Dearly, Departed

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 Author: Lia Habel
Series: Gone With the Respiration #1
Pages: 470
Challenge: A-Z Author Challenge/ Goodreads Challenge 2013
Genre: Paranormal
Acquired: Library
Rating: ★★★

Amazon - Book Depository - Goodreads

*****

Goodreads Summary:

 Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria, a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love

  *****

 My Thoughts:

This story follows two main characters Bram and Nora through what is a zombie apocalypse set in the future. Bram is a very likable character, but when I pictured him in my head, I wanted him to appear more zombie-like. I pictured him like the main character in the movie/book Warm Bodies, and for some reason I did not like that.

On another note, the novel had varying POVs including Bram's and Nora's separate POVs, which I liked the most and connected with better, and also the other character's POVs such as Pamala's and Nolle's stories. Overall I connected with Bram's story better. I think it was the fact that he was a zombie and I had never read a book with zombies or from the point of view of a zombie, so his story was definitely more appealing than the others.

Although I liked the novel well enough, I was disappointed with the story and its predictability.  I also felt that there was not enough action in the novel considering that it was a novel about a zombie war/ apocalypse. I felt that the story was too calm for a book about a zombie takeover. I wanted more action especially since the book was centered around a military based plot and setting.

I honestly cannot recall any parts that jump out as my "favorite scenes" but I did enjoy reading about Bram's and Nora's stories. They were cute and enjoyable, despite the rest of the book which I found slightly uninteresting and drawn out. Having said that I felt that the end of the book was very rushed and ended abruptly. I couldn't understand this because the whole book felt drawn out but the ending was rushed.

In rating the world building I would give it a 5/10.
In recommending the book I would give it a 4/10, it was a little disappointing for this to be my first taste in reading a book about zombies.

On the author, I felt that Lia Habel was very successful in helping the reader visualize her story. Although I did not like the story as much, her writing was really refreshing.

Will I check out the next book? MAYBE?? I'm really on the fence about this series. I hate not finishing a series so I might end up reading the rest of the books in the series eventually.

*****