Review: Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson

The worst thing in the world is to have a bad day. Imagine being laid off from your job and getting killed in a car accident, all on the same day. Now, imagine the horror of waking up not soon after that, realizing that although you died, you might not be dead all the way. This is what happens to former model Betsy Taylor, the heroine of MaryJanice Davidson's Undead and Unwed.

Ms. Dickinson has crafted one of the funniest books I have ever read. It is quite obviously a chick-lit novel, with enough designer names and stock characters to make Helen Fielding blush. But Undead and Unwed is also a paranormal romance, as well as a hilarious spoof on the popular vampire novels de jour.

Betsy Taylor is a great heroine, and she is the one who carries the novel from start to finish. She provides us with nothing but side-splitting dialogues and thoughts. As soon as she comes back from the dead, she starts thinking of hilarious ways to die again. Her biggest fetish in the world is shoes, and she is horrified when she finds out that her stepmother had stolen all her Manolos. And finally, she can't help but lisp every time her fangs come out.

The supporting characters are well-written as well, although rather marginalized. Betsy has the hots for Eric Sinclair, another vampire, although he doesn't quite live up to her moral standards. Her best friend is a millionaire named Jessica, who along with their new gay friend Marc, decides she should become Betsy's sidekick in fighting crime.

All in all, Undead and Unwed serves enough laughs to make your stomach hurt, but is also a very quick and depthless read. Also, it features a couple of sex scenes that border on pornographic, which I thought were either hilarious or clumsily executed.
Rating: 4/5