Book By Its Cover - Dust

Today's book by its cover review is Dust by Joan Frances Turner.

Synopsis:

Nine years ago, Jessie had a family. Now, she has a gang.
Nine years ago, Jessie was a vegetarian. Now, she eats very fresh meat.
Nine years ago, Jessie was in a car crash and died. Nine years ago, Jessie was human.
Now, she's not.


After she was buried, Jessie awoke and tore through the earth to arise, reborn, as a zombie. Jessie's gang is the Fly-by-Nights. She loves the ancient, skeletal Florian and his memories of time gone by. She's in love with Joe, a maggot-infested corpse. They fight, hunt, dance together as one - something humans can never understand. There are dark places humans have learned to avoid, lest they run into zombie gangs.


But now, Jessie and the Fly-by-Nights have seen new creatures in the woods - things not human and not zombie. A strange new illness has flamed up out of nowhere, causing the undeads to become more alive and the living to exist to the brink of death. As bits and pieces of the truth fall around Jessie, like the flesh off her bones, she'll have to choose between looking away or staring down the madness - and hanging onto everything she has come to know as life...

Helena's thoughts:

I love this cover.  The leaf is gorgeous and stuck in that limbo that all zombies are...between life and death, between green and crispy.  The title is pretty nifty for a zombie novel.  Although I don't really like the weird white fuzzy figure at the bottom; reminds me of the abominable snowman.

Oh lord!  Can you imagine?  What if the crazy yeti was a zombie?!  I smell a wonderfully awful tongue in cheek story idea! ;p  Looking forward to reading Dust and enjoying the top half of this cover.

Lily's thoughts:

Cover, schmover. This book is about ZOMBIES! Zombies may not hit the same hot scale that vampires, werewolves, and shifters (oh my!) do, but they are completely kick ass all on their own. They don't need to be hot. Why? Because they're fucking AWESOME, that's why.

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system. As for the cover, I'm afraid it doesn't really do much for me. As simple as it is, the images that are there conflict. I like the leaf, slowly disintegrating, because it speaks to the same process of life, death, and decay that all things experience, including zombies who take those steps a bit out of order. But then the bottom of the cover kills the symbolic imagery at the top. What is it supposed to be? Fog? Steam? Mist? Wind? Condensation on a shower door? I just don't get it and instead of adding to the simple yet powerful image of the decaying leaf, it detracts with its confusing nature.

Love the concept of the book. Can't wait to read about zombie gangs. Not a fan of the cover.

Review - World War Z by Max Brooks

I've hesitated to review this next book. And by "hesitated," I mean I've been putting it off for several years. It's easy to review books you hate. You make a few snarky remarks, warn others to dodge the bullet you've taken, and move on. It's easy to review books you like. You chat them up a bit and encourage your friends to check them out too. But books you truly love, books that haunt your memory years after the initial reading, those are always difficult to review. How can you succinctly explain the awesome power of a work that came out of nowhere and grabbed you, refusing to let go? It's difficult, to say the least. Even so, I'm going to try.

World War Z:An Oral History of the Zombie War kicks ass.


Well, I think that about wraps it up...

You want more? Oh, ok. How about I let the book speak for itself?

From Barnes and Noble:
"The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.

Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”"

The synopsis doesn't lie. World War Z reads like a collection of firsthand, survivor accounts of a fictionalized time when an undead menace nearly overtook our world. Each story is powerful in it's own way, whether it's a foreign smuggler's recollection of those first panicked weeks when the infection spread, or a suburban housewife's tale of the living dead crashing through her living room window. Some are personal tales, an individual person's encounter with the undead, and some take on a more global perspective, like the Australian astronaut who remained in space to keep necessary global satellites operational, but was forced to watch the destruction of the planet from afar.

I can't review each individual tale. Just read them. Read all of them. Then store the book on your shelf because in a little while, you're going to want to read them again.

I know this review sucks, but what can I say? This book is at once tragic, and hopeful, and funny, and more than anything else it makes you think. It takes a fictional menace and presents it in a way that makes it seem not just plausible, but utterly, terrifyingly real.

In short, World War Z kicks ass.

Rating: 5/5

~Lily

Review - Flip This Zombie by Jesse Petersen

I think it only fair to warn you the original title of this blog post was "Holy F**king Sh*t! Tales of zombie guinea pigs and more!"

