-reading was absent. Perhaps leaving punctuation marks dangling in the air was meant to bring excitement to the reader,who was hoping someone would say something meaningful to explain this whole debacle.
Laurell K. Hamilton has recently defended MJD on a blog at her website, saying readers shouldn't tell writers what to do. I agree, however readers shouldn't be subjected to deadline-drive dribble that's being passed off as a book.
Sorry to see this series being sold out.