Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson

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 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 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…

Undead and Unwed (Queen Betsy, book one) by MaryJanice Davidson

Start date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014

End date: Friday, July 11, 2014

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

            When the novel begins, Elizabeth "Betsy" Taylor is already (un)dead. The day before her death unfolds in that she is late for work, fixes the copy machine for her incompetent coworkers, and chases after her cat who is stuck in snow on the other side of the road. A truck hits her while she crosses the street and her body slams into a tree, killing her. She wakes up in a funeral parlor dressed in a tacky, pink power suit and her stepmother's last year, knock-off designer shoes. It's her mission to recover her designer shoes from her stepmother, which she does within the first forty pages, and then the rest of the novel is focused on other vampires mixing her up in their politics. 

2014 Paranormal Reading Challenge Book List

I've requested these books or put them on my wish list over at PaperBackSwap. They're sorted into the categories as prescribed by the reading challenge but they're in no particular order beyond that. I'll be reading the books in the order they arrive in. If you have any questions or suggestions of other books I should check out, feel free to leave a comment.

Can't Wait For Those New Releases – Read books released in 2014

1. Ghouls Rush In (Peyton Clark, book one) by H.P. Mallory
2. Darkest Flame (Dark Kings, book one) by Donna Grant
3. Night Owls (Night Owls, book one) by Lauren M. Roy
4. Free Agent (Grimm Agency, book one) by J. C. Nelson
5. Written in Red (The Others, book one) by Anne Bishop

Flesh & Blood – Read books that feature either zombies or vampires

1. Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, book one) by Richelle Mead 
2. Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (Jane Jameson, book one) by Molly Harper 
3. Dead End Dating (Dead End Dating, book one) by Kimberly Raye 
4. Undead and Unwed (Queen Betsey, book one) by MaryJanice Davidson 
5. Real Vampires Have Curves (Glory St. Clair, book one) by Gerry Bartlett

Third Time's the Charm – Read books that are part of a trilogy, are the third book in a series, or have the number three in the title

1. A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, book one) by Libba Bray 
2. A Discovery of Witches (All Souls, book one) by Deborah Harkness 
3. Switched (Trylle Trilogy, book one) by Amanda Hocking 
4. Poison Study (Study, book one) by Maria V. Snyder 
5. City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, book one) by Cassandra Clare

That Old Black Magic – Read books that have a main character who uses magic in some form (i.e. witches, warlocks, etc.)

1. Sex and the Psychic Witch (Triplet Witch Trilogy, book one) by Annette Blair 
2. 50 Ways to Hex Your Lover (Witches Academy, book one) by Linda Wisdom 
3. Dead Girls Are Easy (Nicki Styx, book one) by Terri Garey 
4. Secondhand Spirits (A Witchcraft Mystery, book one) by Juliet Blackwell 
5. Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom, book one) by Devon Monk

Once Upon a Time – Read books that have fae, elves, goblins or fairies as characters or are a fairy tale retelling or other novel reimagining with paranormal elements (i.e. Cinder, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, Fables graphic novels, etc.)

1. While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell 
2. Entwined by Heather Dixon 
3. Strands of Bronze and Gold (Strands of Bronze and Gold, book one) by Jane Nickerson 
4. The Woodcutter by Kate Danley 
5. Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty, book one) by Rosamund Hodge

Interspecies Love – Read books that have a couple who are of different species (human and vampire, shifter and vampire, etc.)

1. Wicked Game (WVMP Radio, book one) by Jeri Smith-Ready 
2. Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, book one) by Patricia Briggs 
3. Touch the Dark (Cassandra Palmer, book one) by Karen Chance 
4. Pleasure Unbound (Demonica, book one) by Larissa Ione 
5. My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers, book one) by Rachel Vincent

Days of Yesteryear – Read books that were either published or take place before 2004. Steampunk, paranormal alternative history or historical are okay

1. Soulless (Alexia Tarabotti, book one) by Gail Carriger 
2. Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, book one) by Laurell K. Hamilton 
3. Harm None (Rowan Gant Investigation, book one) by M. R. Sellars 
4. Moonshine (Zephyr Hollis, book one) by Alaya Johnson 
5. A Breath of Frost (Lovegrove Legacy, book one) by Alyxandra Harvey

Beefcake – Read books that have a male author, a male lead character or Fabio-esque six-pack god gracing the cover

1. A Quick Bite (Argeneau Vampires, book one) by Lynsay Sands 
2. Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna Dressed in Blood, book one) by Kendare Blake 
3. Storm Front (The Dresden Files, book one) by Jim Butcher 
4. Blackbirds (Miriam Black, book one) by Chuck Wendig 
5. Hotter After Midnight (The Midnight Trilogy, book one) by Cynthia Eden

The Kids are All Right – Read books that are of the young adult genre or have predominant characters who are children/teens

1. Fallen (Fallen, book one) by Lauren Kate 
2. Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, book one) by Becca Fitzpatrick 
3. Marked (House of Night, book one) by P. C. Cast 
4. White is for Magic (Blue is for Nightmares, book two) by Laurie Faria Stolarz 
5. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Monster Mash – Read books that have a monster in the title (vampire, zombie, werewolf, etc.)

