Review: Undead and Unpopular - MaryJanice Davidson

My Rating: E, B, L Published: 2006 Publisher: Piatkus Author's Website: maryjanicedavidson.net Available @ Amazon.co.uk Amazon.com Betsy Taylor, Vampire Queen, already has plenty on her plate. For one thing, next week is her 31st birthday – and her 1st anniversary of being undead. On top of that, she still has wedding plans to finalise – and it’s not helping that the prospective groom is avoiding anything to do with it. And then there’s her decision to stop drinking blood – something she has yet to share with Eric Sinclair, her fiancé. So the last thing she wants to deal with is uninvited guests, even if they happen to be powerful European vampires who have finally come to pay their respects the week before her birthday. Some of them don’t want Betsy as their Queen, and will do anything to get rid of her. As if turning thirty last year (not to mention dying) hadn’t been traumatic enough. And trying to give up blood is making her really cranky... Undead and Unpopular is the fifth book from the Queen Betsy series. It will definitely make you laugh out loud, giggle non-stop and have you demanding to have a pair of designer sandals in winter time. I absolutely love this series. Every page I turn, Betsy is always saying or doing something that makes me laugh. Her humour is utterly fantastically flippant but she is a bit precocious when it comes to her Queenly duties and very self centred regarding everything else. Betsy was just a normal girl fascinated with designer shoes, until one day, she died and rose as a vampire. But she wasn’t just any vampire, she was the Queen of all vampires. Apparently this was all foretold in The Book of the Dead, a sort of vampire bible. Some of the vampires weren’t too happy about this and don’t believe she is their Queen. They soon realise once they meet her that there’s no doubt that she is their Queen. She is now organising her wedding to Eric Sinclair, who doesn’t seem to be interested in this human ceremony because to him they are already married and are to be together for at least one thousand years. This irks Betsy something terrible. Her one year anniversary of being dead is just around the corner along with her thirty first birthday and now she decides to go on a hunger strike thinking because she is the Queen she can do anything. As she finds out, it just makes her really cranky and irritable. (WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILER’S FOR PREVIOUS QUEEN BETSY BOOKS AND FOR THIS BOOK SERIES IN FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH) As in all the Queen Betsy series books so far, there is always some dilemma for Betsy. I think in Undead and Unpopular all the drama for her is based on how she decides to rule her vampire kingdom, at the moment the majority of vampire are still sticking to the old laws. Betsy doesn’t want any vampires killing humans. When she finds out that one of the vampires that has come to pay their long overdue respects was the one that murdered and turned her friend Sophie, she has to take a stand and do the right thing by her friend and by her subjects. But she doesn’t want to just kill the bad vampire, she wants to start afresh so she decides that he has to pay one way or another. It takes a friend’s illness, their reluctance to be turned into a vampire and a fight with a zombie to make Betsy realise what she has to do about Sophie’s problem. Betsy finds clarity in the strangest places. (END OF SPOILER WARNING) Jessica is going through a major crisis in this story as you will find out as you read on and of course Betsy makes it all about her. Betsy is rather self-centred when it comes to most things, but in the end she works it all out and realises it’s not about her at all. Marc is still going about but he’s not really a prominent character in this book. Tina is her usual self and slaving after Eric. Undead and Unpopular isn’t really big on serious plots, but more of a humorous and light read. It’s good for a giggle. There are a few sexual scenes in this book but nothing I would call explicit enough to warrant an ‘X’ rating but I still wouldn’t recommend it to young readers. I think the series is really great and I really enjoy reading them. I can’t wait to find out how the wedding goes. Good luck Betsy! Disclaimer: I have not bought this book or been given it free of charge and I am not receiving any money to review this book. I borrowed this book from the local library and everything I have said is based on my honest opinion.