"Terrific tale that cleverly lampoons everything and anything in its path"

In Minnesota, Elizabeth "Betsy" Taylor has had a week that only the damned would understand. First she arrives at her clerical job at Hamton & Sons to be handed a pink slip on her birthday. When she returns to her home she finds Giselle her cat missing. With an April snow making the roads treacherous, Betsy notices Giselle in the street. She goes to rescue that darn cat, but a driver sees Betsy too late and kills her.

Betsy awakens in a coffin dressed in an ugly pink suit and her wicked stepmother's throw away shoes. Apparently when she was assaulted a few months ago, she became bitten and converted to a vampiress. The minions of her undead world believe Betsy is the Queen. While all she wants is to remain dead in nice garb, shoes, and hairdo, the vampiric crowd covets sex with her to solidify their power. Only the tall, dark, and handsome Eric Sinclair offers to mentor her on things she needs to know about vampirism, but was afraid to ask.

Readers who enjoy something different will not want to leave the hilarious satirical UNDEAD AND UNWED unread. The story line spoofs the chick lit, fairy tale, and supernatural romance sub-genres leaving no icon unbitten. Betsy holds the tale together as she wants nothing to do with her new life (death), but has no choice with an addiction to ruby colored liquids and scoring a lot more as a dead person than she did when she was alive. This is a terrific tale that cleverly lampoons everything and anything in its path.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted February 24, 2004

Originally published in ebook format by Ellora's Cave in 2002, UNDEAD AND UNWED has been revised and expanded for Berkley Publishing Group.

Summary

From Just Laid-Off Secretary to Queen of the Undead...

It's 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 prophesized 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 no? 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...