Book Review: Alice in Zombieland

Title: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 404 pages
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2012
Genre: Horror

Goodreads Summary: She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I haven’t read any of Gena Showalter’s adult books but since I read rave reviews about her writing, I was really looking forward to Alice in Zombieland. The idea behind the book is brilliant but the execution was just so so.

The easiest way for me to review Alice in Zombieland is to let you what I liked about the book and what I did not.

What I Liked
Spirituality: Alice In Zombieland is spiritually deeper that most YA novels out there. I would not go as far as calling it a Christian novel, but kudos to Gena Showalter for including some depth in this book.

Original and cool concept: The book is not a retelling of Alice in Wonderland but more about a girl who finds herself in strange version of reality where zombies are real and she was born to fight them. The concept is original and Showalter’s zombies are much different than the usual.

Characters: Ali’s pain over her loss is very well told and I liked her as a character. Cole has really mature moments and when he did, I liked him a lot. In those shining moments, he reads more like a guy in his 20’s than an 18 year old and I was OK with that.

What I Did Not Like
Cole: Yes, I loved how mature he was at times but hated how possessive he was of Ali at other times. Cole gets insanely jealous when other boys even look at Ali and would want to fight them. It did not make him sexy, just a bully. The only reason that I am not flaming Cole’s jealous behavior is because Ali’s character did not play into it and was independent regardless of how Cole was acting.

The big showdown at the end of the book: This is not a spoiler, there’s always a big showdown at the end. This one was rushed and I really feel like Showalter was tired and just wanted to hurry up and end the book. It was a let down.

Characters instantly and supernaturally drawn to each other: Immediate attraction is fine but the instant supernatural connection between two characters is getting old. Enough already.

Sex: There is no sex in the story but the characters talk about it quite a bit. Honestly, I was more interested in the supernatural aspects of the story than with the main characters making out and deciding if they would or would not have sex.

Overall, Alice in Zombieland isn’t bad, it’s just not as good as I think it should have been. I am, however, curious to see where Showalter takes the story and may just pick up the sequel to see what happens.

Content: Kissing, discussions about sex and some profanity.

My Rating: Just OK

Audiobook Review: Enclave

Title: Enclave by Ann Aguirre
Narrator: Emily Bauer
Release Date: April 11, 2011
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Duration: 7 hours, 53 mins
Genre: Post Apocalyptic, Zombies

Goodreads Summary: WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE. In Deuce’s world, people earn the right to a name only if they survive their first fifteen years. By that point, each unnamed ‘brat’ has trained into one of three groups–Breeders, Builders, or Hunters, identifiable by the number of scars they bear on their arms. Deuce has wanted to be a Huntress for as long as she can remember.

As a Huntress, her purpose is clear—to brave the dangerous tunnels outside the enclave and bring back meat to feed the group while evading ferocious monsters known as Freaks. She’s worked toward this goal her whole life, and nothing’s going to stop her, not even a beautiful, brooding Hunter named Fade. When the mysterious boy becomes her partner, Deuce’s troubles are just beginning.

Down below, deviation from the rules is punished swiftly and harshly, and Fade doesn’t like following orders. At first Deuce thinks he’s crazy, but as death stalks their sanctuary, and it becomes clear the elders don’t always know best, Deuce wonders if Fade might be telling the truth. Her partner confuses her; she’s never known a boy like him before, as prone to touching her gently as using his knives with feral grace.

As Deuce’s perception shifts, so does the balance in the constant battle for survival. The mindless Freaks, once considered a threat only due to their sheer numbers, show signs of cunning and strategy… but the elders refuse to heed any warnings. Despite imminent disaster, the enclave puts their faith in strictures and sacrifice instead. No matter how she tries, Deuce cannot stem the dark tide that carries her far from the only world she’s ever known.

It seems that a trend in 2011 was post apocalyptic YA books with zombies, similar to how 2012 seems to be the year for post apocalyptic YA books with vampires. Since I have become a little less squeamish about reading zombie novels, I decided to try listening to Enclave, a popular book that I missed last year.

Enclave starts out well enough. Deuce is smart and strong, a formidable fighter who is extremely proud of her new status as a Huntress. She is at first wary of her new partner, Fade, but soon learns that he is very different than anybody she as ever met before. I liked Deuce during the first part of the novel, it’s in the second part that things get a little tricky.

