Customer Reviews

Dead Over Heels

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an anthology containing three short stories from three different series.

Undead and Wed: A Honeymoon Story - Takes place a few days after the events in the book Undead and Uneasy. Betsy, Queen of the Vampires, and her new hubby, Sinclair, head off to New York for their Honeymoon. When they arrive they discover it's no longer just the two of them on this vacation. They have some King and Queenly duties to tend to while sharing their Honeymoon time with their unwanted guests.

Betsy's hilarious antics and Sinclair's witty comments and tolerance make this a very funny short story. I laughed out loud several times.

Survivors - Takes place a few days after the events in Swimming without a Net (Fred the Mermaid, Book 2). Television Survivor Guru, Con, finds himself shipwrecked and stranded in the middle of the ocean when Reanesta, one of the Undersea Folk, comes to his aid.

Another laugh out loud story with a fabulously sarcastic and sassy heroine. It was equal parts charming and comical.

Speed Dating Werewolf Style Or, Ow, I Think You Broke The Bone - This story also takes place a few days after the events in Undead and Uneasy, but involves the Wyndham Werewolves instead of the Betsy Vampire Entourage. Cain is getting sick of watching her friends find mates and have cubs, so she decides it's her turn. She enlists the help of her longtime best friend, Saul, to help her find a man, er, Werewolf. He sets her up on several "dates."

The clever repartee between Cain and Saul and their obvious and easy affection for each other makes this an extremely entertaining read. Saul is sweet and a little bumbling, Cain is brassy and determined.

This was a brilliant anthology, easily one of the best I have ever read. The three stories had this reader visiting her favorite MJD series and subject matters, Vampires, Mermaids and Werewolves. I was thrilled to have another Wyndham Werewolf story, though I long for the day when she will give them their own full length novel again. MaryJanice Davidson writes the funniest stories and one-liners. Her ability to make me laugh, repeatedly, is only one of the reasons I adore her writing. Her characters are larger than life and her imagination is supreme. Hilariously fun!

Cherise Everhard, May 2008

Finally, a full anthology of MJD stories. Undead and Unwed,The Honeymoon was a total enjoyable romp with Sink-Lair, and his new Bride, Betsy the new Vamp Queen. But two surprise visitors also show up to complicate their lovefest. Suvviors, her mermaid story was wonderful sequel, to her second mermaid book called Swimming Without a Net. A young Pirate called Con meets up with sassy and lonely mermaid called Ree. And finally, my second favorite called Speed Dating,Werewolf Style. Cain a young female were is looking for a mate before she hits 30. What a HOOT. All these stories were packed with humor and excitement and even happy ending to all of these stories. Want her to do another anthology. If you want romance,humor and action read this book,you will be glad that your did.

"Undead and Wed: A Honeymoon Story". The married monarchs, Queen Betsy and King Sinclair, leave on honeymoon planning to take a bite or two out of the Big Apple. However, instead of sex and shoes, the pair is stalked and staked.

"Survivors". Animal World TV star Con "The Surviving Man" Conlinson is in trouble as he in a rowboat alone on the Pacific with no hope of a rescue as he sent the film crew away before the storm sent him adrift from them. Then Reanesta arrives without a boat and with a beautiful tail. If she was not so lovely, he would have assumed he lost his mind as who falls in love with a mermaid.

"Speed Dating, Werewolf Style Or, Ow, I Think You Broke the Bone". As she nears her thirtieth birthday, Cain the werewolf feels long in the tooth with her Wyndham packmates marrying their soulmate while she has no one. She persuades her best friend Saul to find her a blind date.

Vampires, mermaids and werewolves in one anthology connotes readers have entered the magical zany romantic fantasy realm of MaryJanice Davidson. The three tales are amusing, entertaining and lighthearted fun to read.

Harriet Klausner

I have been a fan of MaryJanice Davidson for a long time & was excited to see she had something new out...but, if you took out all the white space from each page, this book would have been more of a pamphlet. Though mildly entertaining, overall this was a big disappointment. It just seemed like story lines that never really got developed but hey, lets sent it to the printer anyway. I'm sorry to say, I would not recommend this and I never thought I would say that about any of her books.

I found this book better than some in that in the Betsy part, Betsy was a little less whiny than she usually is. But I found it impobable that her best friend would crash her honeymoon with Nick, who hates Betsy and the new hubby. Her explanation that she needs them to get along just didn't wash. If anything that would make me dislike him more. It was basically just an excuse for the author to have them there together to "solve" the mystery. Since it was a novella, the mystery was really short and I found it a little too easily solved, but fairly interesting. I didn't know the other series in the book, but I did read the werewolf novella and I enjoyed it even thought I didn't know the characters. It was written well enough that I was able to get enough of the story to enjoy and pick up on what was going on. Overall a good book. A little teaser to get us to the next books in the series'. Now if Betsy would just stop whining and enjoy her death, it would be practically perfect, lol.

