Warm Bodies

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.


Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

*May Contain Spoilers*

Isaac Marion discovers the cure to the zombie apocalypse in his novel, Warm Bodies. And surprisingly, it's the will to stay alive, the will to change, and the desire to love. R is the main character and for a zombie, he's only half bad. 

Readers may have a difficult time connecting with R because as a member of the Dead, he can't remember anything about his life. Without a past to build a foundation on, readers will struggle to connect with R. But, he is constantly fighting to regain any semblance of a life - therefore, a different foundation is created. 

R's story is one of hope, love, and faith. He refuses to give up hope for a better way of being a living dead creature. He finds that he can still fall in love and he has faith that the Dead and the Living can come together, building a new world while helping the Dead population reverse their transition. 

The plot of the novel is very intriguing, but doesn't pick up speed until the second half of the book. The main movement is how R's actions affect other members of the Dead. When he saves the heroine, Julie, it causes a tidal wave of change to hit the Dead population. Highly recommended novel for those who have strong stomachs as the details do get a little bloody. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

Warm Bodies: A Novel

Black Earth: The End of Innocence

When the stars fall, few will stand...

On the evening of his high school graduation, Nathan Pierce collapses on stage. Plagued with visions of a strange girl intent on killing herself, he wonders if his mental instability is a consequence of the deadly car accident he was in days earlier.

Heather Rhodes, wracked with guilt because of the fatal wreck, finds she is unable to forgive herself and begins to question her own beliefs. While the death of a newborn weighs on her heart, on her mind is the strange gift she was able to use to protect her and Nathan in the accident…a gift that Heather wonders may have just been a figment of her imagination.

Cynthia Ruin, aka The Pink Rabbit, decides that her high school graduation night should be used for partying, not traveling down the football field. At a nightclub in Scottsdale, Cynthia finds more than she bargains for when a stranger from her past decides to exact his revenge on her for a prior rejection.

Nathan, Heather, and Cynthia come to realize that their current problems are nothing compared to the stars falling from the sky. During the global crisis, the President of the United States makes it her personal mission to keep the country on the right track to becoming a world superpower, while a hostile entity known only as Absolute threatens her administration.

Meanwhile, word starts to spread that the falling stars may not be stars at all...

*May Contain Spoilers*

Black Earth: End of the Innocence by David N. Alderman is a novel about the apocalypse with a Christian theme and rather mature content. There are several characters that the book revolves around: Heather, Nathan, Pearl, and Howard. Each of them plays a complicated role in the plot, creating a mysterious apocalypse-oriented book. 

Heather is a young girl who recently discovered that she can "shield" herself from harm. While at a church camp, the invasion begins for her. Readers will respect her strength and her loyalty to her close friend, Nathan. 

Nathan seems to have the largest role in the book, as he is meant for "something great." Though, as this is the first book in the series, readers don't yet know what that means. Readers will connect with his survivalist attitude, but doubt him when naivety clouds his reason. 

Pearl is an immortal being whose mother is the demon Queen. Though she's very obviously against her mother's actions and motives. Her mission seems to involve Nathan, but readers aren't given any more specific information. A bond will be formed with Pearl based on her goal of preventing her mother from destroying the earth. 

Howard is a time traveler from the future, where everything is destroyed by the demons. He's come back to help Earth survive. Readers will come to like Howard because of his goals and how hard he fights to make sure he reaches them. 

There are more characters that play important roles in the novel, but I believe these four are the ones readers will connect with the most. The plot draws an obvious line between who's good and evil, letting readers pick a side, though the writing style works against the villains. 

Overall, Black Earth: End of the Innocence is a very interesting novel that combines alien invasion with the Christian apocalypse. Though I'm not sure I'll continue the series, the novel did keep me reading. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

Black Earth: End of the Innocence

Teaser Tuesday (51)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Black Earth (Kindle Loc. 2070-72)
   - David N. Alderman

"Because I can't lost another person I love, Nathan!" She began sobbing madly, collapsing to her knees. "I already lost Daniel. I can't lose Mom or Dad too. I can't lose..."

Angelfall

It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

**

Wow. 

Susan Ee has completely stunned me with her (excellent) novel, Angelfall. As the world erupts in chaos after the angel apocalypse, Ee enchants readers with her story about Penryn, a teenage girl who has vowed to save her sister from the angels wrath. Which involves her breaking into their aerie without getting herself killed. 

Penryn, who is also the narrator throughout the novel, is a remarkable character. She's strong, loyal, brave, focused, and knows a thing or two about martial arts. Readers will love her determination to save her little sister and side with her immediately, no second thoughts. 

One of the greatest things about first-person writing is that the reader gets to be in the shoes of the main character. Ee uses this technique and it creates a strong connection that only intensifies as the novel continues, making it an effortless task to connect with Penryn as she battles toward hell to save her family. Even her flaws help build the reader/character bond. The premise that Penryn isn't the perfect heroine makes her more relatable and likeable. 

