Book Review: Warm Bodies

Title: Warm Bodies

Author: Isaac Marion

Rating: 5 out of 5

About

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse. Just dreams. 

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world...

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead and the blurry line in between.

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I hate zombie movies and books and I get very bad nightmares when I think about them, but this story was nothing at all of what I expected. I was taken into a world I wouldn’t want to enter and forced to endure a life as a Zombie as R’s companion. I endured much with him. I slowly remembered how to do the most basic of things and take joy in them. To connect. To smile. To laugh. To love. To fight. And the most important one of all, to live.

Warm Bodies is a spectacular journey of a broken world regaining life. Staring two of the most unlikeliest of allies, a human and a zombie, who grow to be more and will change the world.

R isn’t your average Zombie. He eats people, sure, but he also looks at the world differently and wonders about things that used to be though his memory isn’t what it used to be and he can’t recall anything of his past or even what his name was. He lives his day to day life stumbling around and enjoying what little of humanity has survive, such as riding a conveyor belt or sitting in the front of a car. He understand the basics of gassing up a car, perhaps what buildings used to be, listening to music, or watching a movie…even though it’s usually not the best movie, but he’s a zombie. He doesn’t care about ratings on a movie or the amount of clothing for that matter. They are all just walking rotting meats that will one day rest and never awaken. Enjoy life how it is, because death really is the end of all things… but is there more?

After a hunt into the city R and a small group of zombies hunt down the hunters (humans) and feast like any normal event, but something is different about the brain R is consuming. He feels different he knows things that the sweetest part of the body, the brain, allows him to catch glimpse of as if he had become human and lived them himself and he loves it. Zombies’ love that euphoric feeling they get when eating the brain, but this one is strong, the strongest. R is left with a girl’s name in his mind and that very girl happens to be in front of him.

R can’t help the feelings surging through him and decides to save the girl’s life from his fellow zombies and takes her back to his place, a plane, where he can keep her safe.

Slowly Julie and R begin to bond and something changes. R is changing and he’s not the only one affected. What could this mean? And is it a good thing?

I’ve never fallen so much in love with a zombie before, but this is definitely one relationship I won’t be forgetting. I highly recommend this book.

Book 1: A Steady Pulse

Book 2: Barely Beating

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Brenda Franklin

Purchase my products from the links below

The Pulse Trilogy

(Paranormal Romance Trilogy)
A Steady Pulse Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble

Barely Beating Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble

Flat Line Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble

Book 3: Flat Line

Guardian, a Fated Pairing

Guardian, A Fated Pairing
(Paranormal Romance)
Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble

More to come:
The Middle-Lands
A Young Adult Fantasy series

Book Review: The Weaver Sage book one: Weaver

Title: The Weaver Sage book one: Weaver

By: John Ambrowitz

Rating: 5 out of 5

(First off: The Cover is beautiful.)

Quotes I love:

“Stop trying to protect me. It’s insulting, not endearing.” I love this line said by Moira.

“We’re partners, nor friends.” This line is said from Moira to James and then again it is used from Alex to Moira when she is trying to make a point and I just love the reuse of it.

“Don’t ever call me a liability again,” she (Alex) hissed at him. “I don’t have to,” he (secret) grinned widely. “You’re not anymore.” <- this proves she’s getting stronger. You can’t be fifteen and weak in this world.

-----Blurb:-----

Fifteen-year old Alex Cronlord just met the boy of her dreams. Literally. Unfortunately, the dream involved him killing her. When she encounters him at her school the next morning, Alex understandably freaks out – and her mother’s bizarre behavior only makes it worse. What Alex doesn’t realize is that she can see the future – which will get her into a whole lot of trouble.

Across town, FBI Agent Moira McBain and her partner Andy Hall investigate a series of house burnings in Dallas, Texas. When a clue leads them to the Cronlords, Moira discovers a disturbing link between Alex’s family and her own – which opens an old wound Moira has spent years trying to ignore.

Something is rotten in Dallas, Texas – something involving a secret society, children with extraordinary powers, and human-looking creatures who might literally be out of this world ….

-----Review:-----

Demons (Xorda), secret Societies (Wells Society), and genetically altered DNA (children test subjects!), oh my! First off, I would recommend this to plenty of readers, young adult, paranormal, light Sci-Fi, and thriller lovers.

Fifteen year old Alex is a high school student with a loving dad, a cold, but over all good natured mother, and a best friend that everyone should have. After having a nightmare about being chased and coming face to face with someone that is going to hurt, if not kill her, she is a little rattled. But what makes this nightmare a reality is when she sees the supposed kid at school.

Slowly her nightmare becomes real and with it her normal life as a fifteen year old girl shatters and there’s no way in going back. Secrets about her mother and the people she worked for known as the Wells Society comes into the light and you find out that they are trying to create genetically altered kids, one of which was Alex. Her parent’s marriage ruined, Alex, her dad, and Moira, an F.B.I. agent, have to now stay a step ahead of her own mother to survive. But the Wells Society isn’t the only thing to worry about…

Dipping into John Abramowitz’s world of Weaver you can’t be for certain what’s around the corner. Trust no one.

What I loved the most about this book is that as the story started to unravel he really doesn’t explain who the bad guys are. I mean, you have horrible things, and house fires, and runaways which have murdered and done bad things, but who is truly the bad guy? Do you really know every person as well as you think you do? The moment I thought I had it all figured out I was hit with a twist that I both loved and felt sad about. The story does keep you guessing and it’s great!