I know, I know. Watch your language. It's something I've heard since fourth grade when a teacher first overheard me calling a little boy on the playground a dickhead. In my defense, he was a dickhead. In my further defense, the book I'm about to review makes full use of the terms I'm most frequently chastised for...and several of the main characters, including an 11 year old boy with a potty mouth to rival South Park, are also frequently admonished to watch their language.

And besides, who can pay attention to something as silly as language when there are zombie guinea pigs to be discussed. Can you sense my excitement?

Zombie. Guinea. Pigs.

(Note: do NOT do a google image search of "zombie guinea pigs" without filters. There are some sick people out there.)

Where do I even start? How about with the title. I just finished the second installment of Jesse Petersen's Living with the Dead series, Flip This Zombie. The first in the series, Married with Zombies, is a delightful comedic romp the lovely Helena reviewed just last month. Flip This Zombie picks up right where Married left off, charging full speed ahead through a series of twists, turns, and zombie mayhem that will have you finishing the book in one sitting.

Sarah and David, the formerly dysfunctional couple who opened Married on the brink of divorce, have found zombieland capable of doing what their marriage counselor couldn't - repairing their relationship and forming them into a team. A team of happily married zombie exterminators, to be exact. Together they prowl the badlands of Arizona, picking up the odd zombie extermination job, when they encounter something far more deadly than your average, run shamble of the mill zombie. The zombies, it seems, are evolving. But who, or what, is behind these newer, stronger, "bionic" zombies? And what happens when the greatest danger of all is not the undead, but the twisted desires of the living?

Flip This Zombie is a fast read. I finished it in one sitting, and enjoyed every moment. While it has it's share of funny, sarcastic humor, it is also touching in places. Sarah and David are real people, with real flaws and faults, who sometimes let their pride and stubbornness get in their way. But they also realize their short comings, and try to make the best of a life spun far out of their control. So, as much as this is a lighthearted comedy, it also has a strong message about hope and the endurance of humanity even at the brink of extinction.

If anything, I wish the story was longer. I also wish it fleshed out the "bionic" zombies, and their abilities, a bit more. The resolution came quickly after a long build up, but it was satisfying nonetheless.

And seriously, zombie guinea pigs. Do you understand how hard it is NOT to spoil the final scene with the zombie pigs? Squeaking, ferocious, undead rodents, intent on human flesh but still trapped within tiny, fur-covered bodies. The mental pictures, they amuse me.

Go forth. Buy this. Read this. Comment here about your love of the series. If you still have reservations, you can read the first chapter for free courtesy of Jesse's website. Then you too can fall in love only to be tortured by the 6 month wait until the third installment, Eat, Slay, Love, becomes available in June.

Rating: 4.5/5


~Lily

Happy New Year!

The makers of Jägermeister would like to invite you to party like a zombie this new year. We at Vamps R Us endorse this message (as long as you're of legal age).



I don't know why zombies would insist upon ice cold shots of jager, and frankly I prefer not to think too much about it (it brings up imagery of other zombie preferred snacks, like brains), but I enjoyed the sign at my local liquor store and felt compelled to share.

Here's to partying like a zombie, and NOT feeling like one the morning after!

Happy New Year,
Lily

Chomping at the Bit: 2011 style

Here are just a handful of upcoming releases for the new year!  I can't wait to get my eyes into these!

Flip This Zombie, the second part of Jesse Petersen's Living with the Dead Series is set to release on January 3rd.  Better get those slaying shoes on!








Larissa Ione is coming out with the first installment in her Lords of Deliverance series: Eternal Rider on March 29th.  I adore her Demonica series so I have high hopes for her future novels!

 
Charlaine Harris is at it again!  Her eleventh book of the Southern Vampire Series, Dead Reckoning, is slated to hit shelves on May 3rd.  I am excited to see what mayhem Sookie will be stuck in next.









Karen Marie Moning will be wrapping up her five part Fever Series on January 18th with Shadowfever.  I am currently reading the fourth novel, Dreamfever.  Spectacular is what immediately comes to mind!










And of course, JR Ward is coming out with another Black Dagger Brotherhood novel: Payne's story, Lover Unleashed, on March 29th.






What novels are you aching to sink your teeth into?

~Helena

Wishing you a Vampy New Years

San Francisco, the city of Rice-A-Roni, is boasting a vampire tour tonight!  Tickets can be purchased here.

Blurb taken directly from webpage:

"Join us on this exciting tour on New Year's Eve for an experience you will never forget! You might call it, "History with a Twist." San Francisco's Nob Hill has holds many secrets of the night! Discover the mysteries from an exotic 127-year old Vampire who tells tales of Grace Cathedral.

