Review | White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse

by Diana Rowland

My Rating:

Our favorite white trash zombie, Angel Crawford, has enough problems of her own, what with dealing with her alcoholic, deadbeat dad, issues with her not-quite boyfriend, the zombie mafia, industrial espionage and evil corporations. Oh, and it’s raining, and won’t let up.

But things get even crazier when a zombie movie starts filming in town, and Angel begins to suspect that it’s not just the plot of the movie that's rotten. Soon she's fighting her way through mud, blood, bullets and intrigue, even as zombies, both real and fake, prowl the streets.

Angel’s been through more than her share of crap, but this time she’s in way over her head. She’ll need plenty of brainpower to fit all the pieces—and body parts—together in order to save herself, her town, and quite possibly the human race.

You can check out my reviews for the first two books in this series, My Life as a White Trash Zombie and Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues, here and here.

I love how shamelessly fun these books are. I loved this series since the moment I cracked open the first book, and that's all down to Angel; she jumps off the page and I love her. Seriously, if you're looking for a fresh urban fantasy series then I highly recommend this one!

I have to be honest, I didn't like this one quite as much as I liked the previous two books, but I still really enjoyed it. I fly through these books, and this one was no different; I'm pretty sure I managed to get through this one in just a couple of days, and if I hadn't been working I could have easily read it all in one sitting, that's how readable this series is.

Compared to the previous books, the plot of this one felt a little all over the place and ended up being very different to what I was expecting. A lot happens in this book, and yet I came out of it with more questions than answers. That's not an entirely bad thing, this, after all, is only the third book in what is an ongoing urban fantasy series, and urban fantasy series have the tendency to be quite long; I think of them as the literary equivalent of a TV show, and each book is a new season.

Still, this book felt like a bit of a filler compared to the others, but sometimes we need the fillers and we need to set the stage for the next big story arc. Angel's relationships seemed to take more of a centre stage in this book, particularly her relationship with her father; it was nice to see a little time dedicated to the two of them. I also appreciate that Angel still calls Marcus out on his bullshit when he's being a pain in the backside.

Having said that, I did feel like Angel was a little too forgiving in this book towards one particular character, one who I'm afraid is only going to continue to have a bigger part in the series. He treated her appallingly (not to worry, there's no love triangle in this book!) and, honestly, I really wanted her to drown him.

Something else I'd like is to see Angel have a few more relationships with women. Two new ladies were introduced in this book, one of whom seems to have the potential to become a good friend of hers. For the most part, however, all of Angel's relationships are with men and I'd like to see some more positive female relationships around as the series continues; particularly as two of the big antagonists of the series so far - Dr Charish and Angel's mother (granted, she's dead, but we know from what we've learned that she wasn't all that great) - are women.

So I didn't love this one quite as much as the others, but I still really like this series and I'm looking forward to picking up How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back soon!

This Week in Books | 22/07/15

This week I'm joining in with Lipsy @ Lipsyy Lost & Found to talk about the books I've been reading recently!

Now

This week I finally decided to give Jane Austen a second chance. I was first introduced to Austen when I was eighteen and I had to study Persuasion, and I loathed it. After that I was convinced I just didn't like Austen, and though I've been wanting to try her again for a year or so it's difficult to let go of feelings of such contempt, however ill-founded they might be. But as her books are all free on the kindle, I've been reading Northanger Abbey on my way to and from work because it was the one book of hers that sounded most up my alley. I'm enjoying it so far, as much as it pains eighteen year old me to say! I do still struggle with her writing in places - she uses so many commas that sometimes by the time I've gotten to the end of a sentence I've forgotten how it began - but this time around I have found her pretty funny.

I'm also slowly making my way through Uprooted by Naomi Novik and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I'm enjoying them both, it's just taking me a while to read them because I always use my kindle on my way to and from work, and when I get home from work I try to write rather than read.

Then

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Everything, Everything from NetGalley, and I read it in two sittings. I easily could have read it in one if I hadn't started it in the evening when I was tired. I don't read contemporary all that often, but I usually enjoy it when I do. Just before Everything, Everything I read The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, which I absolutely adored, so I was glad to have a quick contemporary to prevent me from going into a post-amazing book slump. Look out for my review of Everything, Everything next week!

Next

I tend to struggle with 'Next' because I don't really plan what I'm going to read; I'm very much a mood reader. Even so, I've been reading quite a few standalones recently (I love standalones) but I'd like to continue with one of the many series on my shelves. White Trash Zombie Apocalypse is the third book in the ongoing White Trash Zombie series. I read the first two earlier this year and really enjoyed them both - it's such a fun urban fantasy series!

What have you been reading?

Review | Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues

by Diana Rowland

My Rating: 

Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she’s beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that’s right--the zombie mafia.

Throw in a secret lab and a lot of conspiracy, and Angel’s going to need all of her brainpower--and maybe a brain smoothie as well--in order to get through it without falling apart. 

You can find my review for the first book in this series, My Life as a White Trash Zombie, here!

After finishing the first book in the White Trash Zombie series earlier this month I just had to jump straight into the second one. What can I say? This series is addictive because it's so much fun; it doesn't shy away from the inherent ridiculousness we often associate with zombie stories - especially those budget zombie movies that make us wonder how they ever got made in the first place - and yet Rowland fills her take on zombies with such endearing characters and tongue-in-cheek wit that it's impossible not to enjoy these novels even when they border on the bizarre.

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues basically takes off immediately from where My Life as a White Trash Zombie left off. A couple of weeks have passed, but nothing more, and we see Angel still enjoying the new, better life she had to die to achieve. But hey, why get frustrated with being undead when you can just chow down on brains and carry on as normal?

Soon enough, however, it's clear that Angel's in for a rough ride. She's held up at gunpoint at work and barely anyone believes her, she meets her new boyfriend's uncle who turns out to have a huge stick up his ass, only made worse when she discovers her boyfriend will do pretty much anything he says; including pretending that the two of them aren't dating, and somewhere out there the person who's been chopping heads off zombies may still be after them.

And to top it all off, Angel only has a few weeks to study for and take her GED or she'll find herself in prison.

I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the first one, mainly because I've grown very fond of Angel and I was frustrated with all the crap she was being put through. Having said that, I did love that she didn't just lie down and take it; whenever someone called her a liar she put them straight, and whenever Marcus started acting like his uncle's pet she called him out on it. Angel doesn't take any shit, and I love that about her.

I still recommend this series, whether you're a hardened zombie fan or you're a newbie to the genre, and I can't wait to read the others!