The plot line throughout the novel was very simple, which helped keep the novel well-paced through the side line stories. Penryn must save her sister, no matter what. The obstacles that appeared were surprising, and sometimes a little gory, but they all helped Penryn move toward her goal, preparing her in various ways. 

Impressive debut novel. Now when does the equally impressive sequel come out? Because I need to know what happens next...

rating: 5/5 cups

Angelfall (Penryn and the End of Days)

The Transformed

Dr. Robert Newman is a man obsessed--obsessed with the death of his wife from a rare genetic disease--obsessed with finding a cure to save her sister from the same fate. After years of single-minded effort, he has developed a revolutionary gene therapy procedure. Now the most devastating of human diseases can be stopped in their tracks. But within weeks, his discovery has unleashed a deadly cancer epidemic. His life is threatened and everyone he loves becomes his enemy. As he searches frantically for clues, he discovers a long dormant secret hidden within the human genome. 


Dr. Newman realizes that malignant transformation in human cells is not a random event. The marked increase in malignancies has a more horrific explanation. Silent for millennia, Cancer is now awakening as a rationale entity with an agenda of its own. And unless it can be stopped, no one--least of all Dr. Robert Newman--has long to live. - Goodreads 

*May Contain Spoilers*

Oh my scary! The Transformed by Raphael Hirsch is a novel epidemic. The entire book has completely dumbfounded me. The science background that I have has instilled within me a need for explanation, documentation, and theoretical support. Well, Hirsch gives so much more than that. 

The idea that we, as humans, could be sharing our bodies with a parasitic organism that was "created" the same time that we were is unbelievable. Until Hirsch explains it to you, in depth. Dormant for thousands, perhaps millions, of years, it now chooses to come out of the DNA, so to speak, and wage war against humans. 

A plot line like this is so creative and fantastic, I fail to do it justice. I found myself wondering, countless times, how the hell Hirsch was going to jump the hurdles of this plot, and each time I was amazed, and impressed. And the characters, oh goodness. What to say? And I never run out of words... 

The characters are human (until they aren't...) carrying emotional baggage and a hope to achieve their dreams. Bob Newman, one of the main characters, is a ball of tense emotions that he refuses to express. The death of his wife destroyed him and all he can focus on, as a scientist, is curing her disease. Readers will connect with him on the foundation of love and what it does to everyone it touches. 

Ellen is a wonderful, strong female character. Which is more than needed in novel overrun with men. As a med student, she helps Newman and other characters explore their deepest thoughts while pushing them to make the right decisions when faced with absolute human extinction. As a character, she coincides with the motherly role while Newman and his friend, Malcom, face the collapse of the world. She's the support system, cheering them on. A role that is vital in an apocalyptic visionary novel.  

Overall, I think Hirsch's writing style made the novel. He went into just enough eloquent detail that anyone reading this novel will understand it. It was simple and to the point with only key elements included. And trust me, everything in the novel is key. It was an astounding read, even if it did scare the daylights out of me. 

The Transformed

on Amazon

rating: 4/5 cups

Hollowland (The Hollows, #1)

"This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies. - Goodreads Blurb

* *

As an Amanda Hocking fan, as soon as I saw Hollowland on Amazon, I bought it without another thought. It's a rather short book and a very easy read. Three and a half hours of my time were spent devouring it completely. I couldn't stop reading and it was such an exhilarating ride through the waste lands of Zombie Conquered America. 

The main character, Remy, is, for lack of a better word, a badass. She isn't afraid to get her hands dirty or covered in greenish zombie blood goo. She's such a strong character that it isn't a surprise the other characters want to stay with her, wherever she goes. If someone's going to survive this zombie infested world - it will be Remy. 

The thing I like most is that Remy has a soft side, even if she refuses to show it. Remy acknowledges that if she lets her emotions take over then she might as well stop fighting. Throughout her journey across America to find her little brother (who is said to be in a quarantine), Remy loses a lot of people that she had started to care about. She admits that if she took the time to grieve, she'd give up. So she keeps going. 

Amanda Hocking's plot throughout this novel was incredible. Remy's quarantine is attacked by zombies and in an attempt to find her brother amidst the chaos, she escapes death. She learns that her brother was taken to another quarantine and Remy vows that she will find him. Along her way, Remy teams up with others who join her trek hoping to find somewhere safe to live. Which allows Hocking to add a sideline romance to her twisting plot. 

The only negative thing I have to say about this novel is the editing. There were more than a few places where words didn't make sense or were completely left out. But I'm trying not to hold it against the novel. It was an action packed thrill ride that consumed me. And there's a second one... 

Hollowland

on Amazon

rating: 4/5 cups