Undead + Unfed by Kirsty McKay

This was a shaping up to be a very horror light week so I decided to squeeze in two quick and easy titles - Kirsty McKay's teen zombie horrors, Undead and Unfed. I actually won these as part of Scholastic's This is Teen giveaway over on Facebook. So thanks, Scholastic!

Bobby was never keen on the class ski trip anyway, but her mother thought it would be a good idea. After living in the states for a number of years, their return to England has left her feeling out of whack as the new girl who doesn't quite fit in. They stop at a remote cafe for lunch but Bobby decides hanging out on the bus would be better than joining her classmates for another round of meal time teasing. And boy is she right! Before long, all of Bobby's fellow students - with a few exceptions - have become literal mindless zombies ready to chow down on the few remaining living.

It's no secret that I love a good fun read. That's exactly what Kirsty McKay's books are: fun times with zombies. A school trip, a zombie outbreak in the middle of nowhere, zombie kills with snowboards, a creepy castle, and a super fun conspiracy, what's not to love?

Sure it's all teen. The characters are a little cliche: the new girl, the bad boy, the smart kid, and the popular girl. And of course this is a pretty typical zombie outbreak story when it comes down to it. But McKay has a snarky way of writing and I was in the mood for exactly this kind of book this week - fast, easy, gory zombie horror. (Plus, these covers are so Dead Snow!)

And there's a sequel!

Unfed picks up six weeks after that fateful trip. Six weeks after it was discovered that Bobby's own mother's employers, Xanthro, were responsible for the zombie outbreak. Bobby is being held in a military medical facility along with Alice, Pete, and Russ - a new addition to their group. Smitty and Bobby's mother are both missing but Bobby has reason to believe they may both still be alive. In order to find them, the four teens must escape the facility (now overrun with zombiefied patients and armed military) and brave a countryside plagued with zombie cows and goats to track down Smitty and Bobby's mom. 

Now the teens are not only in the middle of the zombie outbreak but unraveling the actual plot that resulted in a mass infection. With the evil Xanthro goons on their tails Unfed is possibly even more fun than its predecessor! Kirsty's teens are clever but believable and her overall sarcastic and witty style is infectious in and of itself. I dare you to read these and NOT enjoy them!

Ratings for both: 4/5

Red Hill by Jamie McGuire

Scarlet thought it was going to be a normal weekend. She dropped her daughters off at school - it was her ex's weekend with them and he was supposed to be picking them up that afternoon - and headed off to work. Her first case of the day was an odd one, a woman who's lost twenty pounds in a matter of days. The patient hadn't traveled or done any otherwise odd or different things, but mentioned that she'd been attacked and bitten on her way home one evening. When the doctors opened her up her insides were literally dead. Even still, Scarlet didn't connect the odd radio reports of the morning with what was happening until the hospital was in crisis mode. When the patients started attacking, Scarlet got out of there quick. Her one goal: to find her daughters before it's too late.

Zombiepocalypse! Zombiepocalypse! It's a zombiepocalypse and I'm still not sick of zombies :)

So yeah, I was pretty excited about Jamie McGuire's Red Hill. In spite of what my synopsis above implies, there are actually three main characters in the book and we get alternating chapters from each of their perspectives. First is Scarlet, of course. Then we meet Nathan, a father whose wife leaves him just as the outbreak begins. He's dead set on protecting his daughter, Zoe, at any cost and heads off in search of a safe place to bunk down during this whole mess. Then we meet Miranda who, along with her sister and both of their boyfriends, is heading out to meet their dad for the weekend. Her dad just happens to be a doctor who works alongside Scarlet AND owns a remote ranch that Scarlet jokes would be the best place to ride out the apocalypse.

All of the stories interweave and connect at multiple points throughout the book, which is really cool. McGuire plays with the timeline as well giving us pieces of each story as they overlap. And while this is your typical zombiepocalypse tale (complete with a suspiciously Daryl-like character) it's such a freaking fun read!

The book is set in Kansas, which is kind of perfect for the story: it gives the characters plenty of zombies to fight and a believable scenario where they can hole up and get away while still being able to scavenge around for supplies and such. (It's also a good scenario for building the particular overlapping I mentioned above - it makes total sense that the characters would cross paths and come together in this small however many square miles radius.)

Red Hill is a quick read - got through the first 1/3 fighting my latest bout of insomnia - and one that you won't want to put down (never the best choice when you need sleep but at least I enjoyed the book while being exhausted!).

Rating: 4/5