Novel Review: Undead and Unpopular (Undead, #5) by MaryJanice Davidson

Genre: Adult Paranormal/Supernatural Romance

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley Sensation)

Spoilers?: Very Minor.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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 thirty last year (not to mention dying) hasn't been traumatic enough. And trying to give up blood is making her really cranky... But who has time to sulk? Well, Betsy does...

Available on Amazon.

Review:

I don’t seem to have too much to say whenever I read a volume of this series. It’s usually just pretty good, not amazing, not bad. I go through the volume rather quickly and then want to read the next one right away.

There was a lot of the same stuff in this book, much like all the others. I like Davidson’s writing, I like the characters, and I usually like the humor, but sometimes it’s a little too much. I wouldn’t mind some serious time, and sometimes the jokes seem to be trying too hard and fall flat. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t, and it’s nice when that happens.

In this book, some new vampires come to town to greet their queen, and some of them cause some trouble. We see Liam and Sophie again, who I very much like (who were in a previous book, as well as having their own story in an anthology). There’s some serious drama between the group, with a somewhat surprise conclusion that I liked. There was a scene where I thought Betsy might do something to take charge, to prove that she’s the queen, she’s in charge, and if they do something wrong she’s going to do something about it, but she didn’t get to. That makes me wonder if she’s going to do something in the future or not, because I really hope she does.

There was also a zombie in this book, which was a surprise and made me feel a bit bad for Betsy because of how rattled she was from it. I’m not quite sure what’s to come of it, but I’m looking forward to it.

There was also some drama for Jessica that was sad. Betsy's birthday happened, and that was nice, although didn't get much attention. There was some blood drinking issues between Betsy and Sinclair that were interesting and I liked the conclusion of, as well as Sinclair's continuous avoidance of wedding plans, which I hope changes in the next book, and I hope there's more attention for them in the next one as well.

I'm still enjoying this series, and hope to start the next book as soon as I get it.

Novel Review: Dead and Loving It by MaryJanice Davidson

Genre: Adult Supernatural/Paranormal Romance - Short Stories Collection

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley Sensation)

Spoilers?: No, just general plot.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 The Barnes & Noble Review
The queen of comic, erotic, other-species romance brings her best setups and hottest sex scenes to this four-novella party. Three of them feature the baaad Wyndham werewolves, who find unanticipated love with often reluctant earthlings.

In "Santa Claus," Alec Kilcurt, the most powerful werewolf in Europe, falls for Santa-clad Giselle Smith and wins her over with lots of oral sex and a heavy Scottish accent. In "Monster Love," bad-tempered Janet Lupo is kidnapped by a sexy werewolf. Then there's the story of Doctor Drake Dragon and his unusual encounter with Crescent. Finally, following the events of Undead and Unreturnable, a psychic werewolf, Antonia Wolfton, receives a vision to show up at Queen Betsy's Minneapolis home to help and falls hard for George, the fiend in the basement. It's all pure Davidson fun. Ginger Curwen

Available on Amazon.

Review:

I don’t really have a lot to say about this, so this is probably going to be a small review, but I did want to talk about this book.

Dead and Loving It is a collection of four short stories by MaryJanice Davidson, some from the Wyndham Werewolves series, and one of them from the Undead series. Now, I read the first three stories a while ago, and enjoyed all of them and read them rather quickly. My favorite was probably Santa Claws, a story in which a werewolf finds his mate in an insecure woman collecting donations during the holidays. However, all of the stories were very cute and funny.

The last one, though, is the one I wanted to talk about most. It’s the one from the Undead series, about George the Fiend. And, my biggest thing about this, is the fact that I didn’t pay attention to what it was about when I read the first three, only that it was based after Undead and Unreturnable, and so I had to read that book first, and then after reading it and reviewing it, and mentioning how I wanted more of George in that review, I picked this up and read it and found out that Davidson had wrote a whole short story for George. I was very surprised, but also very excited.

And the story, A Fiend in Need, was very cute, and funny, starring a werewolf who doesn’t turn into a werewolf but instead has visions, and I really enjoyed it. I liked Antonia, the girl who falls for George (whose name is actually not George), and I still really enjoy George’s character, and their romance was rather odd but adorable. Mostly, I was just pleasantly surprised with this little story.

Now, I’m very much looking forward to reading the next book in the Undead series, where I will hopefully get to see more of Antonia and George.

