Z is for Zombie

I'm still new to this genre, but I bet if you head over to The Aussie Zombie, I bet that she has a fairly extensive post on the subject. (She's also a participant in the Blogging A to Z Challenge.)

There are only two books that came to mind when I tried to recall anything in the genre.

Alright, alright, I know A Touch Mortal isn't really a zombie novel. You guys should know by now that I'm just a Leah Clifford fan-girl, and I can't resist the urge to talk about her books. Anyways, it's more fun to say the main characters are zombies and angels, versus them being Siders and angels. Don't you agree?

You shouldn't disagree with me - I can haz zombie kittehs on you!

My A to Z Master List

Review: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Title: Dearly, Departed

Author: Lia Habel

Publisher: Del Ray

Release Date: October 18, 2011

Dearly, Departed is the exciting and thrilling young adult debut novel of Lia Habel. It is a delightful mashing of dystopian, science fiction, paranormal romance, zombie, Victorian, and steampunk, despite being set in the year 2195. It has a lot going on, but still manages to pull off being, by far, one of my favorite reads for 2011.

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?

Although this book is advertised as being a romance novel, it was much more than that to me. Sure, there was a love story, but there was so much action and adventure going on around the blossoming romance between protagonist Nora Dearly and the dashing undead, Abraham Griswold. There are also several other characters who provide their points of view – in addition to the two lovers – to the story: Nora’s best friend, Pamela Roe; her father, Victor Dearly; and our villain, Wolfe. Once again, there was a lot going on in the book, but it was never tedious or confusing and allowed the story’s flow to stay interesting.

I was on a cruise when I read the book. Instead of playing in the pool on deck or hanging out in the bar, I was sucked into the lives of the characters. Lia Habel’s descriptive writing made me feel as if I was in Central/South America in the fantastic world that she had created, instead of being on my rocking ship. I could not step away from the story, because I needed to know what would happen on the next page. Chapters were not always a good stopping point since the POV changed so often, and I had to find out what had occurred since I left a character two or three chapters previously.

I loved the book, and it is definitely going to be one of my “Librarian Recommendations” to my young adults and adults who are young at heart.

*To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received the book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It has in no way affected the outcome.