Undead And Unwed

And no, that is not a reference to my current status of singleton!! This was my first-read of the New Year and the most unexpected genre for me.....Paranormal Romance.

Normally, I shy away from anything remotely horrifying……blood and gore, severed body-parts, departure/return/makeover of the zombies/mummies/werewolves, calls from "inside-the house" and other such similar hair-raising and teeth-chattering stuff.

However, if you still have that reluctant fascination with the "nether-worlds" and need to snap out of the heebie-jeebies, then this is the way to go!!!

"Undead and Unwed", the first installment of a long-running series by Mary Janice Davidson is a hilarious parody of the oh-so-dark, Vampire World. And heading the proceedings is one of the whackiest characters to grace the horror marquee in a long time.

Meet Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Taylor, a six-feet tall, blonde ex-model and fashionista extraordinaire. She has just been sacked from her dead-end job and that too on her birthday. Since things are definitely going downhill, the day is made complete by Betsy getting hit by a car , smashing into a tree, fracturing essential body-parts and promptly dropping dead........

But rather than stay dead and go off to the great big Neimen-Marcus in the sky, she rises from her coffin and discovers that an unfortunate mugging incident in the past has turned her into a vampire. And not your ordinary garden-variety one either, but a super-amped Vampire Queen who can sashay easily into churches and withstand holy water, crosses and broad daylight. Armed with stupendous strength, magnified hearing, a remarkable sense of smell and all the other attractions that go with the (unwanted) job, Betsy soon realises that she will be a reluctant crusader for oppressed and subjugated vampires.

Dealing with a whole new lifestyle in your after-life is hard enough. But coupled with wise-cracking wannabe-sidekicks..... a nasty, sweaty centuries-old villain and a super-smooth, sinister yet easy-on-the eye romantic interest, Betsy soon realizes that "Rest-In-Peace" is really just.....A BIG FAT LIE!!

Smashing vampire myths left, right and center....."The Queen of The Undead" is vain, immature and not exactly the smartest cookie in the jar. But what she does possess is a smart-mouth, spunky attitude, witticisms galore, and the quintessential heart-of-gold.

A fun, leave-your-brains behind kind of book, this is an ideal read to drive away the winter-blues!!