Review: Monsterland by Michael Okon

Title: Monsterland
Author: Michael Okon
Format: Paperback, 232 pages
Pub. Date: December 19th 2017
Source: Author


Book Description:

Welcome to Monsterland—the scariest place on Earth. Wyatt Baldwin's senior year is not going well. His parents divorce, then his dad mysteriously dies. He’s not exactly comfortable with his new stepfather, Carter White, either. An ongoing debate with his best friends Melvin and Howard Drucker over which monster is superior has gotten stale. He’d much rather spend his days with beautiful and popular Jade. However, she’s dating the brash high-school quarterback Nolan, and Wyatt thinks he doesn’t stand a chance. But everything changes when Wyatt and his friends are invited to attend the grand opening of Monsterland, a groundbreaking theme park where guests can interact with vampires in Vampire Village, be chased by werewolves on the River Run, and walk among the dead in Zombieville. With real werewolves, vampires and zombies as the main attractions, what could possibly go wrong?

Review:

★★★★

This is a great concept for a book. In this novel, humans are fully aware of the existence of monsters like vampires, werewolves, and zombies (also known as the vitally challenged). Not only that, they are the topic of politics, study, and either admiration or abomination. Enter Monsterland: a theme park where humans can step right up and see zombies, vampires, and werewolves in a safe environment, up close and personal. Some say it's genius, others say its cruel. As for me.... I fluctuated between the two.

I sincerely hope that Mr. Okon takes this as a compliment; Monsterland gives me major 1990's RL Stine nostalgia. He was my absolute favorite author as a kid, and this book took me back. But at the same time, this book is like Fear Street all grown up. There's more death, more philosophy, and honestly I was taken by surprise the issues and topics that made me think as a reader. What makes a human more human than a vampire? Are we worthy of more rights? Are they just animals? Is it humane to display other living things in glass cages, or take advantage of the ill?

My opinion switched over the course of the novel. At the beginning, I was like the main character. I was PUMPED for Monsterland. Seeing vampires up close? Sign me up! But then you learn more about how the park works and boy does it get sinister. Like the fake moon that rises every hour that forces the wolves to go through their painful transformations against their will. And then I felt bad. Because that's awful, and of course I wouldn't want anyone to do that.... The moral dilemmas are interesting and unexpected.

The world building is well done. You learn why the monsters are there, about the politics of a mixed species society, about the anticipation of the park. It's a solidly written book. The violence is descriptive and gory (bones breaking, blood oozing) without being gratuitous. There's quite a few characters to follow, but they're pretty distinct from one another so it's easy to follow. The speed of the book is well paced, albeit a little rushed at the end. I think it may be a set up for a second book though, so I get why it ended the way it did.

I liked the twists on classic monsters that Okon brought to the story, such as how vampires turn people and how zombies came to be. It was intriguing (and kind of made me want a more NSFW vampire book, to be completely honest with you).

I'm glad I read this, and I can already tell you this book is underhyped and underrated. This book can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of (relative) age or gender; there's romance, there's high school drama, there's murders, there's zombie decapitations, there's something for everyone.

If you're a fan of young adult horror and vampires that don't sparkle, or books that are set in amusement park/circus/carnival type settings, this book is worth getting. I would read another book in this series in a heartbeat.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Mini Review: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies by Michael P. Spradlin

Title: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies: A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols
Author: Michael P. Spradlin
Format: Paperback, 96 pages
Pub. Date: October 27th 2009
Source: Gift


Book Description:

The snow is falling, the holidays are approaching and…It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies! This delightfully depraved book of classic Zombie Christmas carols by Michael P. Spradlin is guaranteed to spread Yuletide cheer to all those good boys and ghouls who devoured the monster New York Times bestsellers Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and World War Z, as well as fans of 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead. With an introduction by the inimitable Christopher Moore—bestselling author of Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck, and the classic “heartwarming tale of Christmas terror” The Stupidest Angel—It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies is a great gift for stuffing into a Christmas stocking…provided you remove the bloody severed foot first!

Review:

★★

This is an okay little read. As the title suggests, this is a caroling book in which classic Christmas carols that we all know and love are given a twist so that they're about zombies instead.

They're super gory, full of images of rotting flesh and extremities ripping off and words like "ooze" and "goo".

