Alice In Zombieland by Gena Showalter
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #1
Published by Harlequin Teen on September 25, 2012
Genres: Paranormal
Pages: 404
Format: ARC
Source: BEA
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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….

Alice in Zombieland is my favorite Gena Showalter book so far and that is saying something since I adored her other YA series. The writing is fabulous, the characters are some of the best I’ve read, and the story is awesomely creepy!

Alice is a tough character to like at first. Her whole family was killed in a car accident caused by zombies and she thinks she is going crazy since she seems to be the only one who can see those zombies. She’s paranoid, afraid to let anyone close to her, and rather cold to the people she cares about. Kat starts to change things for Alice. She won’t take no for answer and she wants Alice to be her new best friend. She kind of takes Alice under her wing at school and forces her to come out of her shell. Cole completes the transformation of Alice from scared and weak to bad-ass and awesome. Cole is dark, mysterious, and pretty dangerous but for some reason Alice has a serious connection with him. She quickly learns that she’s not crazy and that Cole and his friends can see the zombies too. Not only can they see them, though, they can also fight them. And Alice wants to learn how.

Like I said, while Alice is a tough character to like at first, by the end of the book you will love her. She handles her grief kind of badly but she definitely sees the error of her ways. Throughout the book she grows into an awesome character who is smart, kind, funny, and strong. The banter between Alice and Cole was great. Probably one of my favorite parts of the book. I also loved Alice’s comebacks. Kat was also very humorous. She was smart, funny, stubborn, and kind. She helped Alice through her grief and she was willing to put up with Alice even when Alice didn’t think she needed anyone. Kat’s relationship and banter with Frosty was another awesome part of the book. Kat’s not afraid of anything! And now, the character you’ve all been waiting for: Cole. Cole is so not your typical love interest. He’s not conventionally good looking, he doesn’t have girls drooling all over him, and while he is protective of Alice, he’s not controlling. He’s very sexy in a dark and brooding sort of way and yet he has such a cute soft side. Seeing the progression of his relationship with Alice was great.

The story takes a bit to get into but after the first 75 pages or so it really is impossible to put down. These aren’t your typical zombies and it’s not your typical zombie story. The zombies can’t be seen by everyone but they can hurt everyone. The teens who fight the zombies put their life in danger every time they do it but not only that, they put their souls in danger. Alice In Zombieland is not some fluffy zombie story. There is death and destruction and I found myself tearing up a few times.

Overall, Alice in Zombieland is added to my list of favorite zombie books. While the ending was not a cliffhanger I’m definitely eager for the next book!