(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Can true love survive the end of the world?

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice–between her family–and Chris Parker, the boy she’d given her heart. Now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he’s the only thing on her mind.

All Chris “Chase” Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed–breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones to a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk…and feed. As they begin their pilgramage [sic] to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost–all while attempting to save what’s left of the human race?

(Book blurb courtesy of Mari Mancusi’s website.)

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

For all of you zombie lovers out there, be warned: this is more of a romance novel with zombies than a zombie novel with romance.  Like Feed, it focuses on how people are affected after a zombie apocalypse.  It doesn’t really get into the nitty-gritty of how the virus works (much to my dismay), but it does give a nice explanation, unlike in The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which doesn’t give any explanation at all.

The story switches between Peyton’s and Chris’ points of view to keep up the suspense, and I think this works well.  Both characters are well-developed and you can really feel the raw pain they experience when they see each other again.  Chris’ addiction to painkillers heightens the suspense even more and I love how he is ready to quit because of Peyton.  The only thing that didn’t sit well with me was how long it took from exposure to death and re-animation in this book.  In Tomorrow Land, it can take up to 2 weeks before you actually turn!  Since most common viruses take 4-7 days to incubate, that seems a little ridiculous to me.

The plot moves along at a fairly fast rate, in spite of all of the backstory scenes about how the outbreak began and Peyton and Chris’ respective choices.  Personally, the ending seemed much too rushed, especially because of the big twist the plot took.  Otherwise, Mari Mancusi has penned a nice romance with zombies thrown in for fun.  If you love naturally developing romances, you will love this book.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

Amazon (Kindle)*    Barnes and Noble (Nook)*

*If you want the paperback edition, it is called Razor Girl and is only available through used book sellers.