Betsy Taylor, Vampire Queen, 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) 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...
Umm....what should I say? It's funny, but only if you read and liked the previous books. Nothing really happens, even the zombie scene is highly anticlimatic. Honestly, the series is really getting old. Nothing's happening. Frankly, it's time for the series to get a bit more serious, or it's going to die a very painful death. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's already done that for many people. I'm not sorry I read it, but only because it took a short time to read and I got it from the library. otherwise....I'd be pissed to have spent money on something this disappointing. It seems that MJD always brings up something that seems important, but then drops it. Everything just gets dragged on and on and on, or, on the other hand, forgotten.
I do enjoy the humor here, but that's about it. As far as satisfaction goes, this doesn't give it.
Blech. Save your money.
On the other hand, her upcoming book Sleeping With the Fishes has the cutest cover.
12 comments:
I've been meaning to blog about this but I dont think I can read MJD anymore. Not because of her online antics, but because each and every one of her heroines sound alike to me, and all have the same characteristics. As do her heroes. It's like reading about the same two characters fall in love over and over again, with only a change in the setting
Yeah, pretty much.
Honestly, I don't care about her antics, but her books are starting to sound all the same. But the last few I've gotten from the library or PBS, so I haven't actually spent any money on her stuff.
I really liked the first two undead books...the third was just okay but I realized after the third that it's pretty much all the same. Same plots...no character development, etc. After that I basically lost interest. I haven't read another of her books since.
Dangit!! I must fess up to the fact that I did drop coin on this book. I'm telling you, I need therapy! I didn't blog about it because I didn't have a clue what to say. I don't think I laughed out loud once although like you I do like the humour.
WTF with the zombie!!
I really need my favorite authors to start publishing faster so I don't pick up MJD's books because of a drought. That's my excuse!!
CindyS
I was shocked at how small this book was. I think the font size was 14 and the white space 2 inches and the book still barely eeked over the 200 page mark.
Add me to the list of MJD readers via library. I started out as a buyer -- in fact, I may still have the original Undead and Unwed ebook on disc somewhere. But I'm finished buying her books for all of the reasons you and the other posters have mentioned. Which is a shame, because the idea of Betsy and the set up were good, and it feels a like they've been squandered.
Well I read Derik's Bane and that was the first and last MJD full length novel I will ever slog through. I lost brain cells on that one.
I've noticed with her writing that I like her characters for about 70 pages. After that the fact that they're shallow and have absolutely no depth begin to gnaw on my last nerve. So I read her anthology stuff - but only when she's paired with authors that I already enjoy or want to try out :-)
Uh oh.
{I bought this from Amazon; it's on the way.}
Last year I bought the 3 and 4 U&U in HC and bought Really Unusual Bad Boys in trade, then swore to myself never again to get suckered. But I broke down and bought that werewolf one (granted, 30% off at BJ's), but this time I'm serious--no more $$ on MJD for me. This new one sounds like more of the same. A shame, I thought the first two books had real promise. I get the feeling that they're really trying to stretch the story arc. Maybe it should have been a trilogy. Ah well, gotta love the library.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who feels this way.
I think she should speed up the action. Get Sinclair on board, and DO something, accomplish something, give us something to sink OUR teeth into, not just our $$$.
I've been using my library for the last four of hers. In that way, I'm satisfied.
I think she's just pumping them out to keep the masses happy. If she'd just stop and take her time to write the way she did the first one, she might recoup her fan base.
It may not be her putting pressure on her but her publisher ... deadlines, demands and all.
If the product is good, it's worth waiting for.
I mean, I've been waiting for Dance Macabre from LKH for awhile now ... and I believe the wait is worth it - that the product will deliver.
I would LOVE to have that happen for MJD. Someone just needs to let her know.
What I found scary was that MJD mentioned on her blog that her editor told her to add certain scenes because her readers would enjoy them. MJD even said she knew (the book she was writing at the time) was too short and that she was grateful to her editor for pointing out ways to flesh it out.
It just makes me think she is incapable of writing a normal size story. I think she became hot in the e-book market where there were not huge word counts and now that she is in paper, she hasn't been able to adjust.
Just my opinion.
CindyS
Good point, Cindy!
Good opinion too.
Maybe she should go back to writing shorts. Nothing wrong with that, it's all in how your market it.She could hook up with like veined authors and do a series of anthologies that work together - world building, while writing within her strong range.
Didn't Nora Roberts do something akin to that?
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