Undead and Unwed

Queen Betsy, Book 1

By: MaryJanice Davidson

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

MaryJanice Davidson's cult hit Undead and

Unwed is a delightful mixture of Sex and the City and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Waking up in a tacky coffin and wearing off-brand shoes, Betsy Taylor can't believe the horrible turn her life has taken; then she discovers she's a vampire. Soon, Betsy becomes a participant in a power struggle between the forces of darkness. With only her friend Jessica and the hunky vampire Sinclair to help her, this new "Queen of Vampires" will have a tough time getting her afterlife straight.

Dying for more? Don't miss the other titles in the Undead series.

©2004 MaryJanice Davidson (P)2006 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Sexy, steamy, and laugh-out-loud funny, Davidson's chick-lit foray into the paranormal is delightful." (Booklist)

good read

good read. I enjoyed the humor a lot . the shoe thing eventually got old though. overall i lked it.

undead and unwed

loved it all. so interesting and funny. going to listen to the whole series

Meh

So I love a lot of MJ Davidson books but had tried this series before and never took to it. However, I was in a kinda flippant mood and finding it hard to settle on something new, saw this was free at the moment and thought: why not? Well, despite excellent narration, it was still as bland as I recalled (not at all typical Davidson - seriously, you want the Bears Behaving Badly series 🤣, or the Me, Myself, Why series. But not this 1 nor the Royal 1 OR the fish/mermaid? 1)

Funny but just a bit too smutty for my taste

I think MaryJanice Davidson is fantastic and funny and writes beautifully, Besty the Vanp Queen is great as are all the other characters. Unfortunately, for me, and I know I am in the minority here - it just a bit too smuttily (that’s a word!) detailed for my tastes. It really is a good story thoughb

Such a fun book!

I actually despise what most people call "chick lit" and lots of people have described the Undead series by MaryJanice Davidson as chick lit meets vampires.

I suppose that is an accurate description, but the reason I hate chick lit (in general) and the reason I find this book so hilarious is basically the same: a really shallow-seeming heroine. Here the shallowness isn't complete (Betsy has her moments and you can see that she has some deeper feelings, if you search really hard for them), but the very shallowness is part of the reason these books are so funny.

The Queen of the Vampires is obsessed with shoes? Designer names? What anyone and everyone is wearing? Too funny!

Nancy Wu, who gives voice to Betsy in this first person novel, is letter perfect. She sounds just like Betsy did in my head when I read "Undead and Unwed" for the first time.

Give this book a chance,even if you aren't a chick lit fan. You won't regret it.

Fun Paranormal Series

I took this book with me on vacation last month, and had more than a few laugh-out-loud moments while reading it.

Life was hard for Betsy Taylor - she couldn't always afford the newest and hottest styles of shoes, and she worked for a boss who neglected to do small things, like pay the taxes on his employee wages. A few months ago, she was attacked by some foul smelling nasties - though at least that led to her meeting a yummy detective. Then she gets hit by a car and dies. Game over. Right?

Nope. She wakes up, and is powerfully thirsty. Somewhere along the lines, Betsy has become a vampire, and life was hard enough with a pulse.

Betsy's take on the undead life is a howl, and I promise you won't be let down if you're looking for a light, fun tale peppered with some romance and a lot of laughs. It's like an undead Janet Evanovich novel.

Way Entertaining and so much fun!

This is the first book of this series that I have "read" as well as the first book from this author. What an enjoyable book. The heroine is bratty, smart-mouthed and independent and the character development is wonderful. It is not your normal Vampire story and is such a wonderful change from the serious "OH NO, I AM A VAMPIRE" stories. The narrator does a great job and you feel she is really Betsy. I can't wait to continue all the books in this series.
If you are looking for a serious vampire story, this is not it. But if you enjoy humor, wittiness and fun with vampire fiction, you will be sorry you missed this one.

funny vamp

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

for me, the best thing about this audiobook was the way it made me smile. maybe the other books in the series won't fulfill the promise of this one, but I've gotta try at least one more to find out .... of course, like all spoken humor, it's the timing that counts most, so gotta give kudos to the narrator on that score! :)

Definitely light entertainment

The story is OK, and I really don't like Betsy, but I don't think we are supposed to like her any more than we liked the skinny snobs in high school. But after a while she grew on me. I'm still not sure if I'll go after the next in the series, but it's possible - there are just other books I want to read first.

The narrator has Betsy's voice down pretty well, but I kept becoming acutely aware that someone was reading the book out loud, which pulled me out of the book. Sort of like seeing the microphone during a movie scene. That wasn't fun. Odd pauses and overdone attitudes. If book 2 is read by someone else, or maybe more importantly, *directed* by someone else, it might move up on my reading list.

Book 1 left a lot of things unfinished - this is definitely the first of a series, and definitely only light entertainment. A great waste of time. (smile) But in a good way.

So much fun!

Would you listen to Undead and Unwed again? Why?

I went through this entire series twice.

What other book might you compare Undead and Unwed to and why?

I would recommend this series to anyone who read the Sookie Stackhouse series and vise versa.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Wouldn't that be great. It would mean that I didn't have to work and I was sitting around eating Bon Bons and listening to MaryJanice Davidson all day. Not a bad way to live.

Any additional comments?

My husband says I have a lot in common with this character.