e-Audio, 09:24:58
Narrated by: Mela Lee
Release Date: August 9, 2022
Published by: Disney Hyperion
Read from: July 27-29, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Profanity, Blood, Gore, Body Horror, Grief, Loss of Parent, Abandonment of parent, Death of a Parent, Mentions of anxiety and depression (From the author)
For Readers Interested In: Horror, Romance, Zombies, Family Diversity, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Recommended for Work, YADeath was everywhere. They all stared at me, bumping into one another and slowly coming forward.
Sixteen-year-old Zharie Young is absolutely certain her mother morphed into a zombie before her untimely death, but she can’t seem to figure out why. Why her mother died, why her aunt doesn’t want her around, why all her dreams seem suddenly, hopelessly out of reach. And why, ever since that day, she’s been seeing zombies everywhere.
Then Bo moves into her apartment building―tall, skateboard in hand, freckles like stars, and an undeniable charm. Z wants nothing to do with him, but when he transforms into a half zombie right before her eyes, something feels different. He contradicts everything she thought she knew about monsters, and she can’t help but wonder if getting to know him might unlock the answers to her mother’s death.
As Zharie sifts through what’s real and what’s magic, she discovers a new truth about the world: Love can literally change you―for good or for dead.
In this surrealist journey of grief, fear, and hope, Britney S. Lewis’s debut novel explores love, zombies, and everything in between in an intoxicating amalgam of the real and the fantastic.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I don’t know if I can convey through my words how excited I was for this and then how much I enjoyed it. This book was so much fun! I don’t know the last time I’ve read a zombie book. And certainly not one with a bi-racial character.
Ok, so I’ve said before that I thought zombies in books were weird, and zombie love interests were even weirder. But funnily I didn’t care about any of this when I heard about this book. I still needed to get my hands on it. As it turns out the zombies in this one aren’t terrible. Granted there’s still some hanging flesh and constant groaning, but they aren’t scary. I could tell from the beginning that they represented something, but I wasn’t sure what. Especially when her mom turned out to be one too. But as it goes on, you can see what they are really meant for. It doesn’t tell you until the end, but I think readers can figure it out.
The plot was ok, but it was all over the place. I really didn’t know what to expect besides the zombie thing, but where the plot was going, I had no idea. But it was still ok. It held a lot of surprises like the dad situation, the third act break-up thing, and her current family thing. It was a little jumbled, but it was still good and easy to follow.
The romance was weird. Why? Because she was trying so hard to say she didn’t like him and he just took it. He was actually really cute. He was a skateboarder, real down to Earth. I liked the way they interacted. And I LOVED the way he supported her no matter what it was about. Even when he didn’t know what it was about lol But them together was very cute. I was happy when they stopped the crazy and they finally got it together. It was refreshing.
The narrator was fine. I haven’t read anything else by her, but there’s a lot when I went to find out. The performance was good. Like she did different characters fine. I did wish we had some of the moaning and groaning from the zombies. Maybe it’s in the final copy and not the one I listened to. Other than that, that’s the only thing that I felt was missing.
As a whole, this whole message is a good one. The zombie message and all. It wasn’t what I expected, but that’s ok. I think my work teens will enjoy reading this and we’ll have a lot to talk about, so I might be recommending this for our work program. Yes, it’s that good.
Overall, I give this
