Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Release Date: September 25, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles, Book 1
Rated: YA 14+
Format: ARC
Source: Borrowed – Thanks to Riya @ The Teen Book Guru!
Buy: Amazon ● The Book Depository
Goodreads ● Website

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real…

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies…

I went into Alice in Zombieland quite reluctantly because of two reasons. One being that I had heard mixed reviews about this book, and the second being that I haven't actually read too many zombie books (a book about zombie-zombies, not revenants!) which I've enjoyed. I'm glad to say that I enjoyed it for the most part, surprisingly. I was a little sad, because of the lack of actual connections to Alice in Wonderland, but it was still an action-packed and had me captivated from start to finish.

I must admit, I was a little confused when this book started out because I thought this was a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, and would be during the same time period. Another thing that had me confused (and what most often gets me confused with paranormal books) was the background of the zombies, etc. What they are exactly, and how they came to be, had me all muddled-up and I couldn’t really follow on what they could do, or where they came from. The romance was good though– loved this book for the romance, not to mention the gory, deadly bits of the story. THE BLOOD. THE GLORY. FOR WONDERLAND! AHHHH! (okay no idea where that came from...)
I did find the writing difficult to get used to as well, and the book was pretty long. I felt that it could have done without some parts, because it just seemed to drag on for ages on end. 

Ali’s character was okay– I didn’t really like her much, and she seemed kind of whiny and like she desperately wanted to throw her self in the middle of danger. I liked her friend Kat's character though– she's sassy, she's adorable and had me snickering at all her comebacks.
And then of course, there's Cole.

Helloooo Bad Boy.

Completely taken with him, I would seriously read this book for Cole alone. Heck, I would read a book about day-to-day Cole stuff just for Cole. Bad boy material to the max that had me swooning throughout the book.

I liked the twist at the ending, definitely made me want to read more, which I hopefully shall be able to get my hands on a copy of the sequel, Through the Zombie Glass!
Overall, while I wasn't completely taken by the whole idea of zombies or the length, but I did love the sudden plot twists, the originality of the story, and of course COLE. First time reading one of Gena Showalter's books, and this will definitely not be the last.

If you like this, try...

• Splintered by A.G. Howard ● Goodreads
• Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard ● Goodreads

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