Dearly, Beloved

Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel
3/5 stars
Del Rey, 2012
482 pages
YA Zombie

Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

Well, I have a lot of feelings about this book so I'll try not to ramble. My immediate thought is that your opinion of this book will probably hinge on your feelings about Nora and Bram, who I liked and tolerated respectively in the first book Dearly, Departed. Although there are also four other POVs (for a total of six, an increase of one from last time), the bulk of the story rests on them. And quite frankly I did not like them very much this time around.

I actually preferred the other narrators: Nora's best friend (and my favorite character in Dearly, Departed) Pamela, suffering from PTSD and consequently not as kick-ass as before; Laura, a new character who uses her decaying zombie body to grow plants and whose naivety helped set her narrative apart; Vespertine, a rival of Nora, whose past is sort of revealed and yet there were some confusing moments where she seemed to be at war against herself; and Michael Allister, would-be suitor to Nora, fervently anti-zombie, and kind of deranged. And yet I much preferred him to Bram, because in all honesty, I am icked out by the idea of a human/zombie romance. That this reanimated body is moving around while also still decaying in on itself and moving closer to the permanent death it should already be in-it's hard for me to wrap my mind around. I also found Bram and Nora a bit sickening together as established couples sometimes are with Nora abandoning Pam in her moment of need and basically having indistinguishable narratives. The main way I could tell their chapters apart was who "I" was gushing over and if Bram thought about being a zombie.

Another minus was the interminable length-it seemed like it took FOREVER for something to happen. A plus though is that I expected certain plots to go one way but then they went a different way, so at least there were some surprises in store for me. I just wished this novel had been a bit more condensed. I don't think everything needed to be included.

Overall: A letdown after the enchanting freshness of Dearly, Departed; I'm left hesitant to pick up the third part next year.

Cover: I really preferred the pink of the first book. This has the same model, I believe, but I don't like the colors as they don't stand out the same way to me.

 

Something Strange and Deadly

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
4/5 stars
HarperTeen, 2012
388 pages
YA Historical Zombies

Source: Received for review from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

I think the thing that most people would get out of reading the Goodreads synopsis of this book is "zombies" but I latched onto 1876 Philadelphia, which in our history is the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. As a history nerd, this is something that made me very interested. But none of the reviews I had seen mentioned it. The other thing I anticipated when going in to this book was to be reminded of Dearly, Departed, which also incorporates historical manners and dress with zombies (and which I liked a lot).

Well the centennial does play a part as the Centennial Exhibition attracts national attention, prompting local politicians to try to downplay the zombie threat and hindering the chances of actually stopping the zombies.  This is also where Eleanor meets the Spirit-Hunters, a trio charged with the responsibility of stopping the Dead with very limited resources. I would have liked more about the city during this exciting time though!

As for the story itself, I thought it was somewhat lackluster. There are two main mysteries: where is Eleanor's brother and how to stop the Necromancer menacing the city with the Dead. I fairly quickly solved them as the clues were unsubtly doled out. And I am not someone who is usually able to pinpoint the murderer or anything like that. There were just a limited number of characters introduced so it had to be *that* one and it was. I grew frustrated with Eleanor's slowness to put the pieces together because it seemed very obvious to me.

But I still gave this 4 stars, a pretty high rating. Why? Well, I did like Eleanor and her fighting against being forced into marriage to save her family from financial ruin while her mother continues to spend as if there are no worries in that arena. I identified with her worry over her brother and what he might be caught up in. And I liked her love interest, dreamy Daniel from the Spirit-Hunters (who is not one of the Dead, thankfully; I do not like zombie/human romances).

Overall: A promising debut that needs to kick it up a notch for the second book.

Cover: I like the details in her gloves, jewelry, and what I can see in her hair but it doesn't really pop for me.