Review: Married With Zombies by Jesse Petersen

Title: Married with Zombies
Author: Jesse Petersen
Series: Living with the Dead #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: February 3, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Edition: Paperback
Source: Publisher
Blurb:

Meet Sarah and David.
Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things - the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat.

Meet the Zombies.
Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

Have any of you seen Zombieland? Well, this book reminded me of that movie. David and Sarah's marriage is on the rocks so they're going to therapy to try save it when they're shocked to find their therapist eating her clients. At this point, they both start working together to survive the zombie outbreak.

At the beginning of every chapter there's an advice regarding how to save your marriage during a zombie apocalypse. Those parts were amusing although very short. I liked how Sarah and David got the hang of zombie killing slowly and how they realized that sometimes humans are more dangerous than the zombies. While I liked both David and Sarah, the truth is that I didn't really care much for them.

One of the best parts of the book was seeing David and Sarah trying to fix their problems, the thing is, we don't get much information about how their life was before the zombies and I think that was something important the novel was missing. The main problem I had with the book was that it didn't seem like they had a plan and when they finally make one it doesn't really go anywhere. And the ending was so open ended that it didn't felt like it was a real ending.

In this book there is plenty of zombie killing, a lot of arguments, a cult and many entertaining parts. This novel was short and light, perfect for a quick reading.

Memorable Lines:
“You’re right,” I said as I put the car in gear and inched into the garage.
David let out a snort as he pocketed his game system in his hoodie and unbuckled his seatbelt. “Wow, I hardly ever hear that.”
I swung the car into a space close to the elevator bank and slammed on the brake, purposefully making David catch himself on the dash a second time.
“Nice,” he muttered with a glare in my direction as he got out.
So what I did wasn’t subtle, but I couldn’t help but smile as I followed him across the quiet parking complex to the elevator.

Next Books:
2. Flip This Zombie
3. Eat Slay Love (June 2011)

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday (38)

Title: Eternal Rider
Author: Larissa Ione
Series: Lords of Deliverance #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: March 29, 2011
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Blurb:

They are here. They ride. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

His name is Ares, and the fate of mankind rests on his powerful shoulders. If he falls to the forces of evil, the world falls too. As one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he is far stronger than any mortal, but even he cannot fight his destiny forever. Not when his own brother plots against him.

Yet there is one last hope. Gifted in a way other humans can't-or won't-understand, Cara Thornhart is the key to both this Horseman's safety and his doom. But involving Cara will prove treacherous, even beyond the maddening, dangerous desire that seizes them the moment they meet. For staving off eternal darkness could have a staggering cost: Cara's life.

Review: Grave Witch by Kalayna Price

Title: Grave Witch
Author: Kalayna Price
Series: Alex Craft #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: October 5, 2010
Publisher: Roc
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Bought
Blurb:

As a grave witch, Alex Craft can speak to the dead-she's even on good terms with Death himself. As a consultant for the police, she's seen a lot of dark magic, but nothing has prepared her for her latest case. When she's raising a "shade" involved in a high profile murder, it attacks her, and then someone makes an attempt on her life. Someone really doesn't want her to know what the dead have to say, and she'll have to work with mysterious homicide detective Falin Andrews to figure out why...

I'm always looking for new urban fantasy series so I was really excited when I heard about this book. Alex is a very likeable character who has a very rare ability and has to deal with all sorts of problems, her family being one of them. At the beginning Alex is a loner, she does things her own way and she doesn't usually ask for help, but all of that changes when she finds herself in the middle of a very dangerous high profile homicide case.

While it's explained why Alex doesn't get on with her family, I wish we could have gotten more information on them, especially about what happened to her older brother and mother. I really hope the author tells us more about them in future books.

At first it seems like Alex doesn't have friends but as the story evolves you get to meet plenty of people that we are told are her friends, but to me it seemed like they were strangers. None of them knows the truth about Alex, she almost never interacts with them and when there's something wrong she never calls them or ask for their help. That to me seemed like very strange "friendships".

My favourite parts of the book, apart of when Alex is using her abilty, are the ones that include Falin and Death. Falin is the homicide detective in charge of the case and he's a very enigmatic character. I didn't really know if he was a good guy or a bad guy but I was sure from the start the there was something more to him that what met the eye.

Then there's Death. He is mysterious, powerful and complicated. I liked how he always tried to help Alex even though it might mean bending the rules. He was by far my favourite character and it's a shame that there wasn't more of him in the book. I really hope he gets a more central role in the next one.

All in all, this was a great start to a very promising series, with an interesting worlbuilding and an awesome set of characters. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Memorable Lines:
Angel of Death, Soul Collector, Grim Reaper—whatever you called him, most people saw him only once. He strolled forward, and Baker stumbled back a step.
Crap. I jumped from the casket platform. "Don't."
Too late.
Death reached into Baker's pudgy torso, and the color leached from my client's face. He swayed. Death stepped back, and Baker blinked once more before crumpling.

Next Book:
2. Grave Dance (July 5, 2011)

Rating:

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Review: Right Hand Magic by Nancy A. Collins

Title: Right Hand Magic
Author: Nancy A. Collins
Series: Golgotham #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: December 7, 2010
Publisher: Roc
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Bought
Blurb:

Like most Manhattanites, aspiring artist Tate can't resist a good rental deal-even if it's in the city's strangest neighborhood, Golgotham, where for centuries werewolves, centaurs, and countless other creatures have roamed the streets.

Her new landlord is a sorcerer name Hexe, who is determined to build his reputation without using dark, left-hand magic. As Tate is drawn into Hexe's fascinating world, they both find that the right hand does not always know what the left hand is doing-and avoiding darkness is no easy trick...

This is the first book of a really interesting new series. Tate moves to a new place in Golgotham, the supernatural neighbourhood where she meets a lof of different creatures and races she only saw and heard about throught TV and magazines. Her landlord is Hexe, a Kymeran who only practices Right Hand Magic, meaning he doesn't lay curses, he mostly lifts them.

The chemistry between Tate and Hexe was one of the best things of the book. They both are from different worlds but at the same time they can relate and understand each other perfectly. There also was a were-cougar in the story. Lukas was a very sweet character. He was running from his pack until he was found by the bad guys. I felt bad for him at times and I really liked seeing his character evolve.

While the worldbuilding was one of the strong points of the novel, most of the time I was really bored reading about the history of a street or what happened to a market. Almost none of the information were are given is important to the story and the truth is that after a while I started skipping those parts.

The main problem I had with the story was that nothing happened during most of the book until the end and there wasn't much action or mystery. You know who the bad guy is since the beginning and you are told that he is evil, but you never really see it. I was very disappointed on that aspect of the book.

All in all, this was a very promising start of a series and while the first book didn't catch my attention at all times I have high hopes for the next one.

Memorable Lines:
"Scratch, this is Miss Tate."
"Humph," Scratch sniffed, clearly unimpressed.
"Pleased to meet you, uh, Scratch."
"As well you should be," the flying cat replied curtly.
"Scratch is my familiar. I'm sure you've heard about such things from books and movies." As the landlord stroked the winged cat's back, Scratch butted his forehead against him, just like any other tabby would. "He is also my rent collector."
"Yeah—I eat the deadbeats!" The familiar grinned.

Rating: