From Goodreads: Someone’s been a very bad zombie.

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steroids are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe–not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate!

She’s got to find an antidote–before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town. . . and stay hormonally human.

Bad Taste in Boys is a super fun summer read. The plot is fast moving and the conclusion albeit predictable was interesting to read on the pages. Kate is an interesting character but with all characters in this book I felt she lacked depth. The story itself is light and heavy on the comedy so the lack of depth in character while noted didn’t inhibit me from enjoying the plot.

The book is zombie fluff and fodder for a great teen zombie movie but I think the book failed in bringing that B movie vibe to the page. I felt many things were unobtainable or just didn’t make sense to the plot and the character was self confident one page then lacking confidence the next which very well relates to many teens I am sure.

I do not have a medical degree, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night and I felt the solution to the zombie problem was completely out of left field, not at all possible based on the drug families mentioned and gave pause to just how far we are supposed to believe the character is incredible tres science chic when the answer to the whole virus/problem is incredibly simple (and unbelievable) but it took Kate the whole book to figure it out.

I am not saying at all that I disliked the book, it was an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon as long as you don’t think too much about the logistics or start looking for depth where there is none to be found. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to zombie story lovers and horror movie aficionados.

Harper Voyager A is for Apocalypse,
B is for Buried,
C is for Cannibalistic . . .

A stunningly illustrated and hilarious A-to-Z guide that bears witness to the zombie horde as it slowly overruns us. Assemble a motley crew of any survivors you can. Barricade your doors and windows against the relentless shambling masses hungry for your flesh. Grab a hammer, chain saw, clothing iron, or whatever household weapon is at hand . . .

The war has begun!

I have to admit this is my first graphic novel. I have however this past two years fallen in love with zombie lore and read / watched almost anything I could get my grubby little paws on about it. I read this graphic novel in advance form on my computer in Adobe Digital Editions so that I could see the full glory of the art.

I loved the way the author took us through the alphabet with zombie-esque and apocalyptic style terms. “O is for OMIGOD get it off of me.” and so on. The art was a fantastic side character all to itself. It was grotesque and to be completely honest I started at it longer that it took me to read the words. This image is totally one of the most mild in the novel

For true graphic novel aficionados or lovers of all things zombie I suggest this book wholeheartedly. It is something that I am hoping to find today on my outing to the book store. It is one that has a high re-readability factor and it’s great to take off the shelf at a dinner party as a conversation starter.

I downloaded a digital copy of this advance copy for free in return for a fair review from NetGalley.

I picked Rot and Ruin up at Book Expo America back in May. I read it in August and feel absolutely in love with Maberry’s story telling. We follow Benny through his coming of age in a post apocalyptic setting filled with ‘Zoms’. Benny despises his older brother Tom who is not as cool as the other zombie hunters like Charlie. He is in Benny’s eyes weak, after all he left his parents and ran with Benny on First Night instead of saving the whole family.

Benny has it pretty good in his town, he is fed, he doesn’t have to see any zombies and although he wants to learn about killing the zoms and is quite bloodthirsty for some action his gym coach tells him to talk to Tom that killing is something you should learn at home. Being fifteen means Benny has to get a job or go to half rations and pretty much starve to death. We watch Benny and his friends as they work for a day at several of the available jobs. While his friends find placement Benny can’t find that perfect job so he takes Tom up on his offer of apprenticeship to zombie hunt.

With First Night being recent past history people hire the zombie hunters to put their infected family members to rest when they are past the point of grieving and want to do the right thing about them. Tom shows us that while it is easy to hate zombies that they were once regular people too.

Rot and Ruin has a great dystopic vibe. Technology and electricity and all our creature comforts are still there but survivors of First Night are too afraid to use them. They blame technology for the fall of society. The book also challenges social issues, is it okay to torture the zombies for fun?

If you are a fan of Carrie Ryan, George Romero or Mira Grant you will love Rot and Ruin. Jonathan Maberry is the author of Patient Zero as well.

FTC Disclosure: I picked this book up at BEA for free.

From Goodreads: The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED.

NOW, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives-the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

So if you read my blog often you will know I really don’t care for zombies. The whole eating of brains and infection freaks me out and the thought that labs somewhere could be working on a virus that causes this if some scientist forgets to close the door after he comes into the office really makes me paranoid.

I have to say I devoured this book faster than a virus infected zombie finishes his meal of brains. I was in awe of the world building set in the not so distant future and the fact that a lot of the story took place in the Bay Area where I happen to live gave it an added bonus, for I am a visual reader and it’s easier to imagine places you have been.

The characters were written fantastically, the different viruses how they reacted, the different ways people reanimated. The fanatic religious element, betrayals, the mystery and the story line had me hooked. I am dying to get my hands on the next book. I need to know what happens next, and in a good way not in a “ARGH open ending way”.

The book cover shows an RSS icon and I was wondering why? It made no sense to me until I opened the book. When the original outbreak of the virus happened the news agencies were playing it off as college kids joking around. Only the bloggers of the world had the means to tell the truth. The bloggers reports along with the lessons learned in George Romero’s movies is pretty much what kept people alive. Who ever thought George Romero would be a national hero? That was an epic bonus to the book.

I am going to add a few quotes from the book here, and this novel has the most awesome website for a book I have seen this year. The Feed Book.com

pg. 96“Do you remember the guy who tried to kill George Romero with Zombie Pit Bulls?”
“That’s an urban myth Buffy. It’s been disproven about ninety times”.

pg. 192 “I like having sufficient lung capacity to run away from the living dead,” I replied deadpan. “I’m serious, cigarettes won’t give you cancer but they cause emphysema, and I have no desire to get eaten by a zombie just because I was trying to look cool.”

If you like Carrie Ryan books, George Romero movies, or zombies in general you have to grab a copy of Feed.

Carrie Ryan created a world many generations after the zombie apocalypse (hey we all know its coming with all the wonky stuff they are doing in labs now) and what life is like for the few who survived the initial outbreak.

Author Carrie Ryan

I gave this 4 out of 5 stars only because I wish we would have learned more of the secrets along the way. So many things were hinted about but left open. Maybe that is resolved in the next book which seems to pick up with Mary’s daughter possibly from the description.

THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES

Coming March 2010

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She’s content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she’s ever known, and all she needs for happiness.

But life after the Return is never safe, and there are threats even the Barrier can’t hold back.

Gabry’s mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don’t stay buried. And now, Gabry’s world is crumbling.

One night beyond the Barrier…

One boy Gabry’s known forever and one veiled in mystery…

One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.

Gabry knows only one thing: if she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother’s past.