Undead and Unwed

Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Published: March 2, 2004 (Berkley)
Category: Paranormal Romance
Quote of Choice: [Betsy says] "Being a a vampire doesn't bother you, but my giving money to P.E.T.A. does?" [Marc says]"Hey, it was one thing when you were a soulless underling of Satan, I could work with that, but a tree-hugging marmoset lover... ugh! I've got my pride, dude."

I certainly didn't waste any time returning to my beloved paranormal romances! This is an entertaining book, the first chronicling the adventures of Elizabeth Taylor (a.k.a. Betsy Taylor, Queen of the Undead). When she rose from her coffin, the first things she did were try to kill herself and then take back her designer shoes from her wicked stepmother. The death and stepmother are not connected.

It turns out that there are two factions in the vampire world and Nostro needs to be eliminated. Betsy is the best hope, being the queen as prophecy foretold... provided she can stop giggling over the nicknames she gives ol' Nostro (a.k.a. Nostril, Nosehair, Noseo, Notso, etc.). The dangerously handsome vampire Eric Sinclair wants Betsy to side with him and defeat Nostro, if Betsy can get over the feelings of attraction between her and Sinclair.

The dialogue is funny, but not as funny as Katie MacAlister's Aisling Grey series. Betsy laughs at the clichés the humans believe in regarding vampires, such as Gary Oldman's "old lady hairdo" in Dracula. There was not so much romance in this book as there was lust. In terms of a good vampire story, Davidson did a really good job putting together a world and I'm excited to see what happens in the second book, Undead and Unemployed.