They're not particularly well done- there's a few individual lines of lyrics that are pretty funny or clever. But there's a lot of shoving extra syllables into places where they don't fit, so it's kind of hard to sing along with the lyrics even if you wanted to.

This seems to me like a book fair book, or maybe a bargain book that you see on those last-minute shelves as you are in line to check out at Barnes and Noble.

If you're a 12 year old boys who thinks that blood is cool and farts and boogers are hilarious, then godspeed. This book is for you. It's cute to read through once, but it's not something I'll remember next year, nor will I have an urge to flip through it again.

Review: The Art of Eating Through the Zombie Apocalypse by Lauren Wilson!

Title: The Art of Eating through the Zombie Apocalypse: A Cookbook and Culinary Survival Guide
Author: Lauren Wilson
Illustrator: Kristian Bauthus
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
Pub. Date: October 28th 2014
Source: BenBella Books


Book Description via Goodreads:

Just because the undead’s taste buds are atrophying doesn’t mean yours have to!

You duck into the safest-looking abandoned house you can find and hold your breath as you listen for the approaching zombie horde you’ve been running from all day. You hear a gurgling sound. Is it the undead? No—it’s your stomach.

When the zombie apocalypse tears down life and society as we know it, it will mean no more take out, no more brightly lit, immaculately organized aisles of food just waiting to be plucked effortlessly off the shelves. No more trips down to the local farmers’ market. No more microwaved meals in front of the TV or intimate dinner parties. No, when the undead rise, eating will be hard, and doing it successfully will become an art.

The Art of Eating through the Zombie Apocalypse is a cookbook and culinary field guide for the busy zpoc survivor. With more than 80 recipes (from Overnight of the Living Dead French Toast and It’s Not Easy Growing Greens Salad to Down & Out Sauerkraut, Honey & Blackberry Mead, and Twinkie Trifle), scads of gastronomic survival tips, and dozens of diagrams and illustrations that help you scavenge, forage, and improvise your way to an artful post-apocalypse meal. The Art of Eating is the ideal handbook for efficient food sourcing and inventive meal preparation in the event of an undead uprising.

Whether you decide to hole up in your own home or bug out into the wilderness, whether you prefer to scavenge the dregs of society or try your hand at apocalyptic agriculture, and regardless of your level of skill or preparation, The Art of Eating will help you navigate the wasteland and make the most of what you eat.

Review:

★★★★★

Wow. This book is SO much more than I was anticipating. I was blown away, just like the zombies you'll slay am I right?

This book is one part zombie prepper, one part nature survivalist, and one part gourmet. If you are fighting for your life in a post-apocalyptic world, this is one book you'll want to have in your prep kit.

I learned so much it's insane. Wilson has you covered for every type of zombie scenario. Whether you need to forage for your own food, start a fire, trap your own animals, or loot for supplies- there's tips for it in this book. The amount of knowledge jam packed into this paperback is incredible. Because of it, I know how to pack for a successful escape, cook with no electric, and how to raise and grow my own food. Each bit of advice is coupled with step-by-step illustrations so that you can do it correctly, which I thought was a really helpful touch to add to this book. I have had survival guides that haven't had that luxury.

Speaking of food, this book has a bunch of recipes to help your taste buds survive the impending doom while still maintaining flavor and variety into your diet. Plus, the recipes have pun titles and as you know, I love me a good pun. Some of the recipes included in this guide are: Life is Not Just Peachy-Blueberry Cobbler, Dawn of the Bread Salad, and of course Twinkie Trifle and Squirrel Jerky.

This guide is absolutely fantastic. Whether you're a doomsday prepper, an avid fan of The Walking Dead, or just a camper who wants to live off the land, this is a book you ought to have on your shelf or in your car for an emergency. It'd also make a great gift for any horror/zombie lover or prepper!

Thank you so much to BenBella Books who sent me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Lord of Snow and Ice

Title: Lord of Snow and Ice
Author: Heather Massey
Format: ebook, 251 pages
Pub. Date: October 1st 2013
Source: Author

★★★★

Three and a half stars, rounded up.

Lord of Snow and Ice is a retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. This is a romance that features magic, snow, kingdoms, and a relationship that should not be.

First of all, I have to say that I love the cover. It's simple but pretty, and I think it does well to capture the essence of the story line.