1. Succubus in the City (Lilith “Lily” Ad-Hzar, book one) by Nina Harper 
2. Forever Fae (Forever Fae, book one) by L. P. Dover 
3. What’s a Ghoul to Do? (Ghost Hunter, book one) by Victoria Laurie 
4. Nightwalker (Dark Days, book one) by Jocelynn Drake 
5. Demons Not Included (Night Tracker, book one) by Cheyenne McCray

Hungry Like the Wolf – Read books that have a main character who is a werewolf

1. A Werewolf in Manhattan (Wild About You, book one) by Vicki Lewis Thompson 
2. Full Blooded (Jessica McClain, book one) by Amanda Carlson 
3. Wolf Six’s Salvation by Krista Lakes 
4. Blood Law (Blood Moon Trilogy, book one) by Karin Tabke 
5. Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville, book one) by Carrie Vaughn

Not in Kansas Anymore – Read books that take place in real cities that are now different (i.e. Chicagoland Vampire series, St. Louis from the Anita Blake books, etc.)

1. Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires, book one) by Chloe Neill 
2. Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows, book one) by Kim Harrison 
3. Hell’s Belles (Hell on Earth, book one) by Jackie Kessler 
4. High Stakes (Vegas Vampires, book one) by Erin McCarthy 
5. Discount Armageddon (InCryptid, book one) by Seanan McGuire

You're the One Who I Haunt – Read books that have ghosts, haunted buildings, or psychics/mediums in them. Non-fiction is okay

1. Truly, Madly (Lucy Valentine, book one) by Heather Webber 
2. Texas Gothic (Texas Gothic, book one) by Rosemary Clement-Moore 
3. The Restorer (Graveyard Queen, book one) by Amanda Stevens 
4. Witch Way to Murder (Ophelia and Abby, book one) by Shirley Damsgaard 
5. First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, book one) by Darynda Jones

You’re Number One – Read books that are the first in a series or that contain the number one in the title

1. One With the Night by Susan Squires 
2. One Bite With a Stranger (The Others, book one) by Christine Warren 
3. Date Me, Baby, One More Time (Immortally Sexy, book one) by Stephanie Rowe 
4. Easy Bake Coven (Easy Bake Coven, book one) by Liz Schulte 
5. How to Lose a Demon in 10 Days (How to…in 10 Days, book one) by Saranna DeWylde 

Pleased to Meet You, Hope You Guessed My Name – Read books by authors you haven't read before or who share your name (first, middle or last)

1. Sleeping with the Fishes (Fred the Mermaid, book one) by Mary Janice Davidson 
2. A Girl’s Guide to Vampires (Dark Ones, book one) by Katie MacAlister 
3. Alpha Instinct (Moon Shifter, book one) by Katie Reus 
4. The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz 
5. Stray (Shifters, book one) by Rachel Vincent

Paranormal Law & Order – Read books where the main character is in some form of law enforcement or crime detection (cops, CSIs, detectives, private investigators, etc.)

1. Night Life (Nocturne City, book one) by Caitlin Kittredge 
2. Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, book one) by C. E. Murphy 
3. Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mysteries, book one) by Charlaine Harris 
4. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye (Psychic Eye Mysteries, book one) by Victoria Laurie 
5. Dead is the New Black (Dead is, book one) by Marlene Perez 

It's Time to Put the Rubber to the Pavement

Here's the deal, beautiful internet people. Last month, I ran across a reading challenge on Paperbackswap tailored to people who prefer to read books in the paranormal genre. (You can find it here.) I only just recently made an account on PaperBackSwap and if you don't know what that website is, let me enlighten you briefly. You post books you have that you don't want anymore and other people post books they don't want anymore. You request books you want to read and other people request books they want to read. Somewhere in between, other people get your books and you get other people's books. You pay the postage (average of $2.69 at USPS) for the books you send out and other people pay the postage for your books. It's as simple as that.

Back to the reading challenge. The challenge officially began January 1, 2014 and ends December 31, 2014 (I assume). I realize that we're more than halfway through the year but I decided I would don the challenge anyway. There are seventeen categories (plus three bonus categories) that the paranormal books are sorted into this year from That Old Black Magic to Flesh and Blood. The goal is to read one to five books in each category by the deadline. You can receive a bronze, silver, gold, diamond or platinum status per category depending on how many books you read—bronze is one book and platinum is five books. If you read fifteen out of the total twenty categories, you become a champion. The awards are fictitious but the books are not.

I decided I’ll be attempting to read five books in all seventeen categories. I’ve started this blog to document my progress and provide reviews for the books that I read. Feel free to join me if you're so inclined. I'd love to hear about your progress!

So stick around, party folks, and enjoy the ride.