For over 100 years, the upper class Nob Hill area has been home to San Francisco's rich and famous citizens. Mighty railroad barons built their mansions atop the hills. Some of the cities finest hotels and restaurants are there today.

But beneath all this wealth and opulence lies a secret: vampires live in tunnels below here. That's according to an exotic 127-year-old vampire who sleeps during the day in Grace Cathedral. Our Vampire is the main character and guide of the tour as you learn the darker side of San Francisco's Nob Hill."

Sounds like an interesting unique way to ring in the new year!

~Helena

Recommendsday Review - Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

Today's Recommendsday review is Hollowland by Amanda Hocking.

I came across this gem when searching for cheap books for my Nook.  Hollowland promised zombies, romance, and plenty of action; I was hooked at "zomb-".  The price is crazy affordable, just 99 cents more than free; and nestled nicely into my college student budget.  Hocking is a very talented author who boasts many ebooks for the Kindle and Nook.  Along with a love for paranormal romance, Hocking and I are mere months apart in age.  That's right, Amanda Hocking is 26!  I am in awe of all she has accomplished in less than a year (according to her blog) and her success is very inspiring.  Now onward to my review!

Remy is on a mission in zombie infested waters.  After a horrific invasion of her compound by zombies, Remy's little brother is whisked away to another installation miles away.  Remy is desperate to find her brother and desperate times call for desperate zombie ass-kicking moves.  (Yes I just morphed two cliched phrases within a few sentences...envy my brainwaves).  Teamed up with a spoiled tween girl, Harlow, a rockstar, Lazlo, and a medical student, Blue; Remy fights her way toward her goal.  Humor and sarcasm pepper the nailbiting action.  I devoured this book in two sittings, only stopping for that pesky responsibility known as classwork.

The character development is superb.  I absolutely loved Remy with all her fire and determination.  Rip roaring action is around every page.  Speaking of roaring, did I mention there is a zombie eating lion?!  I didn't, well hot dog!  I think I about busted a gut when Ripley first entered the fray.  Honestly, in a nut shell, I completely adored this book.  My only misgiving is the ending; it seems very abrupt and left me wanting more closure with the characters.  I am hoping that means a sequel is on its way...fingers crossed! :)


Rating: 5/5

~Helena

Just because...

I was rummaging through my laptop and came across a season 3 true blood promotional poster.  I smiled.  I felt all warm and fuzzy.  I heard the blood in my veins sing...then I posted. :)

~Helena

Book By Its Cover - Waking the Witch

Today's book by its cover review is Waking the Witch by Kelley Armstrong.


Synopsis:

At twenty-one, Savannah Levine-orphaned daughter of a notorious dark witch and an equally notorious cutthroat sorcerer-considers herself a full-fledged member of the otherworld. The once rebellious teen has grown into a six-foot-tall, motorcycle-riding jaw-dropper, with an impressive knowledge of and ability to perform spells. The only problem is, she's having a hard time convincing her adoptive parents, Paige and Lucas, to take her seriously as an adult. She's working as the research assistant at the detective agency they founded, and when they take off on a romantic vacation alone, leaving her in charge, Savannah finds herself itching for a case to call her own. (She's also itching for Adam, her longtime friend and colleague, to see her as more than just a little girl, but that's another matter.)

Suddenly, Savannah gets the chance she's been waiting for: Recruited by another supernatural detective, she travels to Columbus, Washington, a small, dying town. Two troubled young women have been found in an abandoned warehouse, murdered. Now a third woman's dead, and on closer inspection small details point to darker forces at play. Savannah feels certain she can handle the case, but with signs of supernatural activity appearing at every turn, things quickly become more serious- and far more dangerous-than she realizes.

Helena's Thoughts:

LOVE this cover.  I find myself drawn to the blue/green urban covers most, purple power color second, ha.  Storm clouds seem to gather energy from the radiating model, or vice versa...regardless she seems connected to nature in a raw way that is highly appealing.  Bad ass motorcycle - check!  Bad ass shoes - check!  Lack of typical black leather cladness - check!  Yay, finally a heroine that looks freaking awesome and formidable in a pair of jeans and a wife beater.  The tree in the background is pretty sweet too.  I adore this cover if you haven't caught on to that yet!  Stellar job Armstrong!

Lily's Thoughts:

(Yea Lily, I decided to post this without you.  Bite me! ;p  I misses you)

Happy Holidays!

(you can buy this wonderful creation here)

~Helena