Book 1), Undead and Unwed (Queen Betsy

A little bit disappointed with the ending of this one, but it leaves the door wide open for the next book in the series to HOPEFULLY figure out what in the world is going on with Sookie and Eric. Thankfully the book and the TV Series, Tru Blood, do not go hand in hand so now spoiler alerts if you watch the show and read the books.

I like how Queen Betsy fawns over designer shoes and how she drives the other vampires batty by always questioning vampire rules. Betsy armed with her keen fashion sense and allied with her friends are about to modernize vampire society into the 21st century. Hope you enjoy reading the book.

I was just looking for something light and entertaining to read. The story isn't bad but the writing is painful. The heroine is supposed to be twenty something but she talks and acts like she's thirteen. It was so painful I had to force myself to finish it. It was like Twilight all over. If you like Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey then you might like like the writing in this book. I feel dumber having read it.

I purchased this book on a recommendation from the store because I read Charlaine Harris, Karen Chance, Patrica Briggs, Jeaniene Frost and Ann Rice. I gave it two stars because it did make me laugh in the beginning. But that soon stopped and it just irritated me to the point that I couldn't wait to finish the book and I will never buy another in this series.

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I liked the humans more than the vampires. The main character Betsy is so shallow, ignorant, juvenile, and sarcastic, it spoils the book. I liked Mom, Marc and Jess. The humans. Their character development was better. I did not like that Betsy became a vampire months after a weird attack but nothing was explained about how she became a vampire. She just died and woke a vampire. The leading male character, Sinclair is not explained to the reader. He is drop dead gorgeous of course, well dressed and extremely large in the man bits department, and he is madly in love with Betsy and I could not figure out why. She never has a nice word to say to him in the entire book. She is rude, crude and obnoxious to him in every scene. It was only in the very end that the author gives a clue why he might be interested, he wants to be king.

I could not understand why Betsy was given extra powers, that is never explained either. She can go days without feeding, she can walk in the sun, she can go to church, but she can't talk with her fangs down. She can't fight. She can't keep her nature a secret. She is a terrible vampire. But she is queen. A newly dead vamp who knows nothing about anything, and she is a queen.

Betsy's sarcasm becomes so irritating. She sounds like she is in junior high school with expressions like, Jeez, ewwwww, yuck, Duh, yippee skippy, say it don't spray it, and glkkk, what ever that means. She so immature that the first thing she sees when she meets someone is their clothes and shoes. She is so superficial it's irritating to a point that you want to scream. She notices everyone's shoes and name brands are thrown out everywhere. Forget it if you are the poor girl wearing the "gap knock offs". She agrees to join Sinclair and friends in a battle, but only after being bribed with shoes. At first is was no way, then they pull out designer shoes and she agrees. Very superficial, to the point of stupidity.

As I was reading, I felt like the author read as many books in the supernatural genre as she could, and stole as many ideas as she could from more popular authors. This does not help the author in anyway because she doesn't seem good enough to put it together. She uses words like "dead until dark", which Charlaine Harris uses much better in her books. The two main sex scenes are like Laurell K. Hamilton, poorly written and not exciting in anyway. One has multiple partners and the other scene has an audience. Sinclair is inhumanly large, just like LKH's male characters. I felt like Ms. Davidson was trying to re-write the Sookie Stackhouse novels with a female lead that was tall and beautiful and she becomes a vampire queen. But Betsy is not like Sookie.

I would not recommend this book or series to anyone. If you like the above listed authors don't bother. There is no details about the vampire society. It is all about superficial Betsy and her two human friends. Friends she does not deserve in anyway possible. If you have a shoe fetish, you might like the book for all the shoe descriptions. Otherwise, don't waste your money.

This book is funny - laugh out loud funny - I love her attitude about just continuing with her life and not let a thing like being dead stop her from having a good time and spending time with her not dead friends and family.

I really enjoyed this book! It was light and fluffy, just an amusing easy read about a reluctant shoe-loving vampire queen. The main character, Betsy, is just so likeable. The kind of vampire you would actually want to be friends with. I couldn't help but root for her.

This book isn't deep, but it sure is fun. I laughed out loud.

I have to say that discovering Ms. Davidson was a great and happy accident for me! Nonetheless, I am so very happy I picked up this book. I am a huge fan of Anita Blake and J.D. Robb and I am thrilled that I finally have another series to look forward to! Betsy is endearing and hysterical and reminds me of a lot of cherished girlfriends I know and love! I sincerely hope that Ms. Davidson will continue with this fun character and series for a long time to come...I understand that "Betsy" will have a cameo in "BITE" an anthology due out this January and then "Undead and Unappreciated" will be out the following July 2005! I for one can truly not wait!

