Synopsis: ‘R’ is a zombie. He has no name, no memories, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn’t enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. 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…

Not just another zombie novel, Warm Bodies is funny, scary, and deeply moving.

Review: This was a bit of a surprise package! It actually started when I saw this book on the shelf of a store at the airport… but being a tightass I wasn’t about to spend $36.00 on it (to be fair I wouldn’t spend this much on any book). The cover drew me in and then the synopsis was enough to have me intrigued. I remembered the book, looked for it high and low when I got home and couldn’t find it anywhere! It was by chance last week I found it on Angus & Robinson’s online ebook store, and I bought it for $10 for my Kobo ereader.

It was such an enjoyable story. I can’t say that enough. The progression of the character of ‘R’ is just so sweet. To see how he is in the beginning of the book through to the end is a beautiful change, and it really drew me in. It’s written from the perspective of ‘R’ (who’s mind works just fine, it’s just their speech that is inhibited) and I never thought I would say this about a zombie, but it was emotional. Some of it even profound in the way it was written.

I will admit though, I cringed a bit at the thought of a Zombie romance! I mean, we’re talking decomposing bodies here. lol And involving a human girl? Well… at first I was unsure. I was creeped out! But the way this book is written with such innocence and tenderness (R just wants to save Julie from being eaten) is just too sweet. And eventually I was persuaded.

This book has a bit of something for everyone. Zombies… big tick, romance, comedy, action, and if you like stories based on the apocalypse and the end of the world, this is kind of based on re-starting after the world is ended. I enjoyed it very much!

I’m also hearing now that this is going to become a movie? I will say the whole time I read this I was thinking to myself how GREAT a movie this book would make, as I could imagine everything that was happening as I read. I am going to be looking forward to this movie starring Nicholar Hoult as ‘R’.

Not as intense as other books I’ve read, but sweet enough to stay with you. I really loved this and would strongly recommend this… give this a chance!

I’ll leave you with a quote:

“I think the world has mostly ended because the cities we wander through are as rotten as we are. Buildings have collapsed. Rusted cars clog the streets. Most glass is shattered and the wind drifting through the hollow high-rises moans like an animal left to die. I don’t know what happened. Disease? War? Social collapse? Or was it just us? The Dead replacing the Living? I guess it’s not so important. Once you’re arrived at the end of the world, it hardly matters which road you took.”
— Isaac Marion

Rating: 5 out of 5