Bears Behaving Badly by MaryJanice Davidson

 

Title: Bears Behaving Badly

Author: MaryJanice Davidson

Series: #1 in the BeWere My Heart series

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (March 31, 2020)

Source: NetGalley

Rating: ☕☕1/2

Synopsis: These social worker bear shifters give the term "mama bear" a whole new meaning! Bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson is back with this brand-new paranormal romance series featuring a foster care system for at-risk shifter babies and teens.

Werebear shifter Annette Garsea is a caseworker for the Interspecies Placement Agency. When a selectively mute and freakishly strong teen werewolf is put in her custody, Annette has to uncover the young girl's secrets if she's to have any hopes of helping her. And not even the growling of a scruffy private investigator can distract her from her mission...

Bear shifter David Auberon appreciates Annette's work with at-risk teen shifters, but he's not sure if her latest charge is so much a vulnerable teen as a predator who should be locked up. All that changes when he, Annette, and her motley band of juveniles find themselves dodging multiple murder attempts and uncovering a trafficking cartel that doesn't just threaten the kids, but risks discovery of the shifters by the wider world of homo sapiens.

My Thoughts: I really really really wanted to love this book. I didn't.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: So, I a long time ago I was in love once. In love with MaryJanice's sense of humor and everything Queen Betsy. Then over the years what was once an amazing love story between a girl and her fictitious besties The Vampire Queen and her consort Sink-Lair became a systematic relationship breakdown. I started to notice Betsy just wasn't who I thought she was. She's not a smart independent strong woman. She's actually quite distracted by shiny things and spends most of her time in her own head with internal rando thoughts. So, you may be asking, what does the Queen Betsy books have to do with the first book in the BeWere My Heart series...technically nothing unless you mistakenly confuse Annette Garsea with Betsy Taylor. 

You'd think a dingbat Vampire Queen wouldn't have anything in common with a professional social worker who takes her charges seriously, right? True story....unless you read this book and see every time Annette opens her mouth to speak, or worse yet witness all of her unsaid thoughts (the many many many internal musings)(in parenthesis)sometimes italicized but mostly occurring in the middle of another person's dialogue. She was freakin' Queen Betsy in a Werebear hybrid body!

The plot itself was fairly interesting....OK not the Annette wanting but not wanting to want David's body plot....which was what I interpreted as the main plot of the book but rather the plot of child shifter trafficking. That plot was actually really interesting but it was a very deep subject matter for such a lighthearted silly book and took a back seat to the sexual attraction between David and Annette.

In a Nutshell: Overall, I'm super disappointed in this book. I was looking for something humorous but better than the Queen Betsy books. I got a Queen Betsy book starring Shifters instead. I'm not sure I'll read the next book...maybe if it's free...even then, maybe not.

Undead and Unsure by MaryJanice Davidson

Synopsis: It's no surprise to Betsy that her trip to Hell with her sister Laura landed them in hot water. Betsy isn't exactly sorry she killed the Devil but it's put Laura in a damnable position: assuming the role of Satan (she may not have the training but she looks great in red)—and in charge of billions of souls as she moves up in the world. Or is that down?
But Betsy herself is in an odd new position as well—that of being a responsible monarch suddenly in charge of all things more earth-bound: like her vampire husband Sinclair who has gone from relieved to ecstatic to downright reckless now that he can tolerate sunlight. And if Sinclair isn't enough to contend with, Betsy's best friend Jessica is in her sixth (and hopefully last) trimester. Considering she's been pregnant for eighteen months, she's become a veritable encyclopedia of what not to expect when you're expecting. Oh, the horror…
And speaking of growing pains, Betsy and Sinclair's adopted little BabyJon is finally starting to walk. And if the increasingly unpredictable toddler is anything like his extended family, precisely where he's headed is anyone's guess.


Disclaimer: Typically in one of my reviews you'll see sections highlighting the good things and also highlighting the bad. In this review, however, you'll only see the bad as that is my entire opinion of this book and I refuse to waste any more of my precious time on this book to even write a decent review. So without further ado....

What I Think: I  finally finished Undead and Unsure by MaryJanice Davidson after slogging through it for ages! Horrible horrible. Scattered vague plot....actually not really a plot but more of a day in the life of an idiot that is Queen Betsy. Add in an author's rant about backyard chicken raising and beekeeping, insulting the entire Mormon religion and flipping around at the end to include bible scriptures in a book that neeeeeeeever should have them and you've got one irritated Christina! Not to mention she took a brooding, part time douche-canoe named Sink-lair (who I actually kind of liked) and turned him into a flower frolicking Forest Gump! AAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDD FIIIIIIIIINALLY we get to the part where we know what the plot is....in the last TWO FREAKING CHAPTERS! A waste of time. A waste of natural resources to print it. A waste of a series that was once fun and and fresh. UGH!

Undead and Unstable by MaryJanice Davidson

Synopsis: Betsy's heartbroken over her friend Marc's death, but at least his sacrifice should change the future--her future--for the better.  But it's not as if Betsy's next few hundred years will be perfect.  After all, her half sister, Laura, is the Antichrist, Laura's mother is Satan, and family gatherings will always be more than a little awkward.