(Spoiler Alert! Highlight if you want to read.) Secondary characters are introduced in the story: Pearl, an old friend of Fade, Stalker, the leader of a gang and Tegan, a girl that was kidnapped years before by Stalker’s gang. The thing that bothered me most about the book was Deuce’s lack of empathy about towards the situation they got Pearl into and about Tegan in general. We are told that Stalker gave his gang members permission to repeatedly rape Tegan, resulting in her giving birth to two stillborn children and at one point, Deuce blames Tegan for not fighting her rapists to her death before allowing herself to be raped. Additionally, Stalker who has undoubtedly raped girls himself and would have raped Deuce if she had not escaped from him, becomes a love interest for Deuce, effectively creating a love triangle.

These situations left a bad taste in my mouth and not even Emily Bauer’s wonderful narration could get rid of it. To be fair, Deuce’s character does mature but by that point, the author had already lost me and there was no getting me back.

Enclave has lots of action and I know a lot of people loved this book, but it was not for me. There are also some unanswered questions about the world building which I’m assuming will be answered in the sequel that comes out this year, but I probably won’t be picking it up.

Content: Kissing, references to rape and gory violence.

My Rating: Disappointing

Blog Tour + Book Review: Dead Reckoning

Title: Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Pages: 336 pages
Genre: Steampunk, Horror
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Goodreads Summary: Jett is a girl disguised as a boy, living as a gambler in the old West as she searches for her long-lost brother. Honoria Gibbons is a smart, self-sufficient young woman who also happens to be a fabulous inventor. Both young women travel the prairie alone – until they are brought together by a zombie invasion! As Jett and Honoria investigate, they soon learn that these zombies aren’t rising from the dead of their own accord … but who would want an undead army? And why? This gunslinging, hair-raising, zombie western mashup is perfect for fans of Cowboys vs. Aliens and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. 

Interested in a fun summer read that stands out from the sea of paranormal and dystopia books out there right now? If you are then Dead Reckoning, a steampunk western with zombies, may just be the book for you. This book is original and entertaining, just what I needed to kick off my summer!

Dead Reckoning is set in a western town where Jett, our feisty gunslinger who dresses as a boy so she can make her way around without too much trouble, has stopped find out if anyone knows anything about her lost brother. Jett’s visit is short lived as the town is attacked by zombies and Jett barely escapes with her life. The book’s setting is very well done and Honoria Gibbons’ steampunk inventions are very cool to read about.

Jett and Gibbons are very opposite characters: Jett being very rational and a fighter and Gibbons being a dogged scientist who throws caution to the wind when it comes to her experiments. While Jett dresses like a boy, I liked the fact that she liked girly things but her circumstances dictates that she be disguised as a boy. The two girls strong personalities are balanced out by White Fox, the handsome Anglo boy that was raised by Native Americans.

Dead Reckoning is a quick read with great characters, action and mystery. The ending is completely satisfying (no cliffhangers!) and while this could easily be a standalone novel, I’m hoping there will be a second book to expand on the storyline, especially the one involving Jett’s missing brother. Dead Reckoning is a clean read and is appropriate for both older and younger teens.

Content: Violence and drinking.

My Rating: Really Good!

Why I Don’t like Zombies

I have an irrational fear of zombies. It’s obviously irrational because zombies aren’t real, right? RIGHT? Unfortunately, recent events seem to prove otherwise.

A few years ago, I thought of zombies the same way I thought about vampires or any other scary, fictional creature: something meant to entertain and stir the imagination. That was before I saw the horror movie 28 Days Later. The movie itself was scary but no more so than other horror movies I had seen. The awful zombie dreams I started having after watching the movie, however, were not routine and I hated and avoided anything with zombies for a long time after that.

Just last year, I decided to try reading a YA zombie book (zombie lite, if you will) and while it was a nail biter, I felt OK after reading it. While I still avoid anything with zombies on TV or in the theatre, so far I have been OK with zombies in YA books (I will not tackle adult zombie novels, that would be pushing it entirely too far!). As a matter of fact, I’m currently reading Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill and so far, so good.

This leads me to point of this post. As most of you may have seen on the news or online, there was an attack in Miami last week that has brought my ‘irrational’ fears to the forefront. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, search online for “Miami Zombie” and read about it for yourself. The law enforcement theory that the attack was fueled by drugs has done nothing to reassure me. Instead, this tells me that there are drugs that can turn people into flesh eating zombies!

Ok, let me get serious here. While I’m not building a bunker or gathering supplies in preparation for the zombie apocalypse, the attack and the entire circumstances around it have REALLY creeped me out. Since I live in South Florida, the story is everywhere and even though I am trying my hardest to avoid it.

Is anyone else freaked out by this attack? Am I the only one who thinks the attack sounds like the opening scene to a zombie novel because there is always one case and then the outbreak usually begins a few days later….