Novel Review: Undead and Unreturnable (Undead, #4) by MaryJanice Davidson

Genre: Adult Supernatural/Paranormal Romance

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley Sensation)

Spoilers?: Somewhat minor/Yes.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 MaryJanice Davidson gives vampire queen Betsy Taylor a Christmas to remember in this fourth funny outing in her bestselling Undead series. This time, Betsy's holiday cup runneth over. For starters, Betsy's mother has finally erected Betsy's tombstone in the local cemetery. A psycho nut job serial killer is targeting tall, thin blondes in the Twin Cities: women who look like Betsy. Her vampire mate, Eric Sinclair, is balking at wedding planning and at the modern notion of communication, while her hateful stepmother has just had a baby. Of course, it's time for the irrepressible Betsy to launch an advice column for vampires trying to cope and to team up with a freshly killed ghost to track down her murderer. But why does her sister, Laura, keep taking out that sword? As usual, Betsy floats triumphantly in a sea of chaos, helped and hindered by the usual madcap cast of vampires and humans. (Plus more on Goodreads.)

Available on Amazon.

Review:

I enjoy these books. I like them enough, they aren’t my favorite, but they are easy and fun to read. Generally when I finish one book, I want to immediately read the next one, which is nice, but I also don’t really have a lot to say about each book.

In this book, Betsy is having some troubles with Sinclair, pertaining to him finding out that she can read his mind during sex but he can’t read hers but the book says he should be able to. Betsy’s step-mother also gave birth so she now has a little brother, who seems to particularly like Betsy, which Betsy enjoys because (1) her step-mother doesn’t like it, (2) she gets to spend more time with him, and (3) she likes kids and this way gets to be around him, since she is now unable to have her own. There’s also a serial killer around the neighborhood killing women who look like Betsy, and Betsy ends up finding the guy when one of his now-dead victims comes to her for help.

I liked the Sinclair plot line, as I always do, because I love romance and smut is always fun. There wasn’t really that much time given to Betsy spending time with her half-brother, but I did like what I saw. And the last, serial killer plot line got barely any time, and seemed mostly like a ploy to introduce a new character, Cathie, who is a ghost and seems to be sticking around because Betsy’s life is much more interesting than hers was. Also, to bring Nick, the cop that liked Betsy, into Jes’ life.

Oh, also, there was some drama with Laura, Betsy’s sister who’s a spawn from the devil. I didn’t mind Laura before, but now I don’t like her so much. She went a little crazy at one point and attacked George the Fiend, the vampire that the old master made and starved, and so turned into a twisted creature but, with Betsy’s blood, is starting to turn normal again. I like George, and am looking forward to him turning more normal and talking more, and I just kind of like him for some reason, and so I do not forgive Laura for attacking him. I don’t even care as much that she attacked Betsy, but that does make it worse. I think her punishment was good, but I’m still not happy with her, and I do believe that she’s only going to turn more evil later in the series.

There was also a small plot line with Jon, a character from an earlier book who liked Betsy, who is staying with them and taking a college class and writing a story about Betsy, which unless something big happens with it later, I don’t really care about. Although, one thing bothered me with that: he’s taking a biography-type class, and brought it up to the teacher to write a biography-type story about a fictional character that he’s making up, to cover for Betsy. My problem with this is that, it isn’t a biography if it’s a fictional character. That’s a novel, a fictional book. Not non-fiction. If you wanted to pass something real off as fiction, then take a fiction writing class. That just annoyed me for some reason.

That’s pretty much all I have to say. I liked the book, and am looking forward to the next one.

Novel Review: Under Cover by MaryJanice Davidson

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Rating (Out of 5): 4+

Publisher: Kensington (Brava Books)

Spoilers?: No/Very Minor

Goodreads Synopsis:

 Sweet Strangers
Renee Jardin never meant to become the world's most sought-after thief. But the minute she walks out of her biotech firm accidentally carrying "The Cure" -- the most important scientific discovery of the century -- she's on the run from ruthless bioengineers, cops, and the U.S. government. Desperate to lose her trackers, Renee lays a full-body kiss on the first gorgeous guy she sees...a kiss that she gets back with a toe-curling vengeance. N.S.A. agent James Axelrod never thought apprehending his suspect would be so easy, and so sinfully arousing...or that he would consider taking her into custody in the privacy of his own bedroom...

Lovely Lies
Peter Random lost everything when he was outwitted by that goody-goody Renee Jardin. Late in his rent, his job gone, Peter vows he'll never let anyone get close enough to burn him again. So why can't he seem to tell Lori Jamieson and her troubles to hit the road? It isn't just her hot bod and full lips -- although those have a magic he can't deny. Something about the damsel in distress makes Peter want to wrap her in his strong arms and prove that a bad boy can be very, very good, especially when it's between the sheets...

Delightful Deception
At the biotech firm, they call her Thea "I.Q." Foster -- "I.Q." for either Intelligence Quotient or Ice Queen, depending. Slipping the Cure into Renee's tote bag was satisfying revenge, but now that the fun's over, Thea sets her sights on a new challenge: sarcastic, secretive Jimmy Scrye. Cracking open his hard shell would be a real game, but Jimmy's more than Thea's match. He's got a few ideas for turning the tables on the brainy scientist...sensual, erotic fantasy ideas that just might change those letters in her name to "Incredible," "Insatiable," and "Quivering with delight"...

