Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) by Gena Showalter

Description

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish.

I'm a little disappointed by this book. Mostly because the title is misleading for 2 reasons. 1) It really doesn't have anything to do with Alice in Wonderland except for the name Alice and a cloud shaped like a white rabbit and 2) They're not real zombies. They want to eat your soul, not your flesh. They're more like evil spirits than zombies.... Sombies. Oh, and only some people can see them. Another fun twist. They're spirits so you can only fight them in spirit form, but if your spirit is injured it shows up on your body. Am I the only one who thinks this is unfair?

As I was reading I thought it would have been better if the characters were adults. I know it's a YA book, but why are teenagers doing all of the work? On top of the fighting something not that many people can see, they still have to go to school and get in trouble. Also, it made me feel pervy having a crush on fictional High School characters with douchey nicknames like "Bronx" and "Frosty." I did think it was entertaining anyway and it was a quick read, but for the most part I felt like it was underdeveloped and the writing could have been improved. Just because it's a book for teenagers doesn't mean that it needs to be cheesy at all.

I guess I was hoping and looking for something with more meaning when it may not have been meant to have it. I don't know... maybe I'm outgrowing certain types of YA novels? I shudder at the thought. This is only the first book in the series so I'm hoping the next one will be better. Through the Zombie Glass (White Rabbit Chronicles #2) comes out on September 24, 2013.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Description

'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...

I just loved this book... all the feels! I never thought I'd like a book from a zombie's perspective, but this zombie is so freakin' likeable! I really came to like him because I could tell how hard he was trying to change and that he wanted to be different.

A couple of the reviews I read about Warm Bodies before I read it were negative because they said the names were too close to those in Romeo and Juliet (R and Julie for example) but I didn't pick that up when I was reading. I mean, I can't think about Shakespeare when zombies are involved, though I suppose you could draw comparisons if you wanted to put the time in. I really didn't. Another complaint was this "..." but I like ellipsis and there are only so many ways you can show the slow speech patterns. It didn't bother me like some other reviews I read, but I did notice them.

Julie is far more forgiving than one could expect, but I think it's meant to show her willingness to forgive and she seems to have this light in her soul. Sorry, that was cheesy. But I rolled my eyes multiple times over her "bad girl" image she tried to give herself. You are surrounded by zombies, how are you so calm?

I don't want to give away too much, but these zombies love brains, not just the flesh. So when R eats the brain of Julie's boyfriend? Let's just say that that's what starts him on his change. I haven't seen the movie yet but I plan to soon. It's funny and touching and a good zombie love story (these are words I never thought I would say together).