I was on vacation and decided to visit a bookstore, when the cashier suggested this author. I'm glad she did! When I got home, I ordered the book online, and am now trying to catch up on the series. The book is great for those that look romance, but not "mushy romance" and lots of laffs!

I was suggested this novel after asking about books similar to the Sookie Stackhouse books. The book started out promising, but quickly grew a bit annoying. My first pet peeve was that Jessica was a racist. What was the point of making her be a racist? I would have felt sorry for her if she had just been a regular woman who happened to be friends with Betsy, My second and biggest issue was Sinclair. Sinclair was everything that I hated about paranormal romance/urban fantasy. The repulsive guy that you just know is going to be the love interest. Why? Please tell me that it gets better.

I just started the entire series and have enjoyed each book thus far. If you enjoy all things vampire you will enjoy this light hearted and funny tale about a girl going through life as an undead.
These are not serious books and that is why I enjoy them. It is nice to read something at the end of the day that is a quick read and doesn't take much effort to follow along with.

Immature or not, Well written or not... I still liked it.

I read this book and the next two in the series in 1 day. (Granted it was a marathon day from 4 am to 4 am... But still, that's a record, even for me.) Frankly, if the story catches your imagination and runs away with it, then who cares about all of the rest? I dare someone to read this book and not laugh...

I love lighthearted humorous paranormal books. But I found this book to be offensive due to how the author treats the topic of race. Betsy, the protagonist, who is white, has a best friend, Jessica, who is black. However, later in the book, the author stages a confrontation in which Betsy seems to be "unfairly accused" of being "racist" by a different woman of color, and Betsy responds "angrily" that she has "never in her life" been accused of bigotry. Even worse, she invokes having a "black best friend" as part of her defense. The scene seems to be completely unnecessary, uses physical characteristics in a manner which some might take offense too, and seems to just reinforce the notion that WoC might just throw around the term "racist" in a paranoid and confrontational manner. The book seems to trade in stereotypes, writing in a hysterical "angry black woman" who just wants to jump at the chance of calling someone a "racist" and using "having a black friend" as a way to avoid being called a racist. This is how the author writes this scene, this is Betsy meeting the other black woman:

"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 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. "S***, my grandparents were from Jamaica.") were smarter and more successful than I was because the ones I knew were."

Also, later in the book, there is this dialogue between Betsy and her friend Jessica in which Betsy defends "Gone with the Wind." Jessica points out why she does not like the book, and it goes from there:

""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 s*** 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.""

Aside from the fact that if her family is from Jamaica, somebody in her ancestry was without a doubt a slave, it seems that on several occasions, the author really privileges white people's fragility about being seen as racist or complicit in racism. It's like the book is both a vampire fantasy, but also a racial fantasy in which white women get to be consoled by women of color that they are, indeed, not racist, and can also express outrage over such "meaningless" accusations, as though being called "racist" is the more heinous offense than the existence of racism that could make people so aware of perceived slights. I don't know why these messages are in the book, but I thought people should know about this before they purchase the book to decide for themselves if that is something they want to read.

I really enjoyed this book. I was skeptical when a friend handed it to me to read. It didn't look like my kind of book; however, after starting it, I was unable to put it down - or stop laughing!! If you like vampire books and the movie "Clueless", then you'll love this book!!

Zero depth. I just didn't like the main character. It was like reading about a teenager who was supposed to be in her 30's. I'm in my 30's and don't relate to this character at all. On the upside, it didn't take me very long to read. The language is suitable for a 5th grader, so I blasted through it in two sittings.

I love this book! Betsy has a personality that is real. I've seen a lot of reviews insulting her personality, because she IS shallow, selfish, and sarcastic. but aren't we all in our own ways? it's funny, and a true page turner.

I enjoyed this story, but the shallowness and deliberate ditziness of the main character became more of an annoyance than an endearing quirk. No great writing here, but it definitely qualifies as an amusing diversion for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to a great friend, I have dithcovered the ultimate opposite of what mosth folkes think a vampire thude be. Betsy is a whacky, smart, thoe loving vamp who's mouth gets away with her. Then, enter Sinclair. The king who needths a queen. Jutht read the book. You'll laugh, giggle and guffaw the whole way through!