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Monday 19 November 2012

***Review *** Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel


Released: 25th September 2012
Publisher: Del Rey
Series: Yes #2 in the Gone With The Respiration series
Source: Netgalley - for review purposes
Format: Digital ARC
Author Site: Lia Habel

Goodreads Synopsis:

Can the living coexist with the living dead?

That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.

Lia Habel’s spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling.


 My Review:

As this is book two in the series I am not going to go into great depth about the plot, I'm just going to discuss my feelings about the book.

I have to say that I really really enjoyed book one in the series, Dearly, Departed.  Dearly, Departed was my favourite book of 2011, I raved about this to anyone who would listen.  So as you can imagine I was very excited to get my hands on a copy of Dearly, Beloved.  The anticipation of this book was immense.

From then on my little bubble was burst........ I struggled to get into this book, it was stagnant and flatlined all the way.  Gone was the excitement I had eagerly anticipated.  Don't get me wrong Bram and Nora were as animated as I remembered, but the plot did nothing for me.  Big big disappointment. I only hope book three, if there is a going to be another in the series, is better than this one.

This book is told from several POV's, which I did like, it's always good to get a different angle on the story.  I have to say that my favourite character was Vespertine, even though she didn't feature heavily in this book, she is a brilliant character.

Obviously as the series continues you do get more character development.  It was nice to learn a bit more about the backgrounds of some of the characters.

I have to say I was pleased to finish this book, it was a long hard slog, almost felt like I was wading through mud.  Normally I fly through books that engage me, not the case with this one.  It must have taken me twice as long to read.


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Overall:
This one left me feeling depressed, I really loved the first in the series, but this one did not even get close.

My Thoughts on the Cover:
I love the cover, it is so delicate and gorgeous.  And totally matches the character of the book.

*** Many thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for supplying me with a review copy.




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