October 10, 2014

Loved It: Undead &... Underwater, Unsure, & Unwary by Mary Janice Davidson

Undead And Underwater | Undead 11.5 | Paranormal-Humorous
March 5, 2013 | Berkley | Hardcover won from Goldilox & the Three Weres

UNDEAD AND UNDERWATER may be entertaining and funny even but a big bulk of it are long conversations about shoes, mermaids, and fashion, peppered with lots of snark over smoothies. Oh yeah, and there's this weird old dude who wants to annihilate Undersea Folk for the death of his wife and child. 

UNDEAD AND UNDERWATER is a crossover novella of two of Mary Janice Davidson's series but the story leans more towards Fred the Mermaid than Undead. Betsy, for a change, took the backseat here but she's still as annoying, overbearing, and shoeaholic as always. This novella doesn't impact the series as a whole but still is worth reading even if it's just for the purpose of being entertained for a while.

Undead And Unsure | Undead 12 | Paranormal-Humorous
August 6, 2013 | Berkley | Hardcover won from Goldilox & the Three Weres

Snarky, snappy, and a genius ditz, that is my summation of UNDEAD AND UNSURE. I have to be honest though, I had a hard time getting through the first half because Betsy's incessant babble about shoes, non-stop whining combined with her trademark sarcastic opinion about the most trivial and oftentimes useless things slowly made my head ache. Fun fact, when I read my mind shapes the characters in my head, their appearances might be blurry but their voices are loud and clear. And Betsy Taylor's voice can be grating and hard to minimize! So I took my time and paused UNDEAD AND UNSURE a few times otherwise I'll go crazy.

UNDEAD AND UNSURE is less paranormal and more relationship centric: sibling, parental, and friendship. 3/4 into the story I was so sure that I will not like this installment at all because of all the insipid conversations between Betsy and the other characters. I was starting to feel the bite of Mary Janice Davidson's sarcasm and was slowly forming the opinion that it's grossly overused here. 

Well MJDavidson and the rest of the Undead cast sure has a way of embarrassing presumptive readers like me. This series didn't get the "genius ditz" tag for nothing! The reset that the series got from the previous two books or so is paying off because, OMG, the twist! So I'll just leave you with this cryptic quote from Eric Sinclair:

May He shelter you from your most dread desire. may He save you from what you will bring to pass. You shall have what you want, and it shall be the end of you."


P.S. Jessica is finally done gestating!!

Undead And Unwary | Undead 13 | | Paranormal-Humorous
October 7, 2014 | Berkley | Hardcover from the Publisher
And the dramedy continues at the Taylor-Sinclair abode! Between recreating Hell and keeping up with the happenings in her mansion, Betsy is a little frazzled around the edges. Armed to the teeth with her trademark snarkasm and easy going attitude, our ditzy blonde seems to be coping well with her recreated timeline, sans Louboutins... whose absence she's still mourning. Yeah, Betsy's meddling with time accidentally voided the existence of one Christian Louboutin. Tsk tsk tsk!

I love how UNDEAD AND UNWARY's focal points are still about family and friendship as Betsy slowly sort and settle the changes in this timeline. Although as a side note, I'm wondering if there's more to the Undead vampires than the little Betsy, Sinclair, and Tina trinity, I sure would like Betsy's reign as Queen to be explored more. 

Anyway, if you cut the comedic reliefs and funny comebacks, Betsy is in a very  interesting position right now. The people who she thought has her back betrayed her and the one person she hated most in the world seems to sincerely care for her. What I'm excited about is this: the Undead series never really had a villain, it had strong antagonists, yes, but no formidable enemy to challenge Betsy. Sure Satan was in the frames previously but she was more of an instigator than the Devil if you know what I mean. That said, I think Undead will have it's own villain soon and this potential nemesis is going to be an interesting character in that said person is deluded and perceives itself as "good". 

Another exciting addition are Jessica's twins! I'm not sure if they will play a bigger role in the coming books but they. Are. Adorable! It's a long story but the short of it is the twins are some sort of supernatural beings in that they can jump through time. Undead is familiar with time traveling so it won't come as a surprise if MJDavidson uses this device again in the future. 

So UNDEAD AND UNWARY is a fun volume and Betsy's take on Hell is a bit tongue-in-cheek. Mall of America as the Underworld? I'd like to see! Now I had my doubts about the staying power of this series, the arc of the middle books being my least favorite, but the reboot two books previous was a great move. The Undead I fell in love with is back and it's stronger IMO. I'm looking forward to more substantial plots in the coming books now that Betsy's personal life is sort of set, I'd like to see more of Queen Betsy vs Normal Betsy. 

That's how you know the people who love you, I think. When they know helping you is a terrible idea, and they want to do it anyway.


  1. Looks like this series is getting better as it goes! Another series I really need to make time for.

    1. It's making a come back that's for sure. For a while there I was afraid that it was going downhill then she did a reboot and it's going upward again.

  2. Sounds like a really snarky and fun series Braine! It's like a combination between chicklit and paranormal which sounds like a lot of fun. Lovely review!

    1. I love chick-lit, some say the genre is already dead but I think it's very alive and still kicking! It's just more romance-y now but it's still chick lit.

  3. I maybe need to give these a go again. I left off a handful back when one of the books just made me grrrr and guess I never got over that. lol I hold a grudge it seems. ::snort::

  4. Replies
    1. Happy for her! I hate for this series to go downhill, if anything I hope she ends this with a bang!

  5. I laughed about the Betsy and her shoe fetish. I hated one of Kristen Ashley's heroines b/c she was ditsy and went on and on about shoes and outfits while someone was trying to killer didn't even rate with her. Not sure if I could push through that to read the rest of the series, but maybe later.

    1. Yeah Betsy is a character you can't take a big dose of that's for sure

  6. I am glad to see it improved ..all that talk about shoes would have made me shoot myself, but I love the covers, titles and the final book sounds aweome

    1. Oh gosh I almost did shoot myself! But there's a method to her madness and the end justifies the ditzy means...

  7. *sighs* yet another great-looking series I haven't started yet, Braine. Your reviews make them sound really good - I love when there is a good dose of humor to go with everything else :)
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

    1. We need to laugh once in a while... I try to as often as I can :D


