ARC Review--Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

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 received this ARC from the publishers for an honest review, I was not compensated for my review

*Also I apologize for the lengthiness of this review as I try to keep them somewhat short, but you know it's gotta be a GREAT read if I have a longer review! 

Gena Showalter's Alice in Zombieland ROCKED! I am not a big fan of zombies or zombie books, but I decided to give this one a try, because I was intrigued by the "Alice in Wonderland" theme. Although there is no "wonder" or "zombie" land really, just the town Alice lives in.

The book opens up with Alice's memory of what happened to her family and how the zombies got them. Alice was used to her father's neurotic ways--mainly believing that zombies were real. Because of that, Alice never really had a normal teenage life. She had to be in the house before sundown and was never allowed out at night. It was a twist of fate and a little daughterly manipulation that got her and her family out on her birthday to watch her sister's recital. And then the accident happened.

After her witnessing her family's death, Alice goes into a depression of sorts. As she tries to go about life in a new neighborhood with her grandparents, a new school, Alice isn't sure what to expect. Her friend--you meet her at the hospital--Kat was extraordinary!! Oh how I loved that girl! She's funny, snarky, and just totally the best friend a girl could ask for! She helps Alice ease into her new school and tells her who's who and all that goodness.

That's when she meets Cole--the bad boy, or one of them! He and his group are a bunch of bad boys and girls! And when she sees him and his violet eyes, she has a vision. A very realistic and compelling vision. And that is when her connection with Cole begins!

Alice tries to lives life as a normal teenager, but she begins to suspect that her dad was right about the zombies. She found an old journal among her mother's things, and thinks it could be her dad's. It talks about the zombies. She even begins to see them at night sometimes.

Soon Alice learns the threat that the zombies pose. And there are people out there who work to destroy them...and people who work to protect them. Alice has no trouble deciding which side she is on and trains with them, learning more than she ever thought was possible.

In a way, there is some "wonder" with the story as Ali learns how to properly destroy a zombie. It takes power, her new friends have it and so does she.

The characters were marvelous! Ali was a perfect re-dentition of Lewis Carroll's Alice, but a little more modern. She was definitely curious--as it is noted when she asks so many questions about zombies, but I found it refreshing! Wouldn't you ask the person who knows everything about zombies a million questions?

Kat, like I said was hilarious! The perfect best friend, willing to do anything for Ali to get her adjusted to her new life! 

Cole, oh how I loved that boy! He definitely has the bad boy persona, but he softens a bit with Ali and that always makes me melt! He kind of reminded me of Riley from her other YA series that I am dying to finish!

The book was well paced, it definitely has the intro type read to it since it is the first book, but it all flows nicely! We see Ali trying to adjust to a new life, weird stuff happens and then she goes at the weird stuff! I was never once bored with this book! Ali is an amazing girl and she's only 16! It amazes me the kind of strength she finds in herself to do the impossible!

While not like the fairy tale, Alice in Zombieland puts a new spin on zombies! They are still brain dead monsters we know, but they still have a different spin to them! Showalter has a compelling writing style that will draw both the teen and adult reader in! This is a read not to be passed up!

Overall rating 5/5 stars

Alice in Zombieland releases September 25, 2012