Zombie Lore: Dearly Departed - Lia Habel

Dearly Departed by Lia Habel

Date Released: October 18th, 2011

Publisher:Del Rey  

Pages: 470 pages

Format: Paperback

Source: Barnes and Noble

Rating: Really Liked

Series: Gone With The Respiration #1

Goodreads Synopsis:  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.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

From Goodreads

My Review

 

Tagline: "Filled with zombies and hints of romance, Dearly Departed is a good zombie novel. There's laughs, death, and zombie romance!"

 

Dearly Departed was that type of book that sticks out to you on the way to the bookstore. I mean it's ZOMBIES? Who wouldn't want to pick it up? Plus romance with a human, hell yeah, right? Well Dearly Departed was like that and it was a great read but it needed more spark and action.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead or rather, the undead?

Dearly Departed sucks you into the world of Victorian London, but now it's the 2195's, the future and it's filled with growing technology. You have Nora Dearly who this great heronine that had loads of potential for this amazing character, but through the book she got way better and she shows lots of skill. She goes through a lot but overall she was kinda undecided at time with the choices she made. I was really crossing my fingers that she would get better along the way but it didn't come out the way I wanted it too. Plus, Bram was surprisingly a great character! I didn't really imagine him as someone who was a zombie but someone raw and emotional, Lia Habel really crafted him well and the romance was good.

Throughout reading, Dearly Departed, I was always thinking, where is my zombie action? Who doesn't want some kick butt action between humans and zombies? Well, there was only one scene in the beginning and the end was...it's hard to say..but it was good, not bad or amazing but just good. *SPOLIER ALERT* I mean it took Bram and Nora the whole book to find Pamela, Nora's best friend. It was like that was the whole point?? If so, it should have been done done quicker and the ending should have been more surprising and layered.  But Pamela, was also one of my favorite characters in this book. Nora know how to write so well with descriptive details and she really captures the essence of the Victorian Era.

Overall, if your looking for a zombie read this book is one you should keep in your mind. It's neither good or bad, but if you want to know you read a zombie book this year pick this one up. Dearly Departed has hints of zombie romance, laughs, and death, pick Dearly Departed up soon!

 

 

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The Living Dead: This Is Not A Test-Courtney Summers

This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers

Date Released: June 19, 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Pages: 323 pages

Date Read: June 24, 2012

Format: Paperback

Source: For Review by St. Martin's Press

Goodreads Synopsis:   It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self.

To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live.

But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside.

When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

From Goodreads

My Review:

Tagline: "The end of the world. 6 students trapped in a school. The living dead constantly pounding on the doors"

"…I think it isn’t enough to survive for the sake of surviving…. Surviving should mean something like it means something to them. And if it doesn’t-
If it doesn’t."

Usually when people see a zombie book they usually think of all gorey details and no one suriving the living dead, but This Is Not A Test was no like that at all. It was more of how people react and see the world through the eyes of the survivors. This Is Not A Test will amaze you till the last page! Also, one of the very first zombie books I read and I didn't freak out like I normally do when watching zombie movies like Resident Evil. *gasps and looks relaxed* I was blown away by this book! :)

“The thing no one tells you about surviving, about the mere act of holding out, is how many hours are nothing because nothing happens. They also don’t tell you about how you can share your deepest secrets with someone, kiss them, and the next hour it’s like there’s nothing between you because not everything can mean something all the time or you’d be crushed under the weight of it.”

This Is Not A Test starts with Sloanne Price, girl who's world has crumpled. She cuts herself and doesn't want the chance to live her life. When the undead comes and she takes refuge with 5 others at a local high school. Sloanne finally sees how other who actually want to live effect how she sees the world. Sloanne was surprisingly easily to relate too. Not that I cut myself or want to end my life but she was real and fresh. Courtney Summers really made a great character and shows how you can fight everyday even if you want it all to end. Sloanne really pushed me on edge with all her reasons to end her life, like going outside to rescue a person only to see it as an oppurtunity to die, but she was cutting edge and she really ripped me heart. *looks around*

All of the character was pretty intense. They would curse, freak out, cry, but its real and people really do that in situations like the dead. Rhys really stood out to me and I really like him as a character! He was always there for Sloanne and she would always push away but no matter what he was there for her. The other where also real but both Rhys and Sloanne really where the most relatble ones. It was a fight for survial for all of them and in the end it will surprise you what all of them do and what Sloanne does herself.

This Is Not A Test was a reiviting and intense zombie book. Courtney Summers blows you away with her take on the living dead and intense revalations with yourself. I'm definetly picking up her books again! [Deciding to read Cracked Up to be or Fall For Anything?]

“DO NOT READ THIS QUOTE UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED THE BOOK!

I move closer to the glass, as close as I can get to it, begging her, begging Lily, begging Grace, begging all of them to tell me what's left, to just tell me while the girl pushes against the window, turns her tiny hands into tiny fists, begging me for a taste of - life.
My life.
Lily disappears. Grace. They all leave, they're gone, they will never be here again. But the wright of what they've shown me is settling into my bones. I don't know if I will keep it, but just in this moment, however brief, I feel closer to it that I ever have before...
The dead girl presses her face against the glass. She wait for me to tell her what's next.”