Review: UNDEAD AND UNAPPRECIATED

Undead And Unappreciated by Mary Janice Davidson
Read by Nancy Wu
Book 3 of Undead series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: audiobook

About Undead And Unappreciated:

Fans can't get enough of author MaryJanice Davidson and her topsy-turvy world of the undead with its newly-crowned queen, Betsy Taylor. Now, Betsy continues her reluctant reign while being bedeviled by family secrets...

Most women would love to live as royalty, but Betsy has found that being vampire queen has more problems than perks, except for always being awake for Midnight Madness sales. It may be easy to find blood (yuck) in the dark of night, but try finding a strawberry smoothie. And employees at her nightclub Scratch have been giving her nothing but grief since she killed their former boss. Some people...

But Betsy's "life" takes an interesting turn at a shower for her wicked stepmother, who lets it slip that Betsy has a long-lost half sister. Now twenty years old, this woman just so happens to be the devil's daughter - and destined to rule the world...

Source: Info in the About Undead And Unappreciated was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/583924.Undead_and_Unappreciated on 18/10/12.

Review:

I was quite disappointed with the last book, so I sulked and stopped reading this series for a while. But seeing that I have the books in my smartphone, I eventually listened to Undead And Unappreciated. And then about chapter 11 or 12 I got royally annoyed by Betsy's stupidity, well, not only stupidity but more like stupid arrogance, and stopped listening to this book for several months. And that's how this book went, stop-start, stop-start. If I was reading this book as a paperback instead of listening to it in audiobook format, I would say that this book's pace is very slow indeed! However I do like the premise of a modern-day, totally american outlook queen of royal subjects stuck in medieval mindset. It makes for a volatile mix and a premise to all sorts of delicious scenarios.

At the end of it, this book wasn't that great but like I said, I like the premise. So we'll wait and see if that premise alone would be enough to make me buy/read/listen to another book in this series down the line after I forgot the stupidity and slow pace.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 2
Character development = 1
Story itself = 2
Ending = 3
World building = 3
Cover art = 2
Pace = (6 hrs and 6 mins)
Plot = 1
Narrator = 3

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries

Review: UNDEAD AND UNEMPLOYED

Undead And Unemployed by Mary Janice Davidson
Read by Nancy Wu
Book 2 of Undead series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: audiobook

About Undead And Unemployed:

Nothing can make Betsy Taylor give up her shoe fetish - even dying and rising as the new Queen of the Vampires. Being royally undead isn't all it's cracked up to be - there are still bills to be paid. And Betsy is determined to live as normally as possible, even if it means getting a job. A "feet" she accomplishes with panache, landing her dream job selling designer shoes at Macy's.

Things couldn't be better - except for her new friends, who keep pestering her while she's on the clock. As if she has time to socialize when there are deliciously sinful shoes to try on - and buy at a discount. It seems that vampires are being murdered in St. Paul, and they're all clamoring for Betsy to do something about it. The worse part is she's going to have to enlist the help of the one vamp who makes her blood boil: the oh-so-sexy Sinclair. Now, she's really treading on dangerous ground - high heels and all...

Source: Info in the About Undead And Unemployed was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/153193.Undead_and_Unemployed on 02/10/12.

Review:

It took me a bit of time to get into this book despite the fact that I already knew from Book 1 that Mary Janice Davidson has a great author's voice. So I stopped listening to this audiobook and after a month or two when I've forgotten how boring this book was, I picked it up again. I actually had to reload it again because my Samsung Galaxy Note crashed and it's memory got erased about a month ago. Anyway, I found my place where I left pretty easily and continued listening to this audiobook. So pace-wise? I imagine the print copy would not be a very quick read. One thing stands out for this book which would have made me swear that I would never buy another book in this series ever again if I don't have them already in my TBR (to be read) pile. Unfortunately I do, so, I might listen/read further into this series at some point... And that thing is... Betsy's TSTL (too stupid to live)... heck, even she admits it!! And I find it annoying. She wasn't TSTL in Book 1, I don't know what happened to Mary Janice Davidson to go the TSTL route. Anyway, that is the reason why the rating for this book sort of snowdived.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 2
Character development = 1
Story itself = 2
Ending = 4
World building = 3
Cover art = 2
Pace = (7 hrs and 26 mins)
Plot = 1
Narrator = 3

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5 cherries

Review: UNDEAD AND UNWED

Undead And Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson
Read by Nancy Wu
Book 1 of Undead series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: audiobook

About Undead And Unwed:

It'a been a helluva week for Betsy Taylor. First, she loses her job. Then, to top things off, she's killed in a car accident. But what really bites (besides waking up in the morgue dressed in a pink suit and cheap shoes courtesy of her stepmother) is that she can't seem to stay dead. Every night she rises with a horrible craving for blood. She's not taking too well to a liquid diet. Worst of all, her new friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen, and they want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious, power-hungry vampire in five centuries - a badly dressed Bela Lugosi wannabe, natch. Frankly, Betsy couldn't care less about vamp politics, but they have a powerful weapon of persuasion: designer shoes. How can any self-respecting girl say now? But a collection of Ferragamos isn't the only temptation for Betsy. It's just a lot safer than the scrumptious Sinclair - a seductive bloodsucker whose sexy gaze seems as dangerous as a stake through the heart...

Source: Info in the About Undead And Unwed was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/421129.Undead_and_Unwed on 01/10/12.

Narrative Evaluation:

The story telling quality is quite compelling! I find myself looking forward to the end of my shift and lunch breaks just so I could sneak a few minutes to listen to this audiobook! And of course, books 2 and 3 are already ordered. Both paperback and audiobook formats. The cover art is not very enticing but I so like this author's voice so I am going to continue reading/listening to this series anyway.

I also like that Betsy was suicidal at the start then it made sense that she would just let the bad guys kidnap her and do bad guys stuff to her without much of a fight at the start because she was suicidal. Now, if she was kick-ass ninja right off at the start and then let the bad guys do bad stuff without a fight, it would look like that Betsy is too stupid to live (TSTL). As it is, it made sense that she acted like she did. I think this is one of the things which made this author's story telling abilities quite compelling to listen to because the story lines makes sense.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4
Ending = 3.5
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 2.5
Pace = (9 hrs listening time)
Plot = 4
Narrator = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 cherries