[amazon_link id=”0373210582″ target=”_blank” ]Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1)[/amazon_link] by Gena Showalter

September 25, 2012 | Harlequin Teen | 404 pages

Procurement

ARC from Harlequin Teen.

My Grade

Plot: 5

Setting: 5

Writing: 5

Originality: 5

Characters: 5

Romance: 5

Overall: 30/30! A++++ Perfect blend of paranormal, romance and mystery

Title/Cover Bonus: 5

Overall

An amazing cast of characters with a lovely romance, some spirit eating zombies and a pair of butt-kicking zombie slayers set to protect each other and everyone they love.

Summary (Goodreads)

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.

Trailer

First Line

A Note From Alice (Prologue)

Had anyone told me that my entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, I would have laughed.

Chapter 1

Down the Zombie Hole

Six Months Ago

“Please, Alice. Please.”

ARC edition, final release may differ

Most Memorable Scene

I loved the first time Alice and Cole see each other in the hall. And then how the girls explain his background to her. He punches people in the throats?! Holy *bleep*. That’s craziness!

Plot

Obviously this book has zombies in it. If you only read the title and nothing else you get that much. I must confess that I am not a fan of zombies. AT. ALL. They scare me. They are gross. Ick.

What I liked about this book was that the zombie issue ran along side the friendships and the building romance. I was not a fan of what happened to Alice and her family in the beginning of the book.

Setting

An average town with a population of spirit seers and walkers. I really loved how Gena made the important settings really pop. Alice’s grandparents house was vivid and so was Cole’s barn. The high school wasn’t as detailed as the other sites.

Writing

I must confess that this isn’t my first Gena Showalter book. Nor is it my first Gena Showalter YA series. I must also confess that I LOVE her writing. Therefore, it should not surprise any one that I immediately fell in love with this book. She does an exquisite job at throwing you into the story, making you absorb everything and loving the characters she’s created.

Originality

These aren’t the usual zombies that are depicted in other stories or movies. These zombies exist on the spiritual realm. They feed on spirits, not flesh, which helped me out on my dislike of zombies because it wasn’t nearly as gory as I was expecting. The zombies themselves are horrid creatures that reek but the destruction that they do was limited. This is not to say that they weren’t as dangerous as a flesh-eating zombie because they do have the ability to render people dead, of course.

Characters

Alice (Ali) is obviously the main character. I liked her a lot. She deals well with just about everything that is thrown at her, except maybe Cole. She’s strong and doesn’t give up without a fight. She kept a clear head and I liked that about her. She didn’t get all strung up with emotions and she kicks some major booty.

Her new best friend, Kat, is adorable in a slightly annoying way. She has an ego of mass proportions. She’s may be dating Frosty, one of Cole’s boys and is one great supporting character.

Kat’s posse of girls: Poppy, Wren and Reeve add some chick elements to the story.

Cole’s posse consists of: Frosty, Bronx, Mackenzie, Trina, Haun, Lucas, Collins and Cruz. I espeically liked Bronx and wish we could have found out more about him. Maybe in the next book. 🙂

Cole is the leader of the group above. They are spirit walkers (zombie slayers) and don’t bother with socializing with people outside their circle. They didn’t take to kindly to Alice and how much she effects Cole.

Romance

While the romance was a big part of the story it wasn’t as all consuming as I thought it might be (read: wanted it to be). It was refreshing to see the romance go along smoothly, yet slowly, I enjoyed the relationships that were built along the way between Ali and the other characters. I also enjoyed that the story was spread out over a course of a few months and not a few weeks or days.

Title/Cover Bonus

The title is perfect and the cover is gorgeous! One of the best ones I have seen in a long time.

Ending

I can honestly say that I didn’t want this book to end. I sorta-kinda didn’t love the ending. I knew it was coming and could feel it coming in the writing. Things sorta slowed down or sped up it seemed. I wanted just a bit more time with these characters.

Series

The second book is already titled and is expected to publish in 2013.

Through the Zombie Glass

 

Connect with Gena Showalter

GENA SHOWALTER is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the Intertwined novels and several other popular YA and adult series. Her stories have been featured on MTV and in Seventeen magazine and have been praised as unputdownable.” Growing up, she always had her nose buried in a book. When it came time to buckle down and get a job, she knew writing was it for her. Gena lives in Oklahoma with her family and three slobbery bulldogs.

Blog Tour

Gena is currently doing a blog tour and will be stopping by here tomorrow! Until then you can follow along with the other tour stops.