Undead and Unappreciated (Undead #3) by MaryJanice Davidson

Undead and Unappreciated - MaryJanice Davidson

Betsy has not taken well to learning that not only is she a vampire but the queen of the vampires. Sure, her mother and her best friend adjusted to the change amazingly but even with that support, Betsy cannot seem to stay out of trouble.  When Betsy learns that she has a half sister, she is drawn to investigate. Just like everything else in Betsy's life, nothing runs smoothly.  In between dealing with a strike at her vampire club Scratch, and dealing with a hurt Eric, Betsy now has to keep a close eye on her sister because she is the child of the devil and destined to the rule the world.

I know from the introduction, it seemed that a lot happened in this book but that is certainly not the case.  Only in the most generous description can Undead and Unappreciated be called a filler and I say that because the entire series is absolute mindless fluff.  It begins with Betsy going to AA and pretending to be an alcoholic in order to deal with her need to drink blood. Look, I know that for a lot of people vampirism is a metaphor for addiction but to be clear, it's a horrible analogy. So, Davidson has Betsy do this horrible thing and it goes absolutely nowhere.  It's nothing but a launching pad for Mark to tell Betsy that he is a recovering addict and for her to temporarily beat herself up for not knowing such an essential detail about a man she calls a friend before going back to obsessing about shoes and Eric's control issues.

Betsy goes all evil vampire Queen when she finally gets around to reading the Vampire bible.  It only took her two books to get around it and naturally she decides to barricade herself in a room with it, ignoring the advice to read it sparingly because it causes mental illness. Also, can I get a side eye on the whole woo woo causing mental illness? In Betsy's supposedly mentally ill state, she attacks Jessica, calls Marc a leech, has sex with Eric and tries to kill Tina. When Betsy gets back to herself she has a mess to clean up.  Though Jessica isolates herself for a few days, she is quick to forgive Betsy and Tina and Marc follow suit.  Betsy is briefly able to go outside during the day but beyond that, nothing much happens.

Then there's Betsy's kid sister Laura.  Betsy's father lets slip that Ant has been pregnant before and gave the child up for adoption.  When Besty learns that Laura's mother is actually the devil and that Laura is destined to rule the world, Betsy is in with both feet temporarily and I say temporarily because Betsy gets over the whole hell spawn thing pretty quickly and starts to angst over her fear that Eric is into her kid sister.  Betsy has amazing priorities doesn't she?  Even when she meets the devil, she considers selling her soul for a pair of shoes.  The Devil/Laura storyline goes absolutely nowhere.  When I said that nothing happens in this book, I absolutely mean it.


Undead and Unappreciated wouldn't be a MaryJanice Davidson book without loads of problematic language.  Betsy is still obsessed with Gone With The Wind and each time it's mentioned my skin absolutely crawls.  Marc is Betsy's gay BFF, who at this point is single with no chance of a relationship and seems to have nothing to do with his spare time other than to be in Betsy's corner.  We did learn that Marc is a recovering alcoholic in this book and Betsy did actually notice that she has not taken the time to learn anything substantial about Marc. Yes, that's progress for Betsy but it does nothing to make Marc less of a servant.  Then there's Jessica, Betsy's Black BFF.  Yes this woman has a collection of marginalized servants.  Jessica seems to exist to serve Betsy and beyond being there to advise Betsy on her love life and pay the bills, Jessica has no real purpose in the story.  For much of this series this far, Jessica's race serves as comic relief.  Yep, Blackness as comic relief, feel free to roll your eyes.

 

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Source: http://www.fangsforthefantasy.com/2015/08/undead-and-unappreciated-undead-3-by.html