7 November 2011

Book Review: Dearly, Departed (Gone With the Respiration #1)

Dearly, Departed (Gone With the Respiration #1) by Lia Habel

Format: E-ARC
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 18th October 2011
Pages: 480
Main Characters: Nora, Bram, Pamela
Date Started: 25th October 2011
Date Finished: 7th November 2011
Rating Given: ****


Netgalley:
Love can never die.

Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid's arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead-or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?

The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria-a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country's political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible-until she's nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.

But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she's suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting "The Laz," a fatal virus that raises the dead-and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there's no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.
I had seen this a couple of times while looking through Netgalley but never really fancied it as I don't usually like books with zombie's as usually they are not gory enough or too gory I wanted a happy medium. However when reading other reviews on other blogs I started getting intrigued so much so I just had to put in a request and I am glad I did.

It did start off really slow and I just didn't think I was going to get into it as like other zombie books there wasn't much of zombie's. It wasn't until we meet the zombie's that this book really starts to pick up so much so I found myself wanting to read just another chapter before I stopped reading for the night.

I didn't really start off liking Nora as she was a bit annoying but when she meets Bram she gets more interesting and strong willed which I like in a female character.

Bram I loved from the get go he was a brilliant character even if he was the undead.

I loved the growing friendship between Nora and Bram but because this book was from a few different character's point of view I found that I missed something when it went back to them and I wanted more of these two.

When it was Pamela's point of view I got a bit bored and just wanted to get back to Bram and Nora but by the end I did want to know her and what was going to happen.

Once we hit half way through this book it was so good as it kept me on the edge of my seat right until the very end as it was so thrilling and you just didn't know what was going to happen next.

Overall a great start to the story and now we have the story setting I think we will see this series get better and better. I can't wait to read what is going to happen in the next installment.