What We're Reading: Zombie Takeover (Jill)

Allow me to state a fact: I hate zombies. I hate everything about them--their bad complexion, their disgusting diet, and their lack of social skills. So when I started seeing the reviews to this book, I was intrigued.  Things like "well written," "hilarious," and "not your typical zombie book" made me pick it up. When I found out the main character hated zombies, too, I read on.
We first meet Candace Marshall at a movie theater, ready to see the newest zombie movie. Only one problem: she doesn't like horror movies or zombies. Her horror movie-loving boyfriend Peter signed them up for a special screening as a birthday surprise. The only silver lining is when she spies her celebrity crush Gavin Bailey sitting at the front of the theater. Things go from bad (interactive zombie movie experience) to worse (boyfriend Peter dumps her. In public. On her birthday.)
Candace stomps out of the theater, determined not to cry over him. Despite her best attempts to put the whole disaster behind her, things don't get better. Peter was her ride into town, so she decides to walk. Then she loses her keys to some scary gang members. Gavin intervenes and offers to drive her home, but they become alarmed by a large convoy of medical vehicles heading towards the movie theater. They investigate only to discover the interactive zombie movie experience has become way more interactive than any audience member bargained for.
After Gavin and Candace escape, they begin to look for supplies, gas, and survivors.  When Candace is attacked, they find help with a group of survivors. They're searching for an unmarked military base where other survivors are supposed to gather. That's difficult due to the zombies. They're quite literally everywhere.

I was pleased at the low level of blood and gore in Zombie Takeover. There's a little; after all, it's a book about zombies. But there's not a lot of real estate devoted to it. A romance develops between Gavin and Candace, and I was pulling for them to make it work. After all, how often does someone get their celebrity crush? But I wanted it desperately for our heroine, especially after being dumped  by Peter in such a humiliating manner. The fact that Gavin's a sexy Scottish actor (think David Tennant) didn't hurt.
If you like plot twists, you'll love the ending. The author delivers a massive one very close to the end. I won't say more, because it's a doozy, and I don't want to ruin it for our readers.  So, I was pleasantly surprised by Zombie Takeover, as was my co-blogger Laurie Lucking (see her comments here).  I'll give it 4.5 (out of five) brains, uh, I mean stars.

What We're Reading: The Failstate Series (Erin)

I've had the pleasure of delving into the world of teen hero wannabes and their increasingly chaotic and dangerous world lately. In case you haven't read John Otte's Failstate series, I highly recommend it!

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Failstate opens with a superhero reality show, in which contestants are competing in order to gain a superhero license from the city. Rob Laughlin, aka Failstate, is competing, but he isn't flashy, like most of the other superheros. Instead, he wears an old sweatshirt and always hides his face. However, he is motivated to win because he wants to keep his city safe.

Rob is easy to relate to. He goes to church and youth group, but still struggles with self-doubt, complicated family relationships, and typical high school crushes. However, life as a potential superhero makes him anything but ordinary. Otte writes with a blend of action and humor that will keep teens (like the ones in my house, anyhow) reading to all hours of the night. He weaves in Christian themes in such a natural way, you could give these books to any high schoolers, whether or not they attend church.

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In Failstate: Legends Rob's city is threatened by zombies, but no one seems to be taking the threat seriously. Can Rob convince people the threat is real in time to save those he cares about?

Since the only other zombie book I've read is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,  I was interested to see how Otte's zombies functioned and were created.

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Failstate: Nemesis is easily my favorite of the three books. Rob is always likable, but by this point, I am attached to him and the people he cares about. The themes get more intense, and Otte's vocation as a pastor show through. However, Otte doesn't shy away from tough questions or real struggles. He offers hope, but in the context of real life and real people. Otte avoids the simplicity a lot of books written for the Christian market tend to fall into.

Check in tomorrow for my interview with John Otte, to learn more about his life and writing! I am looking forward to reading his Ministrix series soon! Have you read any of his books? Which series would you read first? Leave a comment and let us know!

Top 3 Spec Fic Books (by special guest Michele Israel Harper!)

