Zombies in Love by Nora Fleischer

The Basics:
Zombies in Love by Nora Fleischer
Romance, Horror/Fantasy
Published September 22, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:

I love zombies. Love 'em!

Blurb:

Jack Kershaw just wants to hold on to his new job at Lisa Alioto's pizza parlor, and to keep Lisa from finding out that he's a zombie. But Jack learns that he and Lisa are in serious danger. His second chance at life is the inadvertent result of a lab experiment by two graduate students, and Winthrop University-- a school which knows how to keep its secrets-- will do anything necessary to conceal that someone on campus raised the dead. With the help of Boston's zombie horde, can Jack and Lisa escape Winthrop's sinister clutches? 

My thoughts:

The zombie romance niche is pretty underpopulated, I have to imagine. I've read a handful in the last year or two, so I was intrigued by the possibilities when I saw Zombies in Love on NetGalley.

The book is very successful at creating this kind of slapstick comic-horror atmosphere. There's something utterly grotesque about zombies, but at the same time, I think a little endearing in how amusingly nonchalant everyone seems to be as they transition into zombie-hood.

I think the gross works better than the romance in this book. I found the juxtaposition of sexual fantasy with the disgusting (but well-written!) details of zombies eating parts of corpses to be really hard to take. I would have rather leaned fully one way or the other.

Main characters Jack and Lisa are wonderfully imperfect. They both carry some pretty significant baggage and as Jack's backstory is revealed across the book, it becomes clear that he's not, well, let's say, not your traditional romantic hero. Even ignoring the zombie thing.

The book flicks around through many different perspectives and think there are a couple that don't really add much to the story (such as the professor who writes a book and claims it could be a significant historical artifact), but overall, they lend a real community feel to the story. As the book revolves around the bizarre happenings at Winthrop University, I liked this atmosphere. We hear directly from professors, grad students, undergraduates, people who work in the community around the university, reporters, and many others.

There's so much happening that I never felt the story flagged, and the plot is full of little twists and tweaks and turns. But at the same time, I thought some elements weren't leveraged enough - like the basement below Memorial Hall. 

Bottom Line:

Zombies in Love has a lot going for it, including an intriguing idea, some really fascinating and gross descriptive language around zombie consumption and some quirky characters that I enjoyed spending time with. I don't think it all works, however, all the time, hence 4 stars.

4 stars
For fans of zombies, multiple pov stories, humor