Release Date: September 25th in the US/October 1st in Australia
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 404 (paperback edition)
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Synopsis: 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.

Review: If you go into this book expecting it to be one of those “Classics with a Twist” tales, you will be disappointed. This is not Alice in Wonderland with the word “zombies” inserted a few times for a laugh. What you can expect however, is a very original, kick ass story about Alice (That’s Ali to you) Bell, who’s family has been killed by zombies and she is out for vengeance.

This is a really fast paced book… I believe it’s around the 30 page mark where Ali’s whole family is killed and it just picks up from that point. What the reader is thrown into is an exciting and fresh take on the undead. I won’t lie, I am a bit of a zombie connoisseur (I know, impressive huh?), and I enjoy all forms of zombies in books, movies and comics. So for me to impressed takes a bit. But honestly, I really kicked back and enjoyed this story a whole lot.

Though coincidence.. or perhaps something more like fate, Ali finds herself pulled to a guy at school - Cole. They share visions of the future whenever they look at each other which has them both intrigued with one another. Ali soon learns that Cole and his friends fight the same zombies that killed Ali’s family, and Ali wants in.

In particular, I really realllllllly enjoyed the chemistry between Ali and Cole. I have said this before and I’ll say it again, bring on the bad boys. I love them. And Cole was probably about as bad as it gets. Demands instead of asks. Bosses and orders about instead of discussing. And incredibly sexy too. Sigh. It’s true… I might love Cole. And the visions Ali and Cole have of them making out with each other… just made me want them to get it on already! However it seems Cole actually has a bit of a soft side to him as well, which is sweet. Perfectly written male lead!

Which leads me to Ali…. whom I adore. Having gone through the worst possible thing, losing her sister, mother and father to zombies, Ali makes it clear she is willing to give up her own life in the battle against the zombies. She is brave and resiliant, and kicks ass, but at the same time shows a softness and vulnerable side to her that is still trying to pick up the pieces of her life. I loved this about her.

Whilst this ain’t exactly Alice in Wonderland, there are definitely some parallels drawn from the book. The white rabbit shaped cloud appearing in the sky whenever the zombies are going to appear that night…. Ali making daisy chains at the start, and the oh so clever chapter titles such as “Off With Her Head!” and “A Fiendishly Mad Tea Party” draw inspiration from the original story. That’s about where the similarities end. I love the way Gena Showalter has done this, in a subtle yet humerous way, and I am really looking forward to the next book in this series “Through The Zombie Glass”.

Trailer:

Rating: 4 out of 5