One thing that really impressed me about the story Lord of Snow and Ice is the descriptive writing in regards to both the setting as well as the characters. I very much felt that I was "there", and was easily able to visualize the places and the people that the author wanted me to see. Being someone that loves winter in the first place, I really liked all of the snowy language and that aspect of the setting. This is a place that I enjoyed visiting, so to speak. The story did drag on a bit at times, but it maintained my interest throughout.

The key part of this story that made me disconnect from it overall, is the characters. While well described, I didn't particularly like the main character, Clarysa. I can't really pinpoint why, but I was just often annoyed by her and her actions. She did come into herself a bit as the story progressed, which made it a bit better.

Overall this is an interesting take on the story of Beauty and the Beast that is worth reading just for the setting descriptions alone. Fans of retellings and romance take note, those who find naive characters or fairy tales a deal breaker, look elsewhere. Thanks, Heather, for my copy of this!

Review: Crimson Night by Marie Hall

Title: Crimson Night (Night #1)
Author: Marie Hall
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: September 5th 2013
Source: Netgalley

★★★★

Four stars.

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Crimson Night takes place at a dark, twisted kind of carnival, where one can easily be lured in by all the beautiful people... So lured in that they never quite leave. Pandora, half human, half demon of Lust, tries to be normal despite her setting, clinging for the humane half of her. She works doing what she does best- killing paranormal creatures lilke vampires and werewolves. But something dark is lurking in the shadows, and it chills even her- will she be able to take them once betrayed?

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This is my first Marie Hall book outside of the Kingdom Series, and I was definitely not disappointed.

Pandora was a really likable character. For one, being a slayer made her pretty bad ass, and it's a nice change from the recent onslaught of damsel in distress novels. A big part of why I liked her was because she was always trying to find her humanity. It added depth to her, and it was needed.

One thing I know from reading the Kingdom Series is that Marie Hall has great skill in creating a world that entrances and intrigues the reader. Crimson Night follows in this tradition. The carnival was a really cool place to read about, and I was immediately drawn in to the story.

Another thing about this book that I enjoyed was the steamy aspect. I appreciated that it wasn't a sticky sweet romance, and catered to Pandora's demon of lust half. I also liked that it wasn't a focal point of the story- it's not a book about only a relationship, it's a book that contains a relationship.

I was engrossed in the story from cover to cover, and I definitely wasn't expecting it to end as it did. I will definitely need to pick up the next book in the series once it becomes available. My enjoyment of this book shows that Marie Hall is the real, and she's become one of my auto-read authors.

Thanks to Marie Hall and Netgalley for my chance to read this.

Review: Unfed by Kirsty McKay

Title: Unfed (Undead #2)
Author: Kirsty McKay
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: August 27th 2013
Source: Netgalley/Scholastic

★★★★

Four stars.

Unfed is the sequel to the novel Undead. In this story, Bobby has survived her trip.... But her best (totally not boy-) friend Smitty is missing. She wakes up in a quarantined Scotland, and is told that four survived, her mother not among them. But something doesn't add up. When she finds a clue, she gets new hope, and knows that she has got to find Smitty and fast. It becomes a race against time, the undead, and a few other nasties to solve this unraveling puzzle, and to save the living.

----

I have to admit, Unfed has impressed me. Initially, I was drawn in by the cover. I mean, look at it. That's pretty cool. I was prepared for the spot of disappointment that normally fills me up after I read a zombie book. But this one exceeded expectations, and is honestly the first zombie book I've read so far that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Another problem I thought I might encounter was the fact that this is book two, when I haven't read book one. This didn't make a difference on my reading experience at all. I never felt that I was missing out on previous story or wondering what had previously happened to cause this. Everything is well explained or reintroduced in this sequel.

I love Bobby. She reminds me a little bit of Buffy, in that she knows that she has butts to kick and isn't afraid to do so if it means saving the people that she loves (or humanity. You know, whichever comes first). She's sassy and hilarious. I laughed out loud more than once while reading, and part of this is due to the dark British humor.

There is gore in this book, but that's kind of to be expected in a zombie book- especially one with a girl holding a bloody chainsaw on the cover. I found it to be dark but not overly so, and often times this ew-factor was amplified by some humor. It's a great mix of brain eating and wit.

