Book Review of Ella, The Slayer by A.W. Exley

Goodreads Summary: Ella is an Edwardian Cinderella with an undead problem…
The flu pandemic of 1918 took millions of souls within a few short weeks.
Except it wasn't flu, and death gave them back.

Seventeen-year-old Ella copes the best she can; caring for her war-injured father, scrubbing the floors, and slaying the undead that attack the locals. Vermin they're called, like rats they spread pestilence with their bite. Ella's world collides with another when she nearly decapitates a handsome stranger, who is very much alive.

Seth deMage, the new Duke of Leithfield, has returned to his ancestral home with a mission from the War Office — to control the plague of vermin in rural Somerset. He needs help; he just didn't expect to find it in a katana-wielding scullery maid.

Working alongside Seth blurs the line between their positions, and Ella glimpses a future she never dreamed was possible. But in overstepping society's boundaries, Ella could lose everything – home, head and her heart…

Goodreads Rating: 3.68 stars with over 700 ratings
Genre Listing: Fantasy, Horror, Zombies, Young Adult, Romance, Paranormal, Fairy Tale Retellings
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Reading Challenge: Pop Sugar Challenge, A Book with a Blue cover 7/40 books.

Review:

Edited 12/1/2016

I apologize in advance; this review is going to be a bit spoilery. I need it to be to be able to collect my thoughts.

When I first saw this book in the Kindle store, I had to read it. Cinderella and Zombies? Hell to the yes! I went into it thinking it was going to be totally and cheesy, but I had to read it. Overall, I thought it was decently done and entertaining. I had a hard time putting it down.

I like Ella. I love that she's not afraid to get her hands dirty and behead some Zombies. She's extremely loyal. I enjoyed that her relationship was able to bounce between being smitten but also, able to focus on the task at hand (killing zombies.) I didn't find myself smitten with Seth. I didn't hate him, just didn't have any actual feelings towards him. I thought Alice and Frank were adorable. I found Elizabeth and Louise to be particularly awful, so job well done there.

I thought the concept of the Zombies functioning like a Beehive was interesting, and honestly a little weird. It gave the whole Zombie a genre a different aspect, which I enjoyed. I think when you're doing a topic that's overly popular it's important to have something that makes it different.
I was intrigued at how the author was going to be able to incorporate Cinderella with Zombies. I like that a lot of aspects were kept in the Cinderella story, but were given a new twist. I liked that instead of a Fairy Godmother it was those closest to Ella. I was concerned it would be a Fairy Godzombie. Overall I felt the combination worked well.

There was one detail that bothered me throughout the story. It's not even a detail, it's my perception of the detail, but it nagged at me the entire time. The story takes places in the early 1900s. Some historical details are given for this; there's even some slang that seems like it would fit in the era. The problem for me is this all seemed forced and didn't feel like I was reading about 1918. I can't put my finger on why, but throughout the book, I felt like the story might have initially been set near the Civil War and then was abruptly changed to 1919. I think it was the whole idea of Dukes and Ladies. I admittedly don't read a lot of books set near the 20s, but the use of Dukes and Ladies seemed out of place for the period. (Yes, I'm aware they still exist, but in the capacity, they were used seemed off.) This could just be my perception of what I was reading, but it honestly put a damper on the whole book for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I couldn't get past that perception. That's ultimately what's keeping this from being a four moon book for me. I did feel like it had a great sense of humor, which I believe is showcased in a few of the quotes below.

It's a Kindle Edition! So that means I get to share my favorite quotes!

Chapter 4- "Although I couldn't be sure if he qualified as delicious without biting into him, he was certainly handsome." (Heh. Zombie pun!)

Chapter 9- "An Interesting scar, as opposed to a life-threatening one, obtained while defending his country. As if men acquired scars like women did hats. Did they stand around and discuss the best place for a bullet to hit to impress the ladies? A quick bayonet to the ribs, but not too deep, thanks chaps?"

Chapter 14- "They believed it to be a far better that I hang once for a hundred murders, than a hundred people each hang for one."

Chapter 15- "At times you had to laugh, or else run the risk of losing your sanity."
                 - "Well, two of us were going to Hell now, since he lobbed off little Rose's head at the fete. Three if we included the butler. At least I wouldn't ride the fiery highway on my own and there would be someone to serve tea."

Chapter 18- "We must have magic potatoes, if that is what they grow in the dark."

