Undead and Unappreciated [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

MaryJanice Davidson (Author), Nancy Wu (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2005

Reluctant vampire queen Betsy Taylor may rule the topsy-turvy world of the undead, but now Betsy's discovered that she has a long-lost half-sister who's the devil's daughter--and destined to rule the underworld.

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What's a vampire queen to do? Betsy Taylor has a lot on her plate-operating a nightclub for vampires and searching for essential fashion items consume her and allow little time for socializing. When she learns that she has a long-lost half sister, alleged to have been fathered by Satan, she remembers a prophecy predicting she and this person will rule the world together. Her satanic sibling turns out to be a sweet, unaware college girl with a clergyman father. Betsy tells the story, which poses a problem for narrator Wu, who describes events and filters other characters' dialog through her own flat, terminally hip, and world-weary delivery. This monotonous tone makes it difficult for the uninitiated to follow without serious concentration. Davidson's Undead series has gained a loyal group of fans who will be eager for all the dish from the queen herself. Turns out sibs will be sibs, dead or undead. They've just been around a little longer, can only go out at night, but nevertheless manage to have hot vampire sex. (Sorry, not with each other.)
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From Booklist

Davidson's third Queen of the Vampires novel continues in the same vein as Undead and Unwed (2004) and Undead and Unemployed (2004). Betsy, still obsessed with shoes, discovers that Ant, her wicked stepmother, was possessed by the devil back in 1986 when she gave birth to Betsy's half-sister, Laura. This means that Laura, adopted by a minister, is actually the Spawn of Satan. And that's not all: the creepy Book of the Dead prophesies that the Spawn of Satan and the Queen of Vampires will rule the world. How is Betsy going to tell the warmhearted, churchgoing, innocent Laura that her birth mother was the devil, and that Laura may be on the path to world domination? Subplots involving a fiend named George, a baby shower, and a wedding keep the action perking along. Readers who love the sassy, foul-mouthed Queen of the Undead will enjoy this latest installment. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Recorded Books (October 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419362550
• ISBN-13: 978-1419362552
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,745,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MaryJanice Davidson has been credited with starting paranormal chick lit. The New York Times bestselling author of the Undead series, she lives in Minnesota. Please visit her on the Web at www.maryjanicedavidson.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Disappointing, But Still Fun, July 22, 2005

By 

P. Roeder "Somewhat eccentric bibliophile" (Kentucky, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Undead and Unappreciated (Queen Betsy, Book 3) (Hardcover)

While I think this book was somewhat of a letdown, that may be my own fault. I absolutely adored the first two books and they were both so funny that I literally rolled! This book was still funny, the characters are still quirky, but it just seems as if Ms. Davidson did not put a whole lot of thought into this book, just rushing through to get it published sooner.

Betsy Taylor, that charming but ditzy queen of the vampires, has had a hard week. After being painfully reminded that her wicked stepmother is pregnant, finding out she has a half-sister, and going sociopathic after a long night reading the Book of the Dead, you would think she deserved a break. However, the trouble is just beginning...

While reading through the Book of the Dead, the vampiric version of the Bible, Betsy finds out that while pregnant with her half-sister, the devil inhabited her stepmother's body. How ironic that the incarnation of all evil should take over her stepmother and no one notices the difference. Though she garnered useful information in the book, unfortunately she spent too long reading, and went on the warpath, injuring anyone who got into her way. Whoops! What's a girl to do?

Though I can enjoy this book when seen dispassionately, I feel disappointed when comparing this to the two previous books. Too many things are smoothed over without any resolution whatsoever. Towards the end at the actual fight scene, readers feel confused as to the action leading up to that sequence. However, as addicted as I am to the series, I know I will continue to wait anxiously for the next MJD book. I just hope that the next book will be somewhat longer and more flowing!

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, Frivolous and punchy (or should I say chewy?), July 28, 2005

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Undead and Unappreciated (Queen Betsy, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Betsy, queen of the dead, is back and running her own nightclub - she inherited it as part of the spoils (all part of vampire lore) in the last book, Undead and Unemployed - so now she is employed - more than she would like as the nightclub's in the red - appropriate really for a vampire

There is a problem in her life though, as if she doesn't have enough problems, her half sister is spawn of satan (Satan being Betsy's step mother, wouldn't you know it) and it is written in the book of the dead that there is going to be serious consequences when this happens - they will rule the world together, although how and why this will happen isn't specified.