I definitely recommend this for fans of zombies and especially to young adult readers. This was a refreshing change for me, and I hope you enjoy it too. If you prefer more horror movie type mature zombies, or contrarily, dislike any amount of gore, be warned.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scholastic for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Monster High by Lisi Harrison

Title: Monster High (Monster High #1)
Author: Lisi Harrison
Format: Paperback, 272 pages
Pub. Date: September 5th 2011
Source: Gift from Emily

★★★

Three stars.

Melody needs to get away from Beverly Hills and start over. An ex-dork, she's looking forward to being in the fresh air of Salem, Oregon (to help her asthma) and where people don't know her nerdy past. This is Frankie Stein's first year attending school in Salem too, only for way different reasons. She was only just created in a lab by her parents a few weeks ago, and they now deem her ready for the world. All is well until monster sightings start popping up around town, making the paranormal families who live there uncomfortable, and leaving their youth- like Frankie- torn between staying safe and being proud of who they really are.

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Ughhhhhhhhhh. First, let me just say that despite my age, I love Monster High dolls. I'm in college, and I have Draculaura in a stand on my desk. As one who identifies as goth, I love that this series tries to incorporate classic horror with the girliness of Bratz or Barbies. But these books? Oy.

-This book is essentially a commercial. Now, if the commercials were only for Mattel products, I would be forgiving. It makes sense that a company would plug its own products. But it got to the point that I actually started taking a tally of how many times product brands or designers were dropped into the story. McDonald's, UGGs, Sephora, Tropicana, Bose, the list is endless.

-Along a similar line, celebrities, tv shows, and movies are constantly mentioned. Now when it comes to horror movies and the like, there's a free pass. I think it's cool that these are brought into the story. My main problem with doing this in a book is the fact that it dates the author and the book both. This book was obviously written when Lady Gaga was crazing the US, since she's mentioned a million times. Justin Beiber, The Black Eyed Peas, and countless others make their appearance too. But what happens when they never make another album? It will make the book seem ancient and passe instead of hip.

-Along with that, who exactly is this book series written for? The drama is way more junior high than high school, and yet every one is making out with everyone, making it seem like high school is one big slutty free for all. Ludacris' album "Word of Mouf" is referenced as though it's topical. Hello, that album released over a decade ago. So not voltage. It's as if Lisi Harrison just shoved as many references from as many decades as possible in the hopes that someone somewhere would understand it. From Fred Astaire and Woody Allen to Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift, the pop culture references came off far more desperate and forced than cool and "in the know."


LOOK AT THEM ALL!!

-The aforementioned flaws make the novel come off as extremely fake, especially when mixed with petty characters. The "normies" aren't even believable- yes, in a book filled with monsters, the humans are the unbelievable part of this story. This one girl takes notes on every damn conversation and makes other girls sign documents. No wonder they have no friends, who does that? Once my friend starts being an obsessive freak like that, I say goodbye. Maybe I just went to a relaxed high school, but the girls' cattiness in this book is so melodramatic and over the top. Plus, half of the book is dedicated to their outfits, so you don't even get to learn about most of their personalities, which might have explained why they reacted that way, had the reader been enlightened with that information.

-Why is everyone rich and bougie in Salem? Melody said she left Beverly Hills, but everyone here drives flashy cars and own designer clothes. It makes sense for the old-money monster families, but what about everyone else? If this is such a charming, small town, then why the hell do these kids get credit cards and iPhones and Lexuses? (Maybe I'm a bitter old lady, but REALLY?)

-+ Neither positive or negative, I felt that this book had way too many characters. It was hard to keep track of them. I'm giving the writer the benefit of the doubt, though, since this is the introduction book. The others seem to narrow down a bit from here.

+I LOVED the parts when the author was describing the different monsters. I liked reading about their meetings, their ancestries, their legends. These characters were my favorites, and no doubt that was on purpose. I think that this is a cool twist to horror. No matter who your favorite classic monster is, from Dracula to Jekyll and Hyde, there's a character (or doll) for your enjoyment. It is for these characters only that I wish to read the rest of this series. And though I know this is a kids' series, I can't help but to hope that they'll eat all the human children that made this book half awful.

