Review: Alice in Zombieland

by Gena Showalter
publisher: Harlequin Teen
date of publication: September 25, 2012
format: ARC
pages: 404
source: Around the World ARC Tours
score: 4 out of 5

From 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.

When I first heard about Alice in Zombieland, I was expecting a tale mixing the peculiarities of Alice in Wonderland with the dessicated or oozing horror that is the usual zombie.  What I found, however, was something a bit different.  Rather than the usual flesh-eating zombies, Gena Showalter has created an unseen world in which zombies take on a different form and role.  The result is a story filled with danger, tragedy, friendship, and romance.  The trip from start to finish is a wild one, so get ready for some action.

I am a bit conflicted about the characters found in Alice in Zombieland.  Alice, for example, has survived a horrible tragedy and sets out to make a difference so that it doesn't happen again.  However, her tendency to moon after Cole was a little too much for me at times, and his frequent attempts to push her away by being a grade A jerk got old really fast.  I really was not impressed with that aspect.  When she gets down to the business of zombie slaying, however, she begins to shine.  That and her interactions with her best friend, Kat, were my favorite aspects about her.  Cole, on the other hand, is your typical bad boy with a more intimidating effect upon the high school's students.  I wasn't entirely sold on him until he started to become a little bit less of a hard ass.  Even now, I'm feeling lukewarm about his character.  I do have to admit, though, that Alice and Cole have some interesting chemistry.  I'll just say that you can expect some steamy kissing scenes and leave it at that.

Some of the sites featured throughout the story have a definite feeling of foreboding.  They made for excellent backdrops for zombie attacks and creepy nocturnal jaunts.  The battles are fierce and the casualties gruesome.  That coupled with the warrior-like group dedicated to eradicating the zombies make for some really action-packed sequences that kept me riveted.  The writing was easy to keep up with, although I will say that the ARC had a slight issue with continuity.  To say exactly what might be a bit of a spoiler, but it was noticeable.  I don't know if it will remain in the finished copy or not, but it is something of note.  Otherwise, the pace of the story was great and it made for a pretty quick read.

Overall, I enjoyed Alice in Zombieland and would definitely like to keep up with the series.  Even though the zombies weren't what I expected, the novelty was enough to keep me interested.  It is my hope that a bit more about their origins and the founding of the slayers will be revealed as the series continues.  I would love to know more about the world Gena Showalter has created.  If you enjoy a little steam with your romance and zombie invasions, you should check out Alice in Zombieland.

Buy Alice in Zombieland at the Following Locations:

Amazon /  IndieBound  /  B&N  /  The Book Depository

Obligatory legal statement: This ARC was provided to me free of charge via Around the World ARC Tours. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review.

Waiting on Wednesday - April 18, 2012

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event from Jill at Breaking the Spine. To participate, simply share that book(s) you are eagerly awaiting the release of and report back to Breaking the Spine with the link to your post. Clicking the link above will take you straight to her post and widget.

I've got FOUR more awesome books that I am positively excited about.   I simply couldn't choose just 3, so there are 4, instead.  You'll see why once you read more about them.

For this first selection, tread carefully if you haven't read the first 3 books in the series.  There are spoilers for the 3rd book in the description!

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
coming October 23, 2012 from Little, Brown BFYR

Is death the end . . . or only the beginning?

Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the stiflingly small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin, hidden in plain sight. And he never could have expected that he would be forced to leave behind everyone and everything he cares about. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves.

Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan's return, vowing to do whatever it takes -- even if that means trusting old enemies or risking the lives of the family and friends Ethan left to protect.

Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series.

Why I'm waiting: I've loved this entire series and I am dying to know what happened to Ethan!

 Ironskin by Tina Connolly

coming October 2, 2012 from Tor

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discover just how far she will go to become whole again.

Why I'm waiting: I love any and everything about books involving the fae, so this one is, naturally, high on my list!

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
coming September 25, 2012 from Harlequin Teen

She won’t resist 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.

Why I'm waiting: I have become more and more of a fan of zombie fiction, so this one caught my eye immediately.

  Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier

coming September 11, 2012 from Knopf BFYR

Its name is spoken only in whispers, if the people of Alban dare to speak it at all: Shadowfell. The training ground for rebels seeking to free their land from the grip of the tyrannical king is so shrouded in mystery that most believe it to be a myth.

But for Neryn, Shadowfell's existence is her only hope. She is penniless, orphaned, and utterly alone - and concealing a treacherous magical power that will warrant her immediate enslavement should it be revealed. She finds hope of allies in the Good Folk, fey beings whom she must pretend she cannot see and who taunt her with chatter of prophecies and tests, and in a striking, mysterious stranger, who saves her from certain death but whose motives remain unclear. She knows she should not trust anyone with her plans, but something within her longs to confide in him.

Will Neryn be forced to make the dangerous journey alone? She must reach Shadowfell, not only to avenge her family and salvage her own life, but to rescue Alban itself.

This first novel in a new trilogy from enchanting fantasy author Juliet Marillier is a captivating tale of peril, courage, romance, and survival.

Why I'm waiting: I adore Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters series, so when I saw that she had this YA trilogy coming up, I was very excited!