Undead and Unfinished (Undead #9)

O.K., there have been some big negative reactions to this installment. And I get why. And I also agree that from the early books Betsy seems to have lost some IQ points, and is also disrespectful of her sister. But having sneeked a look at the final book I know that somehow we will get from here to there. And thats what we are setting up for. In a way this reminds me of the Moffet years on Dr. Who, where very bad things might set up pay offs that come later. So now I guess I need to read towards the finale book to see how we get from here, (awful) to the end. I will tell you Im not sorry I skipped ahead, it will make the getting there worth while. And Im glad that Betsy will not stay this version of herself forever. Because, shoe obsession or not she started out both kind and clever and that is the Betsy I hold in my esteem.

I have enjoyed this series even with its inherent flaws: tired of hearing about dusty floors/chairs etc when they have a vast number of household staff — in earlier books the writer kept using knitting and crocheting interchangeably which it is not — Betsy and Eric destroy more clothes in the fit of passion Back to this book, I found myself simply reading words, not paying too much attention to what was going, it just could not hold my attention. Missing was the characteristic chuckles. I found the plot confusing and the ending gruesome. Not sure how the writer thought horror could be combined with light reading.

If you\’ve read a lot of the other reviews, you\’ll know there is an ending to piss you off. And it does because it makes you question everything going on in previous books and why you bothered to read any of the series at all if this was the \”ending\” you were going to get. I\’m rather betting that it\’s not, but that\’s just my opinion. There was also a lot of griping about this book being more poorly written than the previous books. I really can\’t say much to that, and here\’s why: I read the whole series within 2 days so as progression goes, I didn\’t see any real changes. Frankly, the writing from the beginning did not get any worse or any better as it progressed. It was the same level of plotting, characterization, and language from beginning to end. Well, there was a bit more cussing as we approached this book, and you end up hating Nick, but otherwise, stylistically and plotting-wise, little improvement. I was a HUGE fan of Laura K. Hamilton\’s Anita Blake series until she decided she wanted to be the next Anne Rice by sliding into erotica, and \”let\’s ignore plot, characters, and common sense\” mode. I also don\’t like things that take themselves seriously, so it was a bit refreshing to read a series that was tongue in cheek. Really, if I want to read vampire stories, I end up re-reading Midnight Blue: Sonja Blue Collection , which is awesomely written and hardcore. But, from the get go, I wasn\’t reading this series for plotting. The books rarely had a well-structured plot. I also thought Betsy was rather annoying from book ONE, not because she was vain (I can handle that) but because she was shrill, incapable of listening, and, frankly, vapid. It was interesting to watch her improve as a character, since those three irritating traits are SUPPOSED to be offset by her kindness, her loyalty, and her ability to forgive. So, I just got used to her. On the other hand, although it was through the filter of Betsy (who views just about EVERY ONE in the series as a \”cutie,\” \”hottie,\” or \”gorgeous.\” ), I really liked the side characters, especially the put-upon Sinclair, the smart-alecks Marc and Jessica, and Tina. So I put up with Betsy and her shrill, shrill ways. This book in particular was interesting because we get a window into Sinclair\’s past, and, really, I enjoyed that. SURE, it wasn\’t as in-depth as I would have liked, and YEAH, it had a haphazard feeling to it, a bit more than previous novels, but let\’s face it: this is NOT grand literature. Any series I can completely read in 2 days is hardly an intellectual exercise. I\’ve frankly been calling it printed \”candy fluff,\” where it\’s all spun sugar and no substance whatsoever. It took me days to get through the Stieg Larsson\’s Millennium Trilogy ; it took me 2 DAYS to read all of this series, plus the werewolf books AND the anthology. If I had a gripe, it would be that things were referenced that happened in other book series in this \’world\’ and I didn\’t know what happened until went to read it, and then came back to the main series. That ticked me off a lot. Otherwise, I ate my candy fluff in full knowledge that this was not going to be an intellectual exercise and, in fact, my brain might even get flabbier from it. I did get to read a LOT about designer shoes, though. As a shoe-a-holic, that, at least, was fun.

I\’m a little disappointed. Not at the book, nor the author, but at myself for waiting a couple years to read this. I\’ll admit, I was swayed not to purchase this based on reviews, and I shouldn\’t have. I know better… As much as I loved entire series (I read it all in about a month), I should have expected to enjoy this book as well. Perhaps I\’m a sucker (no pun intended) for time-travel stories. Perhaps I allowed myself some time between the series and this book to put things in perspective. Perhaps so much time has gone by that I was able to view this book as refreshing. In any event, I found it a fun read and I absolutely loved the direction it took, including the epilogue. I thought it brilliant on behalf of MJD and I will certainly read the next two books. The ONLY complaint I had was the formatting (ebook). This is not the authors fault, but if readers are expected to pay a hefty price for an ebook, the least the publisher could do is make sure it\’s formatted correctly. It took me twice as long to read because there weren\’t any paragraphs!! It certainly took some of the enjoyment out of reading it, trying to decipher the different breaks in dialogue and thought. Thankfully, MJD\’s story kept me hooked, otherwise I would have put it down.

Superficial and supernatural, hilarious chick lit novel. Betsy Taylor returns again in Davidson\’s book in the \’Undead\’ series. It\’s the same airhead, shoe obsessed queen of the vampires we met in the first novel. Betsy is a former model and is still a fashion fanatic. At the start of the series, on the morning of her disastrous 30th birthday, she is working as a secretary. Her main interests are designer shoes, designer clothes, and her cat. In quick succession she gets fired, loses her cat, and is killed in a car accident. It is a great surprise to her when she rises again as a most unusual vampire. It is even more of a surprise when, through a sequence of bizarre events, she becomes queen of the vampires. Needless to say vampire politics of the same nasty kind interfere with her life, but our heroine wins through in the end, displaying unexpected strength and compassion. A light weight book, but very funny. Still laugh-out-loud funny. I raced through this book cover to cover, loving Betsy\’s ditzy and self-obsessed attempt to adjust. For those who are not aware of the series, here the list of Queen Betsy stories I read to date: 1) \”Undead and Unwed (Undead Series)\” 2) \”Undead and Unemployed (Undead Series)\” 3) \”Undead and Unappreciated (Undead Series)\” 4) \”Undead and Unreturnable (Undead Series)\” 5) \”Undead and Unpopular (Undead 5)\” 6) \”Undead and Uneasy\” 7) \”Undead and Unworthy (Undead 7)\” 8) \”Undead and Unwelcome (Undead 8)\” 9) \”Undead and Unfinished\” 10) \”Undead and Undermined (Undead/Queen Betsy)\” In my opinion you will get most out of these books if you read them in order. I would start with \”Undead and Unwed\” and work on from there. Know there are more recent book but have not read them yet. It is not a great literature and it does not pretend to be (I think that was clearly established from the first book) so I find the negative reviews a bit petulant to be honest, you can\’t start moaning about short chapters, bad writing and unlike-able characters after 9 books into a 10 book series. If you want an easy read novel a decent story and have some laugh then go for it.

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