Book Review of Andromeda by Amy Bartelloni

Goodreads Summary: Ten years after a pandemic swept the globe, survivors were forced into factions and camps in order to survive.
Jade and Sera are two orphans who have found refuge in a government camp. It's there where Jade falls in love with a young soldier, Anyon. But Anyon has his own secrets, carefully guarding the past that involves Sera. Before Jade and Anyon admit their feelings to each other the camp is attacked and they're separated.

Jade knows to lead Sera to Albany, the last free camp in the east, but the road is dangerous.

Not only must they dodge pockets of infection, but they're threatened by drifters and gangs. When they arrive in Albany, they find it deserted.

Anyon and his friend Malachi are close on their heels, but not close enough. The Provisional Government is on a mission, and no one is quite prepared for what lies ahead.
Goodreads rating: 4.38 with 37 ratings
Genre Listing: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Horror, Zombies, Young Adult
Get the Book: Amazon 

Review:

Edited 12/1/2016

I'm on a new reading mission. I have probably 200 e-books in my unread collection alone. I've found most of them for free.  I have a dangerous habit of scouring Amazon for free e-books that sound interesting, and then never reading them. I decided to change that. I'm grounding myself from buying any books until I make a serious dent in my box of books and my unread collection (I mean it this time!). I decided to start with Andromeda by Amy Bartelloni because I've been craving a Dystopian (aren't I always?)

What got me intrigued about this book was that it seemed to combine myths, astrology, and zombies. The truth is there is not much myth or astrology in it. It's discussed a little bit, but just enough to say hey they did this at camp and it became their symbol.

I think this book's length made it suffer severely. It's only 250 pages long, and I think because of that I didn't feel any emotional attachment to the characters or their situation. There were a lot of avenues in this book that could have been taken; that would have made it a lot better. Unfortunately, it was just rushed and a little monotonous. Each chapter switched between Jade and Anyon, but it needed more to signify that a character's point of view switching. It could have done with the chapters having different personalities to signify who we in the story we were following.

I really would have liked to know more about their connection to Andromeda. The book could have taken a fantasy turn here, and maybe spiced things up a little bit. Sera gets these "feelings, " and everyone just goes along with it because of Sera's unique. I need reasons to trust these feelings that make me endure myself to Sera, but sadly she seems to be just an afterthought in the book, which sucks because she seems like she should be an imperative part of the story.

The houses that Sera and Jade seemed kind of magical, and this was something that could have been explored more, and possibly further linked to Andromeda, but it was just chalked up to Sera has a feeling. Again, give me examples of these sentiments. Tell me a time when Sera saved someone's tail with these feelings, something, anything. Also was it ever discussed how Connie knew that Sera and Jade came from Cambridge? I don't think it was. I mean Connie explained how she knew who Anyon and Malachai were, but she never told how she knew about Jade and Sera.

I'm probably just repeating myself over and over in this, but the characters had no depth. There was nothing that made me want to root for anyone. I just wanted the book to be over with. I never felt like there was anything to make me feel for the characters. I didn't care that Sera had the cure, or that Anyon and Jade love each other. I need to feel things when I read. I need to be sucked into the characters world and understand them. I need to be friends with them. This book didn't have that for me. Instead, I felt like I was sitting at a table full of strangers. The strangers are having a conversation, and while I understand some of it, I just sit there nodding my head while not being included.

I would say that if this book had been expanded about 200 more pages, it would have been much better. With that extra length so much could have been done that would have endured me to the characters and their situations. Overall, it's just really hard to get an amazing story in 250 pages, which is generally why I try to stay away from anything under 300-350 pages. 

Two out of five moons

Book Review of Fiend by Peter Stenson

Goodreads Summary:
 When Chase Daniels first sees the little girl in umbrella socks tearing open the Rottweiler, he's not too concerned. As a longtime meth addict, he’s no stranger to horrifying, drug-fueled hallucinations.
   But as he and his fellow junkies soon discover, the little girl is no illusion. The end of the world has arrived.
   The funny thing is, Chase’s life was over long before the apocalypse got here, his existence already reduced to a stinking basement apartment and a filthy mattress and an endless grind of buying and selling and using. He’s lied and cheated and stolen and broken his parents’ hearts a thousand times. And he threw away his only shot at sobriety a long time ago when he chose the embrace of the drug over the woman he still loves.
   And if your life’s already shattered beyond any normal hopes of redemption…well, maybe the end of the world is an opportunity. Maybe it’s a last chance for Chase to hit restart and become the man he once dreamed of being. Soon he’s fighting to reconnect with his lost love and dreaming of becoming her hero among civilization’s ruins.
   But is salvation just another pipe dream?
   Propelled by a blistering first-person voice and featuring a powerfully compelling antihero, Fiend is at once a riveting portrait of addiction, a pitch-black love story, and a meditation on hope, redemption, and delusion—not to mention one hell of a zombie novel.
Goodreads Rating: 3.53 with 1,016 ratings
Genre listing: Horror, Zombies, Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Dystopian
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository

Review:

Edited 12/1/2016

  Disclaimer: I received a copy of Fiend by Peter Stenson through Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest book review. 

I've been eying this book for a while now. I kept seeing it on Blogging for books, and it was calling for me to request it, but I didn't. I finally did a few weeks ago and got it in the mail and instantly had to read it. This might not make sense to anyone but me, but the paperback cover feels like a book about Zombies and Meth should feel- grimy. It's just got this weird texture to it, and that fits with the story (at least in my mind). There's a comment on Goodreads that someone posted that I feel sums up the book perfectly. "An easy description of this book would be Breaking Bad meets Walking Dead. It's almost like AMC went out and commissioned someone to take advantage of two of their hit shows and mash them up."  I haven't seen Breaking Bad, but I assume this book is the love child of the two shows. 

If you can't tolerate vulgar language, this is not the book for you. I, however, thrive in vulgar language so this was right up my alley. This book is a view of what would happen if drug addicts were the only ones left in a Zombie Apocalypse. I don't know about other people, but for Chris and I, talking about how to survive a Zombie Apocalypse is a pretty reoccurring conversation topic. I thought that overall this was a fascinating take on a traditional entertainment trend. I feel like everything I've read in the Zombie genre has been either military-Esq types, hunter-types, or scientist-types surviving. It was kind of interesting to see a take with a group of people who I usually wouldn't think of as survivors. 

Sorry for the big spoiler here, but I like how this one doesn't necessarily end with a happy ending. This doesn't necessarily end with everyone dying, but it doesn't exactly give me the impression of ultimate survival either. It sort of leaves things hanging. Which I think is a more realistic approach to what would happen if Zombies were real. I feel like the book ends a lot like how it begins and comes full circle. I like that it's a stand-alone novel. I'm getting burnt out on series. 

Beyond the Zombies and gore, there's the drug story, and what it does to people. I have no idea if what was portrayed in the story as far as drug use goes is what it's like, but it felt believable to me. There's also a broken romance in the book, which I liked seeing a not-so-perfect love in a book. The relationship is just as unbalanced as KK and Chase's drug use. 

I enjoyed this book, and I'm already forcing Leslie to read it this weekend. We're meeting tomorrow for lunch since it's my birthday. I'm making her borrow it and read it because it's awesome. It's a quick read (about 300 pages), filled with zombies, drugs, and lots of swearing. Aside from the drugs, it's my type of book. Yay Zombies!

Five out of Five moons!

Book Review of Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Goodreads Summary: 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.

Goodreads rating: 3.87 stars from 6,600 ratings
Genres: Science Fiction, Steampunk, Horror, Zombies, Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal, Dystopia
Get the book: Amazon, Book Depository

Review:

Edited 11/24/2016 

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how a Steampunk Zombie world was going to work out, but I was impressed. I was worried that the combination of Zombies, romance, and Victorian Steampunk themes would become tedious to read. Lia Habel made these ideas work well together. 

The story follows Nora, a student at an all girl's academy, but instead of being interested in what all of the other girls at the academy are interested in, Nora is interested in History.  She is always going over her father's old war documents and films. This leads us as readers to being allowed a lot of history about Nora's world, why things are the way they are, and we get to know Nora and her friend Pamela. 

Nora's life is forever changed when she's kidnapped by Zombies. In this Steampunk Victorian world, there are several levels of Zombies. The ones that have captured Nora are at the highest level, where they've kept their humanity. During this kidnapping, we're introduced to Bram, who has made it his mission to protect Nora.

Lia Habel provides a lot of amazing details for the world she's created and even includes some sense of humor. The only thing that bothered me is that each chapter is from a different character's point of view. For most of the book the character switch isn't bad, but towards the end, it makes things confusing. I had to read some chapters multiple times because of it. I enjoyed the story, however, and look forward to reading Dearly, Beloved.

Four out of Five Moons