But here I made an exception since the article I found on the internet about it suggested Betsy might be an interesting sort of character – in an absurd sort of way…
I’ve already read the first 4 volumes (I think there are 8 in total – so far) and I have mixed feelings. What I usually love to read is good fantasy, books which create complicated, new worlds, are full of complex characters and sweeping epic. Well, Betsy has none of it; and yet, she must have something, since I’m considering continuing with the series…
I think it all lays in the fact that Betsy’s life – Betsy being the main character, obviously – is just full of crazy absurdity which you cannot help but laugh about. There’s always something new around the corner in Betsy’s life which is just going to hit both her and you as the reader on the head.
Let’s see…The series starts (in “Undead and Unwed” – all the book titles start with Undead and U…) with Betsy being hit by the car (and dying instantly) while she tries to get her cat out of a snow mound. Something like 24 hours later she wakes up, dressed in tacky, pink clothes (courtesy of her stepmother) and abhorrent shoes (at least to someone with the biggest shoe fetish in the world) and climbs out of something which turns out to be a coffin standing in the burial house.
Convinced she should be dead she tries to “finish the job” in several creative ways from jumping into the river to drinking bleach and getting run over by a truck, but to no avail.
It turns out Betsy is now a vampire (and yes, there are vampires living among us) only somehow the usual vampire rules do not apply to her – she does not burst into flames in sunlight, crosses do not scare her, and she absolutely cringes at the idea of having to drink blood from someone. And surprisingly, she brought all her human quirks (like wearing sushi pajamas) and opinions (a lot of them) into the undead life, and is about to revolutionize it…
Soon it turns out that according to the Book of the Dead she’s the Vampire Queen whose appearance was prophesized a thousand years ago. Only she’s not really interested in ruling a community which wears outdated black clothes, meets in creepy places and kills humans (yuck!), she just wants to be a shop clerk at Macy’s – selling shoes, of course.
But she ends up accidentally killing the current ruler, becoming a consort to the dark and sinister Sinclair (whom she calls a sneaky, egoistic, manipulative bastard –except when she’s having crazy vampire sex with him), moves into a big house full of ghosts (which she can see – unfortunately) together with her best friend and a gay doctor she accidentally saved from committing suicide thanks to her vampire mojo. There’s also a feral wild vampire hooked on crocheting living in the basement, a discovery of a sister who turns out to be a nice, church going student working in several charities (and at the same time a daughter of the Devil herself, destined to take over the world), the evil stepmother to deal with, an FBI agent with a crush, a band of pimply teenagers calling themselves Blade Warriors and bent on killing vampires, and also all those vampires who want to kill her, and …there’s always something new and more absurd.
If what you’ve just read seems oddly attractive to you, then start with “Undead and Unwed”… More information you can find at www.maryjanicedavidson.net