Book Review: Dearly, Departed

Title: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Release Date: Oct. 1, 2011
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 470 pages
Genre: Dystopia
Source: Publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads Summary: Love can never die. Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

A few years ago I saw a zombie movie and it gave me the worst nightmares. Ever since then, I have avoided zombie books and movies because they scare me like almost nothing else can. Lately, however, there have been a few books on the YA market involving more sophisticated, romantic zombies. This move towards the lighter, prettier side of zombies is perfect for me. Not to say Dearly, Departed is all romance because it’s not. The brainless, flesh eating zombies are included as well, so it’s a good mix of dark and light.

Dearly, Departed is set in a dystopian future where climate change has caused survivors in North America to move to warmer climates in South America. While keeping their technological advances, these settlers have adopted a Victorian lifestyle in dress, speech and manners. I loved Lia Habel’s world building. The book has a wonderful steampunk feel to it.

Dearly, Departed is told from several perspectives including that of Captain Abraham “Bram” Griswold. Loved him! He is strong, funny, caring and very devoted to Nora. Even though Nora is brave, selfless and smart, her character fell a bit flat. I much preferred to read the portions of the story from either Bram’s perspective or from the perspective of Nora’s best friend, Pamela. Pamela’s quick thinking and butt-kicking was much more entertaining than anything that was going on Nora.

My other issue with the story is the romance. Nora and Bram are really sweet together but I could not get past the fact that he is dead, and while he is handsome, he looks dead. His skin is even gray! I have no idea why I feel this way as I have no issues with the vampire/human relationships in books and vamps are pretty much dead too.

Dearly, Departed has a good amount of humor, cleaver world building and some exciting action scenes. This is a fun and original book. It’s very cool how Ms. Habel put it together and I look forward to the sequel.

Content: Kissing and violence.

My Rating: Just Fine

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine, and specifically spotlights upcoming novels we can't wait to read. This week’s choice is:

Title: Life Eternal by Yvonne Woon
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publish Date: Jan. 24, 2012
Genre: Paranormal

Spoiler Warning! The summary contains huge spoilers to the first book, Dead Beautiful, so highlight to read.

Goodreads Summary: Renée Winters has changed. When she looks in the mirror, a beautiful girl with an older, sadder face stares back. Her condition has doctors mystified, but Renée can never reveal the truth: she died last May, and was brought back to life by the kiss of her Undead soul mate, Dante Berlin.

Now, her separation from Dante becomes almost unbearable. His second life is close to an end, and each passing day means one less that she will spend with the boy who shares her soul.

Just when Renée has almost given up hope, she learns of the Nine Sisters—brilliant scholars who, according to legend, found a way to cheat death. She can’t shake the feeling that they are somehow connected to her dreams, strange visions that hint at a discovery so powerful, and so dangerous, that some will stop at nothing to protect it.

Renée thought she knew the truth about life and death. But there is a secret woven through history that holds the only hope for Dante and Renée. Unless they find answers soon, their time together is doomed to be cut short.

When I read Dead Beautiful, the first book in this series, I thought it was a standalone (which it could have been), but I am very happy there is a sequel! Dead Beautiful has some refreshing and original paranormal elements and can’t wait to read this second book. I love the cover of Life Eternal and think it complements Dead Beautiful very well. What are you waiting on?

Review of Die for Me by Amy Plum

Release Date: May 10, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 341 pages
Author Website: Amy Plum
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Source: ARC from the Publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads Summary: My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything. Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind. While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love?

Review:  After the tragic death of their parents, Kate and her older sister, Georgia, move from Brooklyn to Paris to live with their grandparents. The sisters handle their sadness in different ways. Georgia surrounds herself with friends and parties a lot, telling Kate that when she is out, she does not have to think about what happened. Kate, on the other hand, cuts herself off from everyone and drowns herself in depression and books. It’s only after she meets Vincent that she slowly starts coming back to life and feeling somewhat normal again.

I have read some other reviews that say Die for Me, Amy Plum’s debut novel, is a lot like other YA paranormal romances out there and in some ways, it does share similarities. However, the story’s unique elements and good writing makes this novel memorable and stand out from the rest.

Kate’s character is likable. Her sadness over her parents’ death feels so real. It deeply affects her life and her ability to get into a quick relationship with Vincent. Even though they are attracted to each other when they meet, Kate and Vincent do get to know each other before there are any declarations of love. Both characters have emotional baggage and I appreciate that. The secondary characters are well written and I see a lot of potential for them in upcoming novels.

The paranormal element is very cool and I really love the fight scenes. They were bloody and well played. Romance lovers will adore this book and I am looking forward to the sequel, Until I Die.

Content: Violence, kissing, references to sex