If you're older than junior high, I wouldn't give this a chance, unless like myself you are a fan of the dolls. If you're a die hard horror fan, enjoy gore, characters with depth, or reading books without watching/reading commercials, then give this book a pass. However, I think young girls will gobble this up, getting the references (at the time of this review, anyway) and feeling as cool as the dolls they play with.

Thanks to my girlfriend for getting this book for me after listening to me complain about wanting to read it <3

How NOT to Train a Zombie by Annie Rachel Cole

Title: How NOT to Train a Zombie
Author: Annie Rachel Cole
Format: Paperback, 182 pages
Pub. Date: February 10th 2013
Source: Word Spelunking blog

★

One star.

The science fair is coming up, and for eight grader Max that means one thing- a chance to become one of the most popular kids in school. The catch? Well.... He's going to have to break at least a dozen rules and laws. But in the end it'll be worth it, if he can just catch and train a zombie... Won't it?

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As with most zombie books, I was hoping that this would be the one to turn me. I thought that by maybe going towards a middle grade age, I would find the zombie genre cuter and more endearing. Unfortunately, my streak of bad zombie books continues. This book is written like an episode of Scooby-Doo... If Shaggy wasn't a cowardly lovable character.

-The lead character, Max, is a jerk. And he continues to be throughout the entire course of the book. It starts with him trying to peer pressure his best friend Chad into doing something against the law- catching a zombie and keeping it in his home. Max somehow paints Chad into the bad guy, even though he stood up for his morals and said that being popular wasn't everything, and that Max should just be himself. Then there's the fact that he hates on his mom for seemingly no reason. He's embarrassed to the point of anger because she.... Gardens? Not drugs, not stripping. But gardening. What?. Then, not unlike Golum from the Lord of the Rings, he becomes obsessed with obtaining a zombie. So, he decides to partner up with the class geek, since his dad is a certified zombie catcher. Eddy, the geek, makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with zombies, and yet Max emotionally manipulates him by using his dead mother into doing things that will only benefit Max. Time goes by, and a zombie is eventually obtained. Even when the geek agrees to help Max despite their falling out Max is still rude and insulting. Let the zombies get him, I say.

-Stemming off of that, this book isn't very believable. And yes, I am saying that about a zombie book. But the surrealism has naught to do with the undead, but the living. Max is supposedly this bottom of the totem pole level of popularity. Yet, when the bully (using gay jokes, naturally) starts trouble with him, he smarts off. Not only that, but he smarts off and then doesn't get his butt kicked..... If he's such a weenie, he wouldn't have been so, forgive my language, ballsy. And even if he was, the bully would have NO DOUBT found him. No convenient distractions or anything. Bullies fight. That's what they do. And then there's his mother's involvement with his friendships. My mother never questioned me when I stopped hanging out with people, just when I started hanging out with new ones.

-This book, ultimately, had a negative tone to it throughout. Max is a jerk, his best friend is somehow portrayed as one, his mom is portrayed as one, Eddy is snippy, and his dad is a villain out of no where (who actually uses the phrase "meddling brats"). It all seemed a bit thrown together and dark, with no major happy resolve...

-Unless you count the epilogue, which I do not, since it was essentially just a few pages to connect loose ends that weren't handled in the actual plot.

-+There's a few grammatical errors in the text, but it wasn't enough to deter from the story.

+Despite my issues with this story, I did like that each chapter started with a Texas state law or public service announcement regarding the dangers of zombies and the consequences of interacting with them. It gave a clear insight into the type of society this book is set in, and how much trouble Max was going to be in if he got caught.

Maybe I'm just a cynical old person now who can't appreciate kid's literature. However, I couldn't get past Max's insufferable-ness, and it disconnected me from the majority of the book. If I were to recommend this, it would be to kids/young adults in junior high, namely boys. I appreciate the concept of this story, but for me it just fell flat.

Thank you to Word Spelunking blog and the author for my copy.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth (The Forest of Hands and Teeth #1)
Author: Carrie Ryan
Format: Paperback, 308 pages
Pub. Date: February 9th 2010
Source: Libby Blog

★★★

2.5 Stars, Rounded up.

For as long as Mary has remembered, there has only been The Forest of Hands and Teeth. There is only their village, only the Sisterhood, and the Guardians. They are all that remains since the Return. Their village is gated in, keeping the Unconsecrated in the forest. The Unconsecrated were once friends and family, but no longer. Once the bite sinks in, and the infection takes hold, it's only a matter of time before you're one of them- a zombie. But Mary's mother has told her stories, stories of a large body of water called an ocean, and men who have walked on the moon. After she learns of a few secrets that the Sisterhood is keeping from the village, she has to wonder if her mom wasn't so crazy after all. She must decide how much she's ready to risk- her love, her family, herself- in order to find out what lays beyond the forest.

