Betsy Taylor is having a difficult end to her first year as
Queen of the Vampires. Her friends are planning a surprise
birthday party after she orders no party (or are they?);
the Ant drops BabyJon off at the mansion with disturbing
regularity; Jessica is a tad crankier than usual;
a "fictional" biography titled Undead and Unwed,
chronicling Betsy's death and rebirth as a vampire, is set
to be published by Berkley, author unknown; Cathie, the
resident ghost, pops in and out telling tales of a zombie
in the attic; veterinarian Sophie drops by seeking
permission to turn her sheep...lover...into a vampire so
they can spend all eternity together; she's given up
sucking blood for her birthday and Sinclair shows very
little interest in their wedding plans (for which they've
again set a date in July). As if all this isn't enough, a
European delegation of vampires shows up to check her out.
It's understandable that Betsy is less than welcoming when
the foreign vampire delegation turns up on her doorstep,
and as usual, things go from bad to worse when Sophie
attacks one of the vampires. It turns out the vamp, Alonzo,
sired Sophie so long ago he doesn't remember the incident.
Betsy saves Alonzo from Sophie, perhaps avoiding an
international incident, but now must come up with some sort
of penance Alonzo can offer to Sophie. As is typical of
most of the men in Betsy's world (mortal and immortal),
Alonzo is enchanted by Betsy, contrite (as much as a vamp
can be) about murdering Sophie, and willing to make
retribution, making Betsy's decision all the more
challenging. All of this pales in importance, however, when
a potentially deadly evil threatens one that Betsy loves.
UNDEAD AND UNPOPULAR is the latest in the chronicle of
Betsy Taylor, Vampire Queen, and Davidson delivers a
winner! Betsy is as kick-ass, self-centered, hilarious and
compassionate as ever; Sinclair is sexily, broodingly
tolerant; Marc and Jessica are outstanding best friends;
and the supporting characters are as menacing, wacky and
lovable as we've come to expect. Readers are going to love
checking in on this undead (mostly) family of misfits and
will be anxiously awaiting their next story. Enjoy!
I tapped my pencil on the pad, trying to come up with a
plan to tell my fiancé, Eric Sinclair, that I had decided
to completely give up the blood-drinking thing. I figured
being the vampire queen had a few advantages — as it was,
every vampire I’d ever known had to drink every day, even
Eric. But I could go up to a week without so much as a
drop of O-neg. So, in honor of my birthday, and being in
this job for a year, I figured I’d give it up completely.
I would be in a blood-free zone!
Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor already has plenty on her
plate. For one thing, next week is her birthday — the big 3-
1 in human years, and one in undead years. (Yes, she bit
the dust on her birthday last year.) On top of that, she
still has wedding plans to finalize — and it’s not helping
that the prospective groom is avoiding anything to do with
it. And then there’s her decision to stop drinking blood —
something she has yet to share with Eric Sinclair, her
fiancé — who also happens to be the vampire king…
So the last thing she wants to deal with is uninvited
guests, even if they happen to be the powerful European
vampires who have finally come to pay their respects the
week before her birthday. Some of them don’t want Betsy as
their queen and will do anything to get rid of her. As if
turning 30 last year (not to mention dying) hadn’t
been traumatic enough. And trying to give up blood is
making her really cranky…But who has time to sulk? Well,
Betsy does...