The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten

Title/Author: Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geilor.

Narrated by: Phil Gigante.

Genre: Horror/Humor.

Publisher: Brilliance Audio.

Source: Library.

Favorite Character: Julie.

Favorite Quote: "In this town, who would even notice if the dead started walking!" ~Rufus.

Synopsis:  The town of Lake Woebegotten, Minnesota is a small town, filled with orginary (yet above average) people, leading ordinary lives.  Ordinary, that is, until the dead start coming back to life, with the intent to feast upon the living.  Now this small town of above average citizens must overcome their petty rivalries and hidden secrets, in order to survive the onslaught of the dead. ~Goodreads.com. 

My Thoughts: This book started out slow for me.  I'm not sure if I had to get used to the narrator's  cadence or the pacing of the story.  I also had a problem with the timeline.  At first I thought the events were in a strictly linear order, but not all of them are.  So people that I thought had died made appearances and I got confused.  About half way through I figured it out and realized my error.  Don't get me wrong, I think the book is hysterical from the get-go.  It is just not fast paced.

The characters are pretty awesome.  Can you imagine a zombie outbreak in a town of reserved and kind of crusty midwesterners?  They aren't alarmed at first and in fact seem kind of bewildered until a town meeting is called and they have to show the citizens proof. 

The characters are varied, unique, quirky and odd.  There is Julie, the ex-military soldier who came home to take care of her grandfather and has a unique side job besides being a waitress.  And of course, the former superintendent who unbeknownst to all (or most) is a serial killer.  He is quite colorful and brings interest and mayhem to the otherwise boring town.  Yes, boring even though there is a zombie outbreak.  I also think Eileen, the Mayor's wife is a great character.  Conniving and a bit selfish and she has some tricks up her sleeve as well. 

I wouldn't consider this a straight up Horror story although there is some gore and gruesome scenes, although they are mostly tempered by the humor.   Points for the clever author name as well, which also lets the reader kind of know what to expect.  There is also another book by the same author, The Twilight of Lake Woebegotten which looks pretty funny as well.

Narration: At first I wasn't keen on the narration.  Gigante felt plodding and I felt it was more suited for a bedtime story so I could nod off.  However, as the story progressed I began to appreciate the tone and it lent itself well to the spoof.  It kind of reminded me of the Saturday Night Live skit "Deep Thoughts."  The accents were also perfect and made the dialogue more humorous.

All in all: A hysterical and wacky tale of zombies with action and terror in it as well.

Undead and Wed.

 Title/Author: Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson.

Genre:  Paranormal Romance.

Publisher: Berkley Trade.

Source: Purchased.

Favorite character:

Favorite Quote:

Synopsis: It's been a hell of a week for Betsy Taylor. First, she loses her job. Then, she's killed in a car accident. But what really bites (besides waking up in the morgue dressed in a pink suit and cheap shoes courtesy of her stepmother) is that she can't seem to stay dead. Every night she rises, with a horrible craving for blood. And she's not taking too well to a liquid diet. Worst of all, Betsy's new friends have some silly idea that she's the prophesied vampire queen.

My Thoughts:  This book is *very* funny.  Very.  Main character Betsy does not take her new status as a vampire too seriously.  In fact, you can say she doesn't take it seriously at all.  She makes fun of all the vampire tropes and myths and is even immune to a few things that hurt other vampires.  In the midst of all this, the two vampire gangs are trying to get her on their side or kill her, because her appearance has been foretold for centuries. 

Betsy is a likeable character and her humor and sassiness shine through at every turn.  She shows vulnerability in regards to her father, stepmother and mother which I enjoyed too.  I loved her shoe obsession and how she could practically be bribed by Jimmy Choos and Milano Blahniks.  She is also very sympathetic to others around her.  She helps people and vampires alike when the most rational thing would be to walk away or kill them. 

Her love interest and mentor Eric Sinclair is a typical suave, handsome, hot vampire who tries to help Besty while helping the vampire population at the same time.  He and Betsy annoy each other and she resists his help and his advances, creating tension between them. And Bety's nickname for him is hysterical. I didn't love him but I didn't dislike him either.  I would like to see him more developed in future adventures.  Then we have the bad vampire who wants Betsy on his side.  He is funny and pathetic in the way that Betsy views him...a walking cliche.  However, the atrocities he has commited over the centures show how crazy and dangerous he is.  Betsy's friends are fun as well, especially her best friend who is so thrilled that she has her friend back, she doesn't care that she is a vampire, which is just awesome. 

Even though I think this would be catergorized as Paranormal Romance, there is not a lot of romance found in this book, which is fine for me.  However, there are a few extremely intimate scenes that will satisfy (so to speak) people who like their erotica.

This might not be a problem for some readers, but because the humor did not let up, about 2/3 of the way into it I found myself struggling.  I think it took too much energy for me personally to stay in that mindset.  Yes, there are moments of seriousness but they are few compared to the humor.  Maybe if there were more it would feel more balanced.  Also...I hesitate to bring this up, but ultimately I decided to because I like to think of this blog as a discussion platform of a book, not just a review site.  I don't think the author meant to use this word as anything but trying to get her point across and I don't hold it against her, but she uses the word retarded twice.  I would bet a million dollars she didn't mean anything disrespectful by it, but it just made me uncomfortable. 

The humor and plot of this story -- thinking outside of the box and taking vampire myths and cliche's and turning them on their ear outweight any minor personal setbacks for me.  This book is a lot of fun and I wonder how Betsy will deal with upcoming vampiric issues.

All in all: Very original and laugh out loud funny.

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