You also can't read the book of the dead without going a little crazy - and Betsy does with quite serious consequences for her friends at the house they share, Marc and co are a bit freaked by it, and she even tries to kill a vampire friend.

This book still has some of the sparkle of the previous two, there are the usual cast of strange characters as well Betsy's rather louche acceptance of her fate and its attendant problems. I really liked the slow unfolding of more detail of Vampire lore and way of life as the novel went on, and there were some genuinely funny moments in it - The Ant coming downstairs when Betsy, Sinclair, Tina etc turned up at the door was just magic.

The parallel story of George the fiend was interesting too, but a little creepy - did she really think it was ok to have a fiend in the house with her friends? and I know that if I was sharing a house with vampires that turned on me in a moment I would not be inclined to continue sharing a house with them,but hey this is fiction isn't it?

It still read quickly and brightly and was a nice read too, I didn't find there were any laugh out loud moments as with the other two books, and I don't think this is the best she has ever done. It wasn't so much a story with beginning a middle an end, it was more like a series of connected incidents with the theme of finding her younger sister. I liked the first two for the fact that they were very oriented to something big happening in them. I think there is room for more of these Betsy stories, they are fun and romantic as well as being adventurous and kick-ass. A great thing to try if you are a buffy fan or like Janet Evanovich - but start with the first two and if you like them carry on with this one - this one definitely sets things up for the future books

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars -Undead and Unabashed-, July 11, 2007

By 

A. Casalino "V^^^^^V" (Downers Grove, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Undead and Unappreciated (Queen Betsy, Book 3) (Hardcover)

Yes, indeed this is food for the fangs: And as my existence has forever bled no small amount of empathy towards anything bearing the fate of being simultaneously undead and unappreciated, without ado does my pulse quicken in adoration of this book.

I first was made aware, whilst flitting here & about on Amazon, that there existed in some or other realm of reality a Vampire named Betsy. I found this to be a most singular matter of fact. So, in short, when I happened upon this title, I set about acquainting myself with this particularly fetching bit of literature...um, most precipitously. Now, after having read all the books in this series (though not in order: UNDEAD AND UNAPPRECIATED was the first) - I find myself quite convinced that Ms. Davidson must have had some experience with vampires...

Betsy is certainly no pour of the pump Vampire- She's a tall, blonde beauty hailing from (of all places)- Minnesota - She's neither a voracious reader, a brooding dreamer, nor a thirsty fiend - her number one passion is designer shoes, in fact. And though she's fervently loyal to her friends, she considers most of the Vampires of her acquaintance to be- well, weirdos- at best...

In this episode of her (after)life, Betsy encounters a good number of nearly insurmountable problems. First of all, her nasty stepmother Antonia ("the Ant") is pregnant with her half-sibling, and she's just found out that she has a half sister named Laura, now a 20-year-old church-going college student who'd been raised by a minister, whom the Ant had given birth to while possessed by the Devil- (Unfortunately, not once during the entirety of the Ant's nine months of Satanic dominion did anyone notice any change in her personality). To further complicate matters, a heavy volume made of human flesh and blood called THE BOOK OF THE DEAD foretells that Betsy, Queen of the Vampires, and Laura, Spawn of Satan, will someday rule the world together. Betsy sets about reading THE BOOK OF THE DEAD for a few hours, in search of some or other loophole that would serve to thwart this prophesy. Unfortunately, reading THE BOOK OF THE DEAD for more than 15 minutes in one sitting induces madness. So Betsy proceeds to raise all manner of havoc upon those closest to her: her roomates & good friends Jessica & Marc, her Vampire friend Tina, and her Vampyric King Consort Eric Sinclair.

Betsy's troubles do not by any means stop there: She also has a nightclub filled with disgruntled vampyric employees to manage, as well as a den of fiends to attend. The whole of it plays out into one of the more humorous tales of my reading repertoire. Betsy proves again and again, throughout the six books so far in this series, that a passionate sense of humor can get one through just about anything...

-And for that, I most certainly do appreciate her-