Undead with Benefits by Jeff Hart

Series: Eat, Brains, Love (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Dystopian/ Horror/Humor

Subjects: zombies, cannibalism, psychic ability, psychics, telepathy, government conspiracies, government officials, love, fugitives

Setting: Starts out in Illinois and then they have to figure out how to get to Iowa. Mostly set in Des Moines, Iowa

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, past tense, rotating between Jake and Cass

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 406 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “The living dead are living it up in this hilarious and surprisingly romantic sequel to Eat, Brains, Love, which Kirkus Reviews called “one hell of a road trip...funny, gross, and scary in equal, alternating measures."

Jake and Amanda are in love, on the run—and undead. They've teamed up with Cass, who’s ditched her former job as shady government psychic zombie-tracker, and they're headed across the border into Iowa, where there’s rumored to be a zombie cure.

Armed with a trunk full of guinea pigs (aka zombie snacks), they're ready to take on the Midwest’s first undead warlord, the psycho psychic out for their blood, and their own superawkward love triangle. But the virus is spreading faster than you can say "zombie apocalypse," and Jake, Amanda, and Cass have to find the cure—if it even exists—before the whole state of Iowa goes up in flames.

With its heartwarming blend of guts, romance, and spot-on teen humor, this road trip–ready paperback original is perfect for fans of Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies and AMC’s The Walking Dead. Readers will devour Jeff Hart's fresh, funny, and irreverent take on love and life (well, unlife) in an eat-or-be-eaten world.”

My Review:  When I read the first book, Eat, Brains, Love, I was not expecting a sequel. It seemed like a standalone until near the end. I am really happy that there is a sequel and Undead With Benefits is a very good one. It continuous this hilarious zombie story and takes us to the state of Iowa. It’s such a unique take on zombies. The zombies turn normal after they eat flesh and back into zombies when they are hungry. It’s like werewolves, but were-zombies.

Jake, Amanda and Cass are on the hunt for the cure to being a zombie. They have a lead that it’s in Des Moines. Once in Iowa things get rough. It’s pretty much a post-apocalyptic environment with all the body parts lying around and ghouls looking for food. Jake joked about the Midwest along the way and all that corn. He never expected Iowa to be so gruesome.

I love the twisted humor and the characters. Jake is a gamer like my brother, except Jake was a pot head. He’s lazy and nerdy and still sometimes act like his zombie life is a video game. He still can’t believe that Amanda likes him. The books start out with him and Amanda having sex and he calls it Jake Day. This book is pretty much a goofy comedy. I really wish this was a movie because it would be so fun and hilarious to see. Except for all the gory stuff.

Also, I like that the story includes a psychic as a main character. Cass can read mind and control people and dream walk. She worked for a government agency that tracked down zombie outbreaks and contained them. She joins up with Amanda and Jake; helps then steal some useful stuff before going into Iowa. Jake makes a gamer friend. Reggie is African American and has a place where he plays video games and hangs out. Reggie’s got a bit of an alter ego too. He and Jake become friends, and they get stoned with Jake’s pot. It’s weird guy bonding.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy anything zombie, especially funny zombie movies, like Zombieland, Warm Bodies, and Shawn of the Dead.

Cover Art Review: The title is made with food and on what looks like the hood of a silver car. Really creative and gross. The perfect cover for this funny zombie story.

Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart

Series: Eat, Brains, Love (bk. 1)

Genera: Paranormal Romance/Sci-fi Horror/Humor

Subjects: zombies, cannibalism, psychic ability, psychics, telepathy, government conspiracies, government officials, love, fugitives

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 345 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Two teenage zombies search for brains, love, and answers in this surprisingly romantic and laugh-out-loud funny debut novel with guts.

Jake Stephens was always an average, fly-under-the-radar guy. The kind of guy who would never catch the attention of an insanely popular girl like Amanda Blake-or a psychic teenage government agent like Cass. But one day during lunch, Jake's whole life changed. He and Amanda suddenly locked eyes across the cafeteria, and at the exact same instant, they turned into zombies and devoured half their senior class.

Now Jake definitely has Amanda's attention-as well as Cass's, since she's been sent on a top-secret mission to hunt them down. As Jake and Amanda deal with the existential guilt of eating their best friends, Cass struggles with a growing psychic dilemma of her own-one that will lead the three of them on an epic journey across the country and make them question what it means to truly be alive. Or undead.

Eat, Brains, Love is a heartwarming and bloody blend of romance, deadpan humor, and suspense that fans of Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies will devour. With its irresistibly dry and authentic teen voice, as well as a zombie apocalypse worthy of AMC's The Walking Dead, this irreverent paperback original will leave readers dying for the sequel that's coming in Summer 2014.”

My Review: This book was ridiculous for a zombie book. It’s not dystopian or post-apocalyptic. It’s very unique and creative and funny. Basically, being a zombie is kind of like being a vampire or werewolf, but they eat live flesh instead of blood. They change when they’re hungry. They start to look like a corpse and parts of them sometime fall out or decompose, and their skin turns grayish. Once they are full, they heal up and look like normal people again. Getting turned into a zombie is kind of an STD. The zombie virus is not spread by bites and it’s rare. There are no hordes of undead. It’s so different from all the zombie books I’ve read, and different from vampire books too.

The characters are not cookie cutter. Jake is kind of like my brother, with his love for video games, but Jake’s a stoner and kind of lazy. He’s very much a guy, but he’s also sort of nerdy too. He like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and comic books and anime. He love hard rock and hate pop. Amanda was a cheerleader and popular. She seemed stereotypical until she a Jake went on the run. She’s smart and knows how to hotwire a car because her dad taught her. He and Jake start to fall for each other, and kiss after eating people. It’s kind of like a zombie Bonnie and Clyde, but they both feel remorse and would prefer to eat animals instead of people.

Cass is a psychic telepath and is working for the NCD, tracking down zombies so they government can exterminate them and protect the public. She’s funny and reminds me of Evie from Paranormalcy. She has a handler named Tom, who like to wear designer suits and is now Cass’s only real “friend”. Cass helps track down Jake and Amanda by connecting to Jake’s mind. She starts to see that zombies can still have feeling and want to find a cure for themselves. She kind of mind stalks Jake. He power is pretty cool and it’s kind of like Men in Black, but with zombie hunting instead of aliens.

I love all the traveling that Jake and Amanda do. The book started in New Jersey and ended in Iowa. I never been to New Jersey, but every other state they drove though I have. Along the way, they drove through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, on I-90, which is they road we took. I like books with road trips. Even morbid zombie road trips. They stopped in Western Pennsylvania and meet some other zombies. They visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. They also stopped in Ann Arbor Michigan to see Amanda’s brother. I camped near Ann Arbor and visited the college there. It’s a nice city. I love when books mention places I’ve been too.

The book ended before they could get the cure, and apparently there’s going to be a sequel. I was expecting this to be a standalone, but I’ll read the sequel for sure. I recommend this book if you liked Warm Bodies, the Paranormalcy series by Kiersten White, Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry, or anything with Zombies. It’s a cool book. A fast and fun read.

Cover Art Review: This cover fit it’s book perfectly. I love how the title is made of food. It’s perfectly legible and creative. They both turned into zombies in the cafeteria, so it works. Would you like some blood ketchup on you fries? How about some worms. The gummy kind, not the real ones.