I got a kick out of Dead Over Heels with the three zany shorts that tied into Davidson's "Undead", Fred the Mermaid and Wyndham werewolf books.

It was fun getting a little slice of vampire Queen Betsy's misadventures this time on her honeymoon in "Undead and Wed". All the standard stuff you'd expect from the "Undead" books is here: daquiri's, shoes, shopping and sex with Sinclair (whenever Betsy could ditch Jessica and Nick who crashed the honeymoon).

I also enjoyed the spin off from Davidson's Fred the Mermaid series, "Survivor" with the inept Survial show host lost at sea and his mermaid rescuer, Davidson writes the most wacky and offbeat characters.

But the story I liked best was the Speed-dating Werewolf Style... It was one of Davidson's better Wyndham Werewolf tales, with Cain the alpha werewolf female who decides she's got to get married in the next three weeks and tasks her longtime buddy, also a were, with setting her up with some eligible weres. It had two of my favorite elements: werewolves and the friend who has secretly longed for more. It thought it was funny watching the passive agressive beta male friend, secretly undermining Cain's attempts to find a mate, hoping that she'll finally see that the perfect wolf has been under her nose the whole time. It's always nice to see the nice (but sneaky) guy finally finish first.

I've pretty much stopped reading Davidson since she's gone to Hardback and Trade Paperbacks for her releases. Too much money for something that I can read in such a short amount of time. But I got lucky with Dead Over Heels and found this one used, and even better since I haven't read alot of Davidson lately these were a fun reminder of why I enjoyed the earlier "Undead" books, Sleeping with the Fishes (Fred the Mermaid, Book 1) and Derik's Bane (Berkley Sensation).

Dead Over Heels by Mary Janice Davidson is utterly adorable. This anthology of three novella's is much better than some of Miss Davidson's previous work. I love the way she put paranormals about three different species in this book. It was laugh out loud funny.

The first novella is called "Undead and Wed: A Honeymoon Story". Of course it is about our lovely Queen Betsy and King Sinclair. I found this to be the best Betsy story yet. Not as much whining and more storyline, the usual laugh out loud dialogue and shoe fetish, overly sexual without the tension of previous stories make this just a fun, fluffy read.

The second novella is called "Survivors" and deals with the new found merfolk. This wasn't as action packed but was quite cute. I love the simple sarcastic dialogue between the human and mermaid, the one track mind of the male species when it comes to naked women and the females perception of how dumb and self centered some men can be. Knowing this is all in fun makes it a quite enjoyable story that you can whip through in an hour.

The third novella is called "Speed Dating, Werewolf Style" and of course deals with our were friends. Cain is a she were coming up on her thirtieth birthday and looking around at all her pack mates realizing that she is the only one not mated yet. So off we go on a wild ride of blind dates, interviewing possible mates and wanting to kill her best friend so to speak over his inaccurate slip of the tongue description of her. I love this one. Cain does not hold back on her opinions or use of vulgar language which I find makes her character more appealing. It's a light, fluffy, giggly read that you can zip through in no time.

I hope to see the author come out with more stories like these in the future. I love the Betsy books but the more recent ones have had just a wee bit more whining that previous ones and it does tend to get on the nerves after awhile. The mermaid and were stories are good and it's nice to jump to stories like these that are so light, fluffy, air headed and quick for a change of pace.

This book is a collection of three long short stories, or novellas if you will, and all three are full of MJD's trademark zany wit. I thought she gave short shrift to Besty's wedding in "Undead and Uneasy"; however, she makes up for it by giving us a glimpse of the honeymoon, and yes, SHOES are involved! The second story is a glimpse into the undersea folk recently introduced in "Sleeping with the Fishes," and the last revists the Wyndham werewolves.

All three are frothy cocktails, designed to whet your appetite for even more MJD, which they do in fine style. This book is a great afternoon read.

HER BOOKS ARE LESS HARD CORE THAN OTHERS BUT STILL VERY GOOD, WITH A LITTLE COMEDY MIXED IN.

This book is three short stories; two that follow Undead and Uneasy, the third follows Swimming without a Net. All of them give you a bit more detail into the lives of the characters you have come to love in both series. If you have not read either series - you will not enjoy this book. It is not a stand-alone story. It is filler for characters and side stories that you have to already know about. If you enjoyed either of these though, you will LOVE this book. Keeps me wanting more by the same author!