Eat, Brains, Love

by Jeff Hart

YA Horror/Zombies

Expected publication: October 1st 2013

Book Description

Two teenage zombies search for brains, love, and answers in this surprisingly romantic and laugh-out-loud funny debut novel with guts.

Jake Stephens was always an average, fly-under-the-radar guy. The kind of guy who would never catch the attention of an insanely popular girl like Amanda Blake-or a psychic teenage government agent like Cass. But one day during lunch, Jake’s whole life changed. He and Amanda suddenly locked eyes across the cafeteria, and at the exact same instant, they turned into zombies and devoured half their senior class.

Now Jake definitely has Amanda’s attention-as well as Cass’s, since she’s been sent on a top-secret mission to hunt them down. As Jake and Amanda deal with the existential guilt of eating their best friends, Cass struggles with a growing psychic dilemma of her own-one that will lead the three of them on an epic journey across the country and make them question what it means to truly be alive. Or undead.

Eat, Brains, Love is a heartwarming and bloody blend of romance, deadpan humor, and suspense that fans of Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies will devour. With its irresistibly dry and authentic teen voice, as well as a zombie apocalypse worthy of AMC’s The Walking Dead, this irreverent paperback original will leave readers dying for the sequel that’s coming in Summer 2014.

MY THOUGHTS: 4 OUT OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart

This was definitely a fresh take on the zombie genre! No post-apocalyptic wasteland, no surviving, no hordes of undead. In fact, the zombies in the book aren’t even really dead! It’s more like…a shift, like werewolf-ish; were-zombie if you will.

The story is told from the points of view of Jake and Cass. Jake is a high school boy with not a single thing special about him, until the day he and the most popular girl in school start eating their classmates then go on the run. Cass is a sort of psychic detective, on the team tasked with bringing Jake and Amanda down. What Cass doesn’t expect is developing a crush on this guy.

It was pretty cool getting to see events from both sides of the table. It really twists what your idea of a villain might be. I liked both Jake and Cass, and kind of tolerated Amanda. I can’t really wrap my head around the way Cass’ crush developed though…they didn’t really know each other. There is kind of a love triangle feel going on that I think will definitely be further explored in the next book.

Before I started reading this book I didn’t know it was going to be the first in a series, but judging from the ending that is definitely going to need to happen. I hope we get to see more on the background of Jake and Cass; I’d like to see them interact with their families as well.

I am excited to see where this interesting new zombie series goes!

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