Dead Over Heels: MaryJanice Davidson

Davidson delighted fans with the wickedly sexy and wildly funny anthology, Dead and Loving It – stories in which the worlds of the Wyndham Werewolves and Undead Queens collided. Now she returns to that sensual and irresistible after-dark realm of werewolves, vampires and mermaids in three more original novellas – including an all-new Betsy Taylor novella!

Undead and Wed: A Honeymoon Story – The Queen Betsy novella: The events of this novella take place a week after the events in Undead and Uneasy. Betsy and Sinclair take off to New York via private charter to enjoy their honeymoon, only to have their honeymoon shanghaied by Jessica and Nick in a misguided attempt to change Nick’s views on vampire-human relations. Murder ensues, and the fantastic four team up to find the killer … at least after Nick’s done recovering from the damage done to his jaw after he accuses the pair of doing the deed themselves.

Who knows? Nick may eventually learn. I think it sucks that Jess would horn in on the honeymoon like that, but all for a good cause. The shoe being impaled in the wall was a good touch, bravo – but sticking Nick with going shoe-shopping with the girls even more so. Oh, the torture!!!

Survivors – The mermaid novella: The events of this novella take place after the events in Swimming Without a Net, the second Fred the Mermaid book. A so-called survival expert shows that he’s not ‘all that’ when he becomes separated from his ship, crew, shelter, and most importantly … food … and is set adrift in a raft during a storm. First contact ensues yet again as human meets mermaid for the first time, she saves him repeatedly (even fighting off a hammerhead!), and he falls head over heels for a piece of tail.

When faced with certain death, I believe I’d be able to choke down some raw fish, especially if it was delivered killed, decapitated, filleted, and de-scaled to my feet. That has to be the most idiotic name for a show I have ever, ever heard of – but the man does grovel well, and he knows when to do so. And she did threaten – and he agree to – her breaking both of his legs the next time he was that much of an idiot, so it sounds like they’ll be fine … after all, violence does fix some things.

Speed Dating, Werewolf Style (Or, Ow, I Think You Broke the Bone) – The Wyndham Werewolf novella: The events of this novella take place four days after the events in Undead and Uneasy. Competitive by nature, Cain suddenly decides that she needs to get married in less than a month, and turns to the least appropriate person to ask for help in hooking her up – Saul, her best friend, and the man that’s been in love with her for going on twenty-five years now. Of course, she’s been perfectly oblivious to that fact … so since she’s determined to find Mr. Right, he’s going to rub her nose in so many Mr. Wrongs …

Again, violence seemed to fix things: even though Cain is the alpha (in the friendship/relationship, alpha female, etc) and Saul is beta all the way, Saul’s Mr. Wrong strategy backfiring and almost getting Cain raped ironically gets him the girl when he beats the snot out of the ass (to the tune of ‘yeah, I have broken limbs, but the other guy is hospitalized for days). It doesn’t hurt that the man’s apparently hung like a horse – and apparently manipulative as all hell.

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ISBN: 978-0-425-21941-6
Publication date March 4, 2008, through Berkley Sensation