This book one hit every mark and then some. There isn’t any real slow places, every scene is needed and some points are referenced back to, conversations are important so you better pay attention, and you’re characters are in depth, lovable, flawed, and kick ass. J I couldn’t have asked for a better crew of characters in this book. The book also had a good ending with plenty of mystery and questions to leave you wanting more, but an ending that satisfied you temporarily. Haha I would still recommend buying the next book, VOID.

The Author: John Abramowitz:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

smashwords

Amazon

Other works:

Weaver (the Weaver Saga) Amazon and Smashwords

The Void (the Weaver Saga) Amazon and Smashwords

Atticus for the Dead (Legal fiction Series) Amazon and Smashwords

The Antlerbury Tales: A Short Story Amazon and Smashwords

Book Review: Willow

Book Title: Willow

Author: Julia Hoban.

Genre: Young adult fiction

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Willow-Julia-Hoban/dp/0142416665

Willow Randall lives with her bother who is a professor and late at night he can be heard crying in the arms of his wife with the struggle of life and a new born. She works at the campus library. She isn’t social. She is seventeen. She is a cutter. And above all else she killed her parents.

Seven months ago during a rainy March night Willow was driving her parent’s home after they had a couple of drinks. Willow lost control of the car and lost both of her parents and from then forward changed schools, changes to an apartment with her brother’s family, and tried to overcome her pain in silence with a small razor as her escape.

That’s how she functioned until Guy stepped into her life. They shared a lot of similarities and the day he finds out she is a cutter is the day he not only throws a huge fit and tries to tell her brother, but it is also the day is promises to keep it their secret and make it his mission to try and help her in his own way.

This book is emotional, powerful, uplifting, and filled with love. It’s about communication between siblings through hard times, overcoming what feels like the impossible, and above all else finding love and support when you feel you are alone. That was my interpretation of this book.

I loved the struggle her brother feels about having to have his sister under his roof as he tries to have a family. He’s young and wants his life to flourish but knows he has to put her needs first and it drags him down to feel that way. He loves her so much. And the struggle Guy feels for Willow, the responsibility he feels he has towards her was sweet and heart wrenching at the same time. When he first learns about what she does he can’t understand her. It’s hard for anyone to swallow that kind of realization about another you care for and he instantly feels that he has to look out for her a bit.

I’ve read it three times front to back and several more times just my favorite scenes. This is a story I will never forget and if I do (amnesia or something) then that means I will enjoy it that much more the next time I read it.

I give Julia Hoban’s Willow 5 out of 5.

Brenda Franklin, author of the Pulse Trilogy.

Review of Hate at First Sight by Diana Nixon

Hate At First Sight

By: Diana Nixon

Synopsis

     Every day Megan's life was carefully planned. Freedom and independence had been her best friends for years. Until one day she met Aiden, whose priorities were so much like hers....

     What happens when attraction wins?

     What happens when poles apart become equal?

     What happens when flames of passion burn everything in their way?

     Is there still a chance to resist the power of magnetism?

     The walls of inaccessibility will come crashing down. Everything she thought was unacceptable he will turn into pure pleasure....

     Dive into a world of Hate at First Sight to see if hate can become something different....

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Review!

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Five out of five stars

Megan is a very strong, independent, and serious woman when we meet her at her parents’ house for her brother’s wedding. The last thing on her mind is having a relationship of any kind. All she wants to do is survive the week and head back to her place in London and start her career. Aiden is a sexy, irritatingly fun, dare devilish man, who pushes Megan’s buttons whenever he gets the chance - which is often.

During their time together Megan and Aiden find themselves in odd circumstances, stuck in a rain storm, avoiding an old boyfriend, and finally making a bet that will drive them both wild as the sexual tension and their unusual relationship begins to unfold.

I love a head strong leading lady in books and can completely understand Megan and her goals, but I don’t think I could have resisted as long as she did under Aiden’s gaze. Diana really had her work cut out for her with these two and she weaved them together perfectly. I wouldn’t have found the writer’s restraint and probably added in a scene or two way too early just for fun, but I drift.

Everything from Megan’s resistance against Aiden, to his confusion and frustration about how quickly she seems to have taken ahold of his heart, was perfect. It was the subtle hints of jealousy, secondary characters and their plots, as well as the rush I felt as their relationship built up, peaked, and cascaded downward before being swept off its feet and into a fabulous ending. Talk about a great, refreshing, fun, and tasty read.

If you haven’t already experienced the world of Diana Nixon, this is a great place to start. She is also known for the Love Lines Series, a young adult fantasy. I want to say thank you again Diana for allowing me an ARC of Hate at First Sight. It was a great read and I look forward to your next book!

~ Purchase Hate At First Sight LINK COMING SOON! ~

About the author:

Diana Nixon is a poet and the author of fantasy and contemporary romances. She was born in Minsk, Belarus, where she currently lives. In 2008 she graduated from Belorussian state University. She has a Master of Law degree and speaks several foreign languages, including English, Polish, and Spanish.

To learn more about Diana Nixon or to buy her works:

Main website, Facebook, Twitter,

Love Lines:
Ebook or Paperback

Songs of the wind:
Ebook or Paperback
From Scratch:
Ebook or Paperback
Diamond Sky:
Ebook or Paperback

-Brenda Franklin, Author of the Pulse Trilogy and Guardian, A Fated Pairing