Book Review: Undead and Unpopular by Mary Janice Davidson

By Sandy Amazeen Jun 10, 2006, 19:21 GMT

From the Publisher: 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 ...more

One might think being the vampire queen would guarantee a life of ease and that assumption would be dead wrong as Queen Betsy Taylor can attest to. She is knee deep in planning her upcoming wedding to consort and king, Eric Sinclair while trying to get out of watching her baby brother, curtailing plans for a “surprise” birthday party in her honor and coping with a group of European vampires who have waited a year before paying  their respects to the new queen. It is little wonder she ignored warnings of a zombie in the attic from George the fiend and Cathie, a resident ghost.

Matters are further complicated when vampire Sophie shows up unannounced with her human lover Liam in tow asking for Betsy’s permission to attempting to turn Liam into a vampire. As is happens, one of the aristocratic Europeans left Sophie for dead over a hundred years earlier so discovering him in the queen’s parlor creates problems for all concerned. When long time friend Jessica announces she is suffering from a potentially fatal blood disease, Betsy hits the end of her rope…what a week to swear off blood!

Told in the same humorous vein as the five previous titles in the series, this makes a light summer read. Several questions like, who sent the zombie and why, are left unresolved which hopefully will be taken up in future tales as the countdown to Betsy’s wedding continues. Half sister Laura, literally the Devil’s spawn has yet to come into her own and now former friend and author Delk, an ex-vampire hunter has become a serious threat to them all. With material like this, Davidson has no shortage of storylines to develop.