Giveaway Winner!

Congrats to Clay!

Our winner of the Giveaway!

On My Nightstand; The First Days by Rhiannon Frater

Rhiannon Frater’s As the World Dies trilogy is an internet sensation. The first two books, The First Days and Fighting to Survive, have won the Dead Letter Award for Best Novel from Mail Order Zombie. The First Days was named one of the Best Zombie Books of the Decade by the Harrisburg Book Examiner.

AmericanHorrorBlog calls Rhiannon Frater “a writer to watch.”
The morning that the world ends, Katie is getting ready for court and housewife Jenni is taking care of her family. Less than two hours later, they are fleeing for their lives from a zombie horde.
Thrown together by circumstance, Jenni and Katie become a powerful zombie-killing partnership, mowing down zombies as they rescue Jenni’s stepson, Jason, from an infected campground.

They find sanctuary in a tiny, roughly fortified Texas town. There Jenni and Katie find they are both attracted to Travis, leader of the survivors; and the refugees must slaughter people they know, who have returned in zombie form.

Fast-paced and exciting, filled with characters who grab your heart, The First Days: As the World Dies is the beginning of a frightening trilogy.

This awesome book arrived in my mailbox this week and I can't wait to start reading! Thank you to Tor/Forge for sending a copy. My little zombie heart is going pitter pat!

Follow Friday for the Zombie Horde!

Greetings and salutations on making it to another weekend, more or less in one piece. I hope this finds all of your parts intact and having a fully functional zombified weekend. If you need something great to read, check out my review of My Life As A White Trash Zombie.  Now, on to the questions of the week...



  

Question of the week:

What do I do when I am not reading?

Hmmm. I read so much, but filling in the blanks...I write alot. Blogging takes up some of my time. So do my puppies and my husband. I review music, so when I am not listening to it, I am usually writing a review about it. When time permits, I try to make my Thursday knitting class, but lately that has been quite the challenge with my full time job demanding more of my time than normal. So, I crochet a bit here and there, watch a sitcom with my husband over dinner and then I am usually back on the computer writing, blogging or reviewing something. Typically, this means I am surrounded by my furry kids, trying to either write a bit on the book, toss some laundry in the machine and run the vacuum all while running plot lines in my head and trying to squeeze as much into my time off as I can. Life is never boring at my house.

Question of the week:

Where do you get your books?

Answer: Most of the time I buy my books, both on my Nook and in physical form. I get some from publishers and authors who are interested in having me review them, and I find some at the e-branch of my public library. I love that you can use the e-branch Overdrive system with the iPad and the Nookcolor. It is super cool. I also use Netgalley. For any of you bloggers out there who have not investigated Netgalley, you really need to check it out. It is like an extended library check out system that you can use on your e-reader or iPad.

My Life As A White Trash Zombie: The Review

Angel Crawford is a loser. Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now downward spiral her life has taken. That is, until the day she wakes up in the remembers being in an horrible car crash, anonymous letter telling her there's a job that it's an offer she doesn't dare refuse. a brand new addiction: an overpowering who decapitates his prey--just when she's hungriest Angel's going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because if she doesn't, she's dead meat. Literally.

Goodreads

Cover art: hmmmm. Interesting.

What I liked:

This book kicked butt! I loved every second of it, but admittedly, it is for a mature audience. After a friend telling me about it, I bought it on my Nook. It was awesome every step of the way. Angel is amazing as a new zombie trying to find her way in life (undeath), her addictions, a new job in the morgue and now someone is running around making headless corpses. Not cool. Angel has to try and figure out who her friends are really quick and how to get her next meal without chomping down on the local population.

Truly one of the best books I have read lately.

What I didn't:

The cover art.

Overall:

This book will become a series and I can't wait to see what is next for Angel and her life as a zombie. Totally unpredictable, this novel had me turning pages into the night and every spare chance I got. Zombie horde, this should be required reading. Seriously. Angel has the brains problem pretty much nailed. A delightful read that will make you snort in laughter and stub your finger on your e-reader to get to the next page.

Follow Friday and Blogger Hop

Happy Follow Friday! Great to see you back for some more zombie horde fun! This week we are talking about books we hate. Yes. A book that you just had to read and hated the whole time you were forced to glue your eyes to print. That doesn't happen often with zombie books, so I am talking about two that I had to read for school a few years back.

Q. Let's step away from besties...What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished?

A. Oh wow. That is a hard question. The worst book that I actually finished. That is so hard. There have been a lot of books I have read over the years that don't get finished. I think I would have to say the one I hated the most was:

I mean, really. A story about a guy that turns into a giant roach? Oh the horror. It was the worst. Wait. No that might actually go to:

I hated every second of this book. It was awful. It's funny, I don't remember why I hated it, but the very thought of reading it again makes me shudder.

Just to add a thought here. If either of the above books would have had a zombie, there might have been a saving grace or something. Look what a zombie did for Pride and Prejudice, right?

Well, zombie horde. This week we have a blog giveaway for you to check out instead of a question. Head over to the blog below and see the sights. Some excellent video clips, giveaways and very cool info to see.

Zombies Don't Cry: The Review

In the sleepy small town of Barracuda Bay, Maddy Swift leads the life of a fairly typical teenager, but while attending a party one night, Maddy is struck by lightning and awakens to realize she has been reanimated and turned into a zombie. While becoming acquainted with her new "lifestyle," Maddy stumbles upon two unexpected undead chaperones, fellow students Dane and Chloe, who begin to teach her the ways of zombie life, including defending the populace from Zerkers—the bad zombies. Together, on prom night, the three teens must ultimately defend Barracuda Bay High from an all-out zombie Armageddon.

(Goodreads)

This book was sent to me by the publisher, and also the author in exchange for a review. Boy am I glad they did! A fun and excellent read!

Overall rating: 5/5

What I liked:

This book had snap. Maddy is your typical teenage girl trying to navigate the frightening waters of a Home Ec class with a curse and hopefully catch the eye of the hot boy in her art class. Sometimes things just don't go like they are supposed to. Things like being zotted by lightening and turning zombie. Talk about needing some makeup tips! Things are about to get interesting.

The storyline was very engaging and did not get predictable. It was fresh, with a good feel for the horrors of high school, even before the zombies took over. Thumbs up to wonderful author Rusty Fischer for creating an awesome teen zombie story with pop and flair. 

What I didn't:

Please tell me there will be another book. (Holding my breath until you say yes, Rusty!)

Overall:

This book was fun. It had snark, a cursed Home Ec class (who hasn't felt cursed in Home Ec? I totally did, even without students turning up dead), creepy guys that one shouldn't meet in a back alley (yep-high school) and some excellent Goth makeup tips. Oh, and a zombie survival manual. This is essential. Almost forgot the hot guys. There is an excellent love triangle situation in the book that makes me wonder who Maddy will end up with in the end. (Interjecting another plea for a second book!) 

This is a fun read and well worth the time.

Holding My Breath For: Bad Taste In Boys

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.

(Goodreads)

Hitting the streets: July 12th, 2011

Come celebrate with Carrie Harris at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor on July 23rd at 2pm. Donate a new children's book to the kids of Mott Hospital and be entered to win a zombie-tastic door prize.

If you can't make it, visit online at:

http://carrieharrisbooks.com and participate in Night of the Giving Dead, an online auction benefiting Mott Hospital from July 11-25. Win signed books and get some professional input on your own writing. A worthy cause!