What's really bothering Betsy is that ever since she and Laura returned from visiting her mom in hell, Laura's been acting increasingly peculiar.  Maybe it's Laura's new job offer: Satan's replacement down under.  Unfortunately, the position comes at a damnable price: killing Betsy, her own flesh and blood.

Over Betsy's dead body.  And for that matter, Marc's, too, since he's not quite as buried as everyone thought.  Now a war has been waged--one that's going to take sibling rivalry to a whole new level and a dimension where only one sister can survive.


My Review: I'm officially done with Betsy. Her constant ignorant chatter and her inability to concentrate was annoying but to have everyone in her life call her stupid or remind her that she's easily distracted by shiny things is beyond palatable. She thinks she's as dumb as a box of rocks. Her friends think she is as dumb as a box of rocks. Her husband thinks stuff too but loves her anyway. Not only has Betsy not grown over the course of 11 books it is apparent that she is sliding backwards. If Betsy was this stupid in book 1 I never would have read book 2.

The actual storyline was all of 3 chapters scattered throughout the book. The rest was filler where Betsy drinks smoothies or semi-mourns her cat or gets chased by dogs or gets arrested. None of which is actually pertinent to the plot.

The time traveling aspect is just silly as there are some events that were altered for the sake of humor but for the life of me I can't figure out how they happened. Nick is now Dick and throughout the book (and the last one) Betsy calls him D/Nick or Nickie-Dickie or some other annoying name. I have no idea how Betsy's visit to the past could have changed one of the character's names but having her repeatedly calling Nick, De-Nick annoyed me.

The writing itself seems chaotic. It's written from Betsy's perspective which is just awful. As I mentioned earlier she is easily distracted by shiny things so her mind wanders. We, as readers, are unfortunate to get to read about how she wonders what hair products so and so uses while that character is talking to her. In addition to this, one chapter opens up with something along the lines of 'and that is how I got arrested' but the end of the chapter before that had nothing to do with being arrested. The explanation of her arrest and the actions leading up to it are explained after the opening of that chapter.




In addition to this the book is not friendly to new readers. You cannot pick up this book and read it without having read any other Betsy Taylor books. Things are reviewed at the beginning of the book on what has happened thus far in books 1-10 but I found some things were not explained. For example why does Betsy call Satan Lena Olin? A new reader wouldn't know and it's not explained.

So, because of the lack of growth on Betsy's part, the lack of a decent plot, the fact that the book is trying to be funny to the point it isn't and the chaos like writing I doubt I will ever pick up another Queen Betsy book.

Undead and Unfinished by MaryJanice Davidson

Synopsis: Vampire Queen Betsy Taylor is having a tough time getting through the Book of the Dead -- until the Devil strikes a bargain. She offers Betsy a chance to finish the cursed (literally!) thing, and finally discover all its mysteries. There's just one catch... — Betsy and her half-sister Laura have to go to Hell long enough for Laura to embrace her dark heritage (after a rebellious youth of charity work) and finally make nice with her mother, aka Lucifer. That means interacting with their family's past. In doing so, they're impacting the future in ways they never anticipated. Of course that's what Mother wanted all along. Damn her.

My Thoughts:In this book Betsy goes to Hell. Literally. She agrees to go there so her sister can ask her mother, The Devil, some questions. What then happens is Betsy and Laura (who is now being referred through most of the book as Antichrist) goes on a romp through time (which apparently is now one of Laura's hellish talents). I thought much of the hell part seemed to drag. I felt as if I were being dumped upon with a crap load of information which is just silly considering this is not the first book in the series but the 9th.

Betsy's trip through time was interesting though. I thought her jump into the past was helpful not only to learn more about her husband and first in command Tina but it was an eye opener for Betsy. She is really starting to notice how shallow and self centered she really is. I found that by learning more about Sink Lair I like him a whole lot more too. Tina too for that matter.

As far as the book as a whole, I felt that the situations at the beginning of the book, which actually set up the last part of the book, was obvious in it's attempt to manipulate the storyline. I know that all writers do "manipulate" their story lines to produce the outcome they want but it should not be so obvious in my opinion. I also absolutely hated...no, I detested (is that worse than hate?) the epilogue. I was just complaining about the fact that Betsy just isn't maturing as quickly as I would like but Davidson may have gone a little overboard with the learning maturity part. After visiting the past Betsy then visits the future. She meets the future her who is now 1000 years old. What happens, especially in the epilogue, is just ridiculous. Not in a self centered Betsy way but in a MaryJanice Davidson kicked my puppy way. I know she has introduced a new story arc, hence the new covers and several acknowledgement pages telling us readers that there is a new story arc happening. But honestly she took a series that was silly and fun to someplace dark and depressing. It was happening before the epilogue but really it's the epilogue that is the puppy kicker.

So, do I love that Betsy has learned something on her trips to hell, the past, and the future? Yep. But I also hate what is in Betsy's future with a passion. Which may be the point MaryJanice was making. Her next book comes out in July and I am really torn on if I want to read it. I may have to see where Davidson is going with this new arc so I probably will.