October 14, 2013

Review: Eat, Brains, Love by: Jeff Hart

Eat, Brains, Love by: Jeff Hart (Oct. 1, 2013)
352 pages
Genre: YA/Horror/Comedy
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: I won a free ARC of this book from Sara over at Medusa’s Library. This in no way affected my honest review. Thanks Sara!
Goodreads Summary: 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 Review

Now is the perfect time to read Eat, Brains, Love, a funny, no ex that, hilarious teen novel about the life of two newly turned teenage zombies and the agency out to get them. It is definitely original and definitely worth reading. 

I refuse to put spoilers in this review because I want people to read it and give it a chance all on their own. With that being said, there are several things I can’t discuss because of this so hang in there if the review seems a little vague.

Why this non-zombie blogger devoured Eat, Brains, Love:

  • Considering Eat, Brains, Love is a book about zombies it is scarily realistic at times. 
  • I love that the author wasn't afraid to have the main characters actually use real curse words when they were in horrible situations. 
  • The characters were pretty relateable and very interesting. Getting inside the head of a teenage boy with hormones who just so happens to also be a zombie and feels bad for eating his classmates is definitely unique. Jake was a hoot and I loved his POV. As readers we also get the story from Cass’s POV, a very interesting and likable female lead who happens to be hunting Jake down as part of a secret government agency. There is also a handful of minor characters that are all just as interesting and all just as intense as the main ones.
  • It’s extremely funny. If my copy wasn't an ARC I would share so many amazing quotes with you, but I'm really not supposed to since it is an ARC copy.
  • It’s got the right amount of gore for all you zombie fans out there. There is also one scene that was so creepy it turned my blood cold.
  • There isn't a huge info dump. Who doesn't love that?

A few things that didn't impress me:

  • There is going to be a sequel and I wasn’t warned about this in advance. (I know it states this in the synopsis I gave you earlier from groodreads but I don't always read those thoroughly or pay attention with they start mentioning "this book is like this movie/book/show etc.") This frustrates me beyond belief. Don't get me wrong, I’m going to read the next book, but I little warning would have been nice so I knew what to expect when the book came to a close. So I guess this isn't really anything with the actual book that bothered me but oh well.
  • There are a couple of small stereotypes that I can’t go into without spoiling the book, but lets just say they were annoying.
  • The romance wasn’t all that great. This was disappointing because the word love is even in the title. Luckily I think the next book will be even better with the romance aspect of the novel. In the end, this in no way kept me from really liking this book.

Bottom Line: Read it. You won’t find a better time to read a Zombie novel than right now. Eat, Brains, Love was an enjoyable read that was hard for me to put down. 

**I won a free ARC of this book from Sara over at Medusa’s Library. This in no way affected my honest review. Thanks Sara!


11 comments:

  1. Despite the meh romance and stereotypes this sounds like a fun read! I like to see those () telling me this is book one of something too. Standalone's are so rare anymore. Wonderful review, I plan to pick this one up soon.

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    1. It was definitely a fun read! I can't wait to see what you think of it!

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  2. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE zombie books, so yeah, you had me at "brains." I guess the problem I have with comparisons (like to Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies) is that, for me, they usually don't measure up. But again, I'm a bona fide zombie enthusiast so I'm always willing to give a book with bite a go.

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    1. I have not read Warm Bodies so I had nothing to compare it to. I did see the movie though and I can say that there are maybe a few ideas that are the same between the two, but they are also pretty darn different. I say give it a try if you are a zombie fan! You may just love it.

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    1. *oops, misspelled my link

      Like Nikki, I have read Warm Bodies and loved it. But Jeff Hart seems to have a different sense of humor and style, so I'll try not to compare. :P

      Ellen @ Glamorous Book Lounge

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    2. I haven't read Warm Bodies, but either way you should really give this book a shot. If anything it will at least give you some laughs. :)

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  4. I thought that Warm Bodies (the book) was a bit darker than the movie, however, I LOVED both. Knowing that Hart (thanks to Ellen!) has a different sense of style should make it easier not to play the comparison game. I will DEFINITELY be giving this book a try though. :)

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    1. I think you will like it! Can't wait to see what you think!

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  5. I've seen some mixed reviews for this book. I hear it is funny but I also hear it is a little weird. I forget the details but apparently how people turn into Zombies is a bit... over the top? I generally steer well clear of zombie books, even though I don't have much justification for why I don't think I will like them, but I am glad you liked it!

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    1. haha How they turned into zombies is pretty ridiculous, but other than it was a good funny story. I'm not usually a big zombie person either but I gave it a shot because I won it for free. :)

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