Available on Amazon.

Review:

This book is made up of three intertwining short stories, and I kind of loved them. I even kind of wish Davidson’s other stories were a bit more like this. And, oddly enough, I kind of think that Davidson shines a bit more in short stories than in full length novels, which is odd.

The first story, Sweet Strangers, was very much like her normal routine, with a hard edged heroine that doesn’t want to say ‘I love you’ and the sweet guy who is open to admitting it. Still a very good story, the romance was great, the story line was pretty good, the sex was nice.

The second story, Lovely Lies, was, I think, my favorite of the three. It stars a big, tough, bad boy who is actually quite good, even if he has had troubles with the law. And he comes upon a woman on the run from ‘family’ trying to steal her inheritance. This time, he has a tiny bit of a hard time admitting he loves her, and she comes upon it slowly, but isn’t afraid when it happens. These two worked well together, and I really liked the romance between them (also, the sex).

The last one, Delightful Deception, starred two geniuses, and was probably my second favorite. I love smart characters, especially ones that went to college early, and even more so ones that are happy-go-lucky types. And in this story, the boy was all of that, and adorable and sweet, and I really liked him. The woman is a little bit cold, but not too bad, and I liked her enough.

My favorite part of this was the fact that they were all quite different from the others. Not only were they in different situations, but they were actually different characters, not just the same character in a couple different layers. I’ve talked about this before, how Davidson tends to write the same things over and over, and while I do love it, it can get a bit tiring, so this was simply a delight to read, and I devoured it in a little over a day.

This is definitely one of my favorite of Davidson’s books so far, and I look forward to reading her others, as always.

Novel Review: The Royal Treatment (Alaskan Royal Family, #1) by MaryJanice Davidson

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5
Publisher: Kansington Publishing Corp. (Brava Books)
Spoilers?: Minor.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In this delightful and dazzling erotic novel, MaryJanice Davidson creates an alternate contemporary world nearly identical to ours in which Russia never sold the Alaskan territory to the United States. Instead, Alaska has won its independence and established itself as a constitutional monarchy...and now, the King of Alaska badly needs a bride for his son and heir... The country of Alaska is as forbidding as it is beautiful. And the royal family is as rough-around-the-edges as they are coolly civilized. Other royal families may find them shocking, but after all, in this wilderness kingdom, being a crack shot and expert trapper is just as important as knowing your salad fork from your dessert fork. Unfortunately, when the rest of the royals find you mildly savage, marrying off your royal brood can be a royal pain. King Alexander II is desperate. Why, he'd settle for any girl. A commoner. An American, even Stranded tourist Christina Krabbe is American, and a commoner, but she has zero interest in enduring a royal wedding, producing royal heirs, and becoming Queen of Alaska...until she gets a good look at Prince David. He may be a bit unruly--actually, the words untamed and slightly dangerous come to mind--but Christina's no delicate flower herself. And when His Highness discovers Christina can give as good as she gets, he's Prince Charmed, if not quite charming. But can a wild man Prince and a modern American girl make a life together? And will the palace still be standing when the dust clears?

Available on Amazon.

Review:

This book was not amazing, but I still really enjoyed it.

This was the first in the series, and the last one that I read. It focused on Prince David and Christina, who incidentally get pushed together, and end up falling for each other anyway.

After seeing them in the other books, I knew I liked them, and was just interested in seeing how they met and how it all started. It kind of started with their father, and I enjoyed their story. They moved a bit slowly with falling for each other, which I liked since it usually happens much faster, and there was still that expected Davidson humor, which worked really well here.

One thing that seemed a bit odd to me, was that this book seemed to have more effort put into it than the others in the series, and you could very easily tell that this was originally going to be a stand-alone. There were some little tidbits put in that told of what happened to them later, including the excerpts written from Edmunds (I believe? Or was it supposed to be someone in his family, a son or grandson?) book. There wasn’t anything like that in the other books, which doesn’t make them tie in together all that well, but that’s all right. Also, there was a tiny action, suspense plot in the book, near the end, when there wasn’t really any of that in the other books.

I found the book rather interesting, and very entertaining. Also, as I said in the previous review, I like Edmund. He’s so very entertaining. I think I liked him best in the third book, but he’s fun in all of them. I would just like to see more of him.

I also got to know Nicholas better, and a tiny bit more of Alex the boy. I like all of the characters, really, and would like to get to know them all better. I want to know what happens with them.

This was a good book. I liked it about as much as I like Davidson’s other books, and look forward to reading her others.