2014 – Book #89

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fiction, Paranormal comedy, Reading Challenges, Spooky series reading challenge, Undead series (Betsy Taylor) by rebeccabook17

As part of my October spooky series reading challenge, the eighty-ninth book I read in 2014 was Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson. This is the second book in her Undead series about vampire queen Betsy Taylor. This is the series I will be focusing on this month for my Spooky Series reading challenge for the month of October. I finished this book on 10/5/14. I rated this book 4.5 stars out of a scale of 5. This book picks up three months after where the first book left off. Betsy is still mad at Sinclair for his trickery and refusing to speak to him. She also decides that she can’t mooch off her friend Jessica forever and it is high past time she got herself a job.

Through some dumb luck she lands her dream job, working in the shoe department at Macy’s in the Mall of America. Sinclair can’t seem to leave her alone though and he corners her at work to try and convince her that their stalemate has gone on long enough. Around this time Betsy also has to solve the mystery of why a bunch of vampires are being killed. And when the group confronts Betsy herself and tries to kill her, there isn’t any avoiding the issue anymore (Betsy can be very good at that.) And so she enlists the help of Sinclair and Tina to help solve the mystery of who the bad guys are.

Along the way Betsy has to deal with a number of other issues, including her stepmother becoming pregnant, her boss firing her, a gang of vampire killers and their anonymous benefactor, and a power-driven, Sinclair-lusting, crazed vampire. She deals with all of the above with the utmost class (*cough*) and aplomb. Ha! She actually deals with everything with her sarcastic wit and issue avoidance.

I’ll say pretty much the same thing I said for the first book here, overall obviously I love this book or else I wouldn’t be re-reading the whole series. I can’t say enough good things about this book and this series. I always end up laughing out loud. I would definitely recommend this series to other readers! I am looking forward to re-reading the rest of the series this month as well as the new release coming out on October 7th!!

Link to author website: http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Unemployed-Queen-Betsy-Book/dp/0425197484/ref=tmm_mmp_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1412548291

5Oct2014

2014 – Book #88

Posted in Book reviews, Book series, Fiction, Paranormal comedy, Reading Challenges, Spooky series reading challenge by rebeccabook17

As part of my October spooky series reading challenge, the eighty-eighth book I read in 2014 was Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson. This is the first book in her Undead series about vampire queen Betsy Taylor. This is the series I will be focusing on this month for my Spooky Series reading challenge for the month of October. I finished this book on 10/4/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This series is about Betsy Taylor, who wakes up one day to find herself naked on a slab in the morgue. She had been hit by a car and when she wakes up she is, surprise!, a vampire.

Since she doesn’t recall being bitten by a vampire, though she does recall being hit by a Pontiac, why she is waking up as a vampire is a mystery to her. She decides not to think about it too much at first though and lets her friends and family know that she is alive (well, sort of). She is met with mixed reactions, from relief and elation to denial and fear. After letting her family know she is ok, she meets up with a bunch of other vampires, and the leader guy tells her that she must pledge her allegiance to him. Betsy finds this amusing, she just wants to continue her life as she knows it, she definitely does not want to get involved in vamp politics.

Unfortunately this is something she can’t seem to avoid, since yummy Sinclair seems to think she’s some foretold Queen from the Book of the Dead. Sinclair and the current leader Nostro don’t get along. Betsy agrees that Nostro seems like a complete jerk, though she doesn’t find the arrogant Sinclair to be much of an improvement, but she doesn’t understand why we can’t all just get along.

Overall, obviously I love this book or else I wouldn’t be re-reading the whole series. I can’t say enough good things about this book and this series. I always end up laughing out loud. Betsy is such an unlikely heroine. She is vain, sarcastic, and childish but she somehow seems to figure thing out as she goes and blunders her way through. And despite all her screw-ups she still maintains her circle of close friends and family, who all love her even though she is completely self-absorbed. Awesome books, fun and interesting plots, and I love re-reading the earlier books and picking up on different nuances that stand out based on my knowledge from the later books.

Link to author website: http://www.maryjanicedavidson.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Undead-Unwed-MaryJanice-Davidson-ebook/dp/B002YKOXGG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412546723&sr=8-1&keywords=undead+and+unwed

2Oct2014

2014 – Book #87

Posted in Book reviews, Romantic suspense by rebeccabook17

The eighty-seventh book I read in 2014 was Mean Streak by Sandra Brown. I finished this book on 9/30/14. I rated this book 4.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book was about Dr. Emory Charbonneau, pediatrician and marathon runner who decides to complete a training run up in the mountains of North Carolina. While in the midst of her run, she is knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant.

Emory wakes up in a stranger’s cabin. She has no memory of how he got there. And the man staring back at her looks far from gentle. Worried about why this strange man has brought her to his cabin, she shrinks back at first. However, after the stranger proves again and again that he won’t hurt her, she begins to relax around him. As he nurses her back to health, he tries to ignore the sparks that start to fly between them.

The thing that scares Emory the most is that this mystery man won’t tell her anything about himself, even his name. What is she supposed to tell her husband when this strange man finally returns her to her normal life? Does she even really want to return to her normal life? And then a crisis comes up and Emory and the mystery guy end up having to work together to help someone in need.

Overall I liked this book a lot. This wasn’t my favorite book of hers but the plot was interesting, it was well paced, and was even a little scary in the beginning, a good thriller novel. My only complaint is that the plot was a tad predictable. I usually can’t figure out this author’s plot twists but this one I did see coming a little bit. Was still great and I would definitely recommend!!

Link to author website: http://sandrabrown.net/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mean-Streak-Sandra-Brown/dp/1455581127/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1412207014&sr=8-1

1Oct2014

Spooky series reading challenge – October 2014

Posted in For the love of books, Reading Challenges, Spooky series reading challenge by rebeccabook17

Halloween is almost here! And one of my favorite series (the Betsy Taylor series by MaryJanice Davidson) has a new book being released this month! And since it is the 13th book in the series, I’ve been thinking what I could do to celebrate Halloween through my reading and incorporate the new book in my plan. So I came up with a great idea! Spooky series reading challenge!

So here’s the plan. For the month of October I plan to read through the Undead / Betsy Taylor series in its entirety. I also plan to read other spooky books here and there (witches and warlocks and werewolves and vampires and whatnot). But my main goal will be to read the Undead series. Make sure to follow my progress through the series and through the reading challenge throughout the month of October.

And I would love to invite you all to join the reading challenge for the month of October with me! You don’t need to be at the beginning of a series to join in. And I know plenty of spooky series so if you need ideas I can definitely provide suggestions! Just make sure to link up to this post so I can check in on your progress with the reading challenge!