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This book was very difficult for me to rate. I am not a fan of the zombie genre, as a whole, and was hoping that this would be the book that would finally satiate me. Sadly, it wasn't. The book wasn't badly written, nor was it amazing. I found it to be average, and I hope to explain why that is below.

-From the beginning, I felt a major disconnect to the main character. For this reason, I felt disjointed throughout the rest of the novel. I often disagreed with her decisions, and was more often than not indifferent to her as a whole. I found myself agreeing more often with the friends/family that told her to grow up and get real. Maybe I'm just a cynical adult these days.

+That being said, I appreciate that Mary turns into a bad ass when she needs to. When people that she know become infected, she doesn't hesitate to turn into the killer that her village trained her to be.

-I felt like this book was a prequel, not a series-starter. The first two-thirds or so passed by really slow for me, and I was bored for a long time. But in the last third, it kicked into gear, and it seemed like the story actually began.

+The story is very descriptive. I was able to picture the scenes, especially the Forest, very well, and it did help to make me commit to finishing this book. If not for the well written details, I probably would have abandoned it.

-One problem I did have with the writing was the time lapses between chapters. Sometimes it was just over night, sometimes it was a month or a week. It was easy enough to catch up on once the author explained how much time had elapsed, but the inconsistencies did bug me a bit.

Upon finishing this book, I am primarily indifferent. I won't be adding it to my list of favorite books, that's for sure. But, it wasn't a waste of time reading it either. So, my opinion is this: If this book comes into your possession, read it. If it does it, I don't think you're missing out on much. If you like zombies, you may like this book a hell of a lot more than I did. If you're a fan of dystopian books, you may be a bit disappointed. As it stands now, I'm unsure if I would like to continue the series. I think it may be better than the first one, since all of the back story appears to be out of the way.

Thank you to Libby Blog for my copy.

Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris

Title: Bad Taste in Boys (Kate Grable #1)
Author:Carrie Harris
Format: Hardcover, 201 pages
Pub. Date: July 12th 2011
Source: The Windy Pages blog

★★

Two stars.

Kate Grable is your typical high school geek, on the cusp of having a social life thanks to her best friends. She helps her high school's football team, putting her medical knowledge to the test so that she can have experience when she applies to pre-med programs in college. Of course, being around hotties like Aaron all the time isn't necessarily a bad perk to the job. But when the coach asks her to administer unlabeled shots of steroids to his players, Kate refuses and a red flag waves. Soon, the boys who were injected start turning into zombies, and Kate and her friends have to stop it before it's too late.

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-Meh.

-I didn't like Kate. She seemed like a girl I would have rolled my eyes at a lot in high school. She's constantly spouting medical knowledge and facts, correcting other people. It bugs me. Someone should remind her that she's in high school, not college. Tone it back a bit. I also didn't like how this knowledge took away her emotions. Her best friend's boyfriend gets shot and Kate thinks his mom is overreacting by crying, because it wasn't a fatal blow. I'd like to think my mom was cry if I was shot in the armed forces, thanks.

-The actual story is just what you think it is. The zombies weren't creative at all- the offcolor, cannibalistic, 'braaaaiiiiins' moaning zombies. Ho hum. I like my zombies scary, and in this girly YA book, they were more comical than anything. I respect that this was the author's intent, but it's not my kind of story.

+That being said, the cover is gorgeous. It would definitely catch my eye on a shelf.

Overall, I just found this beneath my age level. If I were in junior high, I probably would have loved it. So, please take my review with a grain of salt. It wasn't badly written, nor was it a waste of time. It's just a book that I personally wouldn't read again, or purchase.

I recommend it for female junior high/high school YA fans who want a fast read about zombie football players. If you like scary stories or are a more advanced reader, you might want to pass this one up.

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Thank you to The Windy Pages blog for my copy.