Genre: Horror, Romance
Published by: Momentum Books on November 1, 2013
Format: eARC
Pages: 261
Source: NetGalley
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It's the old story. Girl meets boy. Girl loses boy. Zombies attack.
Q, a trainee kindergarten teacher and martial arts expert, wants to woo beautiful vegan, Rabbit, but doesn't know how. Her luck turns during the zombie outbreak. She teaches Rabbit and his hippie friends how to make war, not love, and does her best to save him from the living dead.
But can she defeat evil ex-girlfriend, Pious Kate? And can love survive the end of the world?
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
An unexpected twist to the zombie apocalypse!
When I saw the title and cover for this book I thought “I must read this!” and requested a copy on NetGalley. I’m all about zombie books since getting hooked on The Walking Dead so this was pretty much a no brainer (no pun intended!). Needless to say, what began as a promising zombie read soon turned into a horror comedy I wasn’t prepared for that left me saying WTF?! Literally.
Quentin, known as Q, is a 22 year old kindergarten teacher’s assistant living in Australia who is somewhat of a geek girl. She spends most of her down time planning for the zombie apocalypse by playing video games, reading survival guides and practicing martial arts. Quirky but not too weird so far right? Wrong…
Q’s sarcastic mouth and less than empathetic ways make her socially awkward and pretty much a loner, with the exception of her best friend Hannah who also happens to be six years old! Yeah, our girl has a few issues.
Q acknowledges that she’s not exactly Ms. Popular when it comes to friends or dating and has given up on finding love. When a handsome vegan singer by the name of Rabbit shows up to entertain her students one day, Q is instantly smitten and misses her chance to ask for his number. Unwilling to forget about her future “prince charming,” Q signs up for a vegan hippie retreat with the hopes of snagging her Rabbit but there’s one major obstacle standing in her way…the looming zombie apocalypse!
First I’d like to say that I tried really hard to like this book and its characters. The beginning is too slow paced for me and I kept wondering where the zombies were going to make an appearance at all. I like the author’s twist on the typical zombie myth but I would have liked to have seen more of the walking dead. Things do pick up once the zombies come into play and other characters are introduced. I thought that Q’s character would change for the better in a social setting and around her crush Rabbit, but sadly her no-filter policy just got worse!
As a fellow geek girl I found Q’s “nerdiness” endearing…for about a few pages. The more she opened her mouth the less I liked her. I don’t want to make this a bashing session of her character, I’m just stating why I couldn’t connect with her. Here are some of those reasons:
1. She is just too weird for me, and not in a Big Bang Theory kind of way!
2. There’s a problem when the six year old best friend is more mature than the protagonist.
3. Her instant “love connection” with Rabbit and stalker-ish behavior didn’t help her cause.
What smart, strong young woman pretends to be something she’s not and joins a retreat of vegan hippies just to get close to a guy who didn’t even show that much interest in her to begin with?!
Then constantly bashes his way of life…yeah, that’s the way to get him Q!
What I couldn’t comprehend is Q’s damn sarcasm and lack of seriousness of the situation around her, it’s the zombie apocalypse…you’re in the Australian bush and people are getting eaten and you still find the time to joke?! Also, you have a sure way to communicate with your BFF and are more concerned about getting close to the guy who has a crazy ex-girlfriend. She did step up towards the end of the book and became a decent heroine, it was just a little too late for me.
A SINGLE GIRL’S GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE is a unique and lighter side to horror and the zombie myth. The story while sometimes slow, is entertaining, but the character development left me wanting. I’m not against humor in my zombie books (i.e. The White Trash Zombie series) but it just didn’t work for me in this installment. In the end I was hoping for a more substantial plot, a kick ass heroine with a fun sense of humor and a not so happily ever after. If you’re a fan of movies like Shawn of the Dead and Warm Bodies you’ll probably appreciate this read, as for me…I’ll stick to The Walking Dead when it comes to my zombies!
“no brainer” Hahahaha! What do you mean, “no pun intended”? Puns are awesome, LOL. Unlike this book, it sounds. I’m sorry you didn’t like it, but great review! I’ll make sure to steer clear. Zombies aren’t really my thing anyway . . .
Yeah, not one of my best choices…haha
Bummer! Yeah, the same things that bothered you would probably bother me too. That is a cool cover tho. Too bad the book didn’t live up to it.
Thanks for the heads up, I don’t think is for me either, so just the Walking Dead and White Trash Z…Got ya!
Well said!
I guess it might work for some people but not this girl! They can’t all be 5 star reads, right? 🙂
Even though I too am a rabid fan of The Walking Dead, I have found that usually doesn’t translate into zombie literature. For me anyway. I have only run across a couple that didn’t make me cringe. The problem was no matter how well written or describe, zombies are gross. If one of the protagonists is a zombie, reborn, or other term, I just can’t get around the whole decay element.
I think I went in thinking it was a zombie book and not a comedy. I agree, zombies are not sexy but some of the books I’ve read have really great character development and less gore…that’s what I was expecting with this one. Oh well, you can’t win all the time!
I saw this on Netgalley and almost clicked it but I just wasn’t sure. Now I am kind of glad I didn’t bother.
I like zombie books with humor in it and if it’s done right because zombies scare the crap out of me. I might have to look up the white trash zombie but I might skip this one.
Great review 🙂
Michelle I highly recommend the White Trash Zombie series by Diana Rowland, it has plenty of humor and each book just gets better in my opinion. Hope you check them out! I don’t blame you for passing on this one.