We're thrilled to welcome Michele Israel Harper to Lands Uncharted today as part of the blog tour for her upcoming new release, Zombie Takeover! Since we scored the Saturday spot of her blog tour, Michele was a great sport and did a guest Top 3s post for us, plus we've included more about Michele and Zombie Takeover below. Enjoy!

Thank you so much for having me today, Laurie. I’m so excited to be a guest on your blog!

Okay, I love books more than anything, and since I’ve discovered Speculative Fiction, I just can’t get enough! So I chose to share my top 3 spec fic books (that I just love and adore and could gush over all day!):

1. Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s books. Which one? All of them. Yes, every single one! But perhaps because I just finished it, I’m particularly in love with her newest release, A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold. This story is a loose retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, only with a cursebreaker, twelve sisters caught in a spell that erases other’s memory of them, and a magical world caught in a mirror by the Family of Night. I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I savor each one of her books and come away completely satisfied yet parched for the next. In love.







2. Debbie Viguié’s Kiss of Night. The first of her Kiss Trilogy, Kiss of Night completely blew me away. I have never read a vampire story—Christian at that!— so detailed and rich in vampire lore. Her characters were unbelievably real, and the story world she built around well-known vampire myth actually sent me bolting from my chair to dance around the room a few times. (I get so into my books…) I couldn’t believe I had never though of that! I wish she would write a thousand more books in this series. Or more. Best vampire series in the entire world.






3. The Faerie Guardian by Rachel Morgan. Life outside of Rachel Morgan’s world completely ceased for me while I read this series. I burned lunch, I forgot I had kids, my husband would come home and find me in my pajamas…at 6PM. Okay, so it wasn’t pretty, but this faerie world embraced me and wouldn’t let me go. And, of course, when I’m in love with a book, everyone and their pet needs to know about it. Everyone. Yes, that means you. So beautifully written, and the covers are divine! (And the first book is free on Amazon. Get. It!)







What about you? What are your three favorite books in the spec fic genre?


Here's some more information about Michele:

Michele Israel Harper spends her days as a stay-at-home mom and her nights typing away furiously on her laptop. Sleep? Sometimes… A member of the Heartland Christian Writers, American Christian Fiction Writers, as well as the treasurer for the Indiana chapter of ACFW, Michele has her bachelor’s degree in History and can most often be found with her nose in a book when not chasing her two rambunctious boys or cuddling her new baby daughter. Visit her website at www.MicheleIsraelHarper.com to learn more about her.

You can also connect with Michele on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Instagram, and Amazon.



Zombie Takeover releases on July 12th! This is the back-cover blurb:

I was the bravest, fiercest warrior, singlehandedly stopping the zombie apocalypse and earning the respect and admiration of those who fought with me. Just kidding. I pretty much peed my pants and wasted a ton of ammo. At least everyone else shot what they were aiming at. Me? Not so much. This is my story—me, Candace Marshall, the world’s biggest scaredy-cat, facing my biggest fear. Zombies. It was awesome. (As in, not at all.)

Candace Marshall hates zombie movies. She hates anything scary, in fact. In his usual, not-so-thoughtful way, her boyfriend surprises her with advanced screening tickets to the latest zombie flick, complete with interactive features and a tour. She refuses to watch it, but it doesn’t matter.

Horror becomes reality when an experiment gone wrong transforms her peaceful town into a mess of slathering zombies. Thrown together with the only other survivor, Gavin Bailey, her favorite actor and secret crush, she somehow fights her way through the mess, making plenty of blunders and surprising herself with…courage?

But, just when Candace thinks it can’t get worse than zombies, it does.


Sounds awesome, right? I had the opportunity to read an advance review copy, and believe me, it is! Humor, romance, action, zombies, plot twists - this book has it all! You can purchase Zombie Takeover on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, or Kobo. Also, make sure to stop by Zombie Takeover's Facebook Launch Party on Thursday, July 14th at 7:00 P.M. EDT (seriously, there will be SO MANY giveaways!) and check out the next stop on the blog tour, a review of Zombie Takeover at www.snippetsoffaith.com tomorrow.

Thank you so much for visiting, Michele, and for sharing your favorite spec fic books with us, they all look amazing! Congratulations on your new release!