My Life As A White Trash Zombie [Mass Market Paperback]

You know your a Redneck Junkie when: You need to become a member of the undead to kick your habit.

Angel Crawford was practically born emblazoned with an L for loser in the middle of her forehead. She didn't have much choice in changing her hard knock status with a mentally ill mother, a drunk for a father, and being a high school drop out. Angel seems to be hurtling herself into all the pitfalls of her white trash standing, including a felony, a deadbeat boyfriend, drug and alcohol addiction, and a steadily growing resume of former dead end jobs.

And then she dies. Or at least she thinks she did. Angel has some flashes of an accident. But the details of her condition and the events leading up to them are a bit fuzzy. Angel wakes in the hospital without a scratch on her. She then starts to receive cryptic messages and a seemingly too good to be true job. What Angel doesn't know is that she has been changed into a zombie. She looks fine, feels fine, but Angel is going to have to learn quickly that all that can change in an instant if she doesn't get the nourishment she needs. Without the self-induced intoxicated drug haze, it turns out Angel is a pretty clever cookie. And since they've been hauling in numerous headless dead bodies to the morgue, Angels going to have to use all the brains she's got to solve the murders, and keep her strength up.

My Life as a White Trash Zombie was an interesting take on a second chance. Diana Rowland really showed how one incident can change someone's life for good or bad. With Angel's addictions stripped away and a good opportunity to support herself she found her self worth. This is made even more interesting with the vehicle Rowland uses to employ change, zombie-ism.

I was skeptical about this premise. The title was provocative, but the cover art sold me on giving this one a chance. I'm glad I did. This book is filled with rich characters and decent story lines. Reading about Angel's prior decline and present rise, while stumbling through her revelations on becoming a zombie where very entertaining. Rowland created a nice mix of background information, zombie high jinx, and mystery. I loved the supporting cast as well, and the little love story at the end. I think there where parts of the story that were a bit slow but overall a good read with great potential for a sequel.

I heard about this book last year during during the Romantic Times convention. Diana was talking about the newest book she was working on about a white trash zombie who gets a job as a morgue tech for easy access to brains. I know it's shocking, but the an unpolitically correct story about a zombie is totally up my alley. Also, being a huge fan of the Kara Gillian series by Rowland I have been waiting impatiently for this book to release.

The book opens with Angel waking up in the hospital. She was brought in as a suspected overdose victim. Her scattered memories and the mysterious package left for her at the hospital hint at something entirely different. Now don't accuse me of spoiling the book for you, but she has been turned into a zombie. Of course the reason why she has been turned into a zombie and who her mysterious mentor is keeps you hanging through the ending of the book. In fact the majority of the book is about how being turned into a zombie is one of the best things that has ever happened to her.

Also a good deal of the buildup is world-building. Namely, introducing you to what it means to be a zombie in this book series. It also lays the groundwork for how the zombies abilities and weaknesses work. The author takes the difficult situation of having to make a zombie likable and excels at it. By the end of the story I was really rooting for her.

This brings me to the end of the story. As I insinuated in an above comment, I will not spoil the story. George R.R. Martin may threaten to put a spoilers head on a pike, but the author in question on this series has certifications maintaining her aim and ability with deadly weapons. (According to her own bio she has worked in the police force among other jobs.) That being said, I will say that her ending took me by surprise. My expectation is for an ending (even one with a twist) to be along the lines of the direction I thought the story was going. Rowland caught me on this one, marking it as one of my favorite reads so far this season.

I will over the caveat that this is a story about zombies. Those with a weak constitution should be forewarned. Even if you are a little skittish at the thought of brain-eating zombies, I would urge you to read this as you might very well be surprised at the extent to which you enjoy the novel. Mrs. Zombie (who is ironically not a fan of the gore) is chomping at the bit to read my copy of it.

Easily I will give this one a full 5 dancing zombies out of 5. If you want to go the Slayer route on it, Faith calls this one 5-by-5. No matter what pop culture reference you use, it is easily worth the money. To prove that fact, even with my library budget tight I am going to stop tonight and purchase a retail copy. Normally I would consider this one for a Nook purchase, but that cover art is just to damn good to pass up!

Angel remembers blood. LOTS and lots of blood, she remembers teeth and bones... when she wakes up in the hospital. But, there isn't a scratch on her, she's whole and in tact with a nurse telling her she overdosed on a pill buffet.

She decided she's had enough of the hospital- she's leaving. She rips her IV out, when another nurse comes into tell her that two detectives want to talk to her about a body that was found not far from were she was discovered... NAKED- OD'ed on the side on the road. But she doesn't remember anything!

The nurse gives her a bag containing clothes, a note that tells her she has a new job driving the van for the morgue and these shake things with instructions to drink one only every other day.

Her first day on the job, while watching her very first autopsy...

"A dead man. Buck *ss naked with his shriveled little junk right there for everyone to see." -Angel upon seeing her first dead body.

Now, Angel can't figure out why she suddenly has the over-whelming urge to scoop this dead guys brains out of his skull with a spoon and eat them like ice cream.

Dude, as you can imagine she is more than a little freaked out by this unusual brain craving- but she fights it and goes on about her day.

The realization finally hits her that she is an actual ZOMBIE after she is out on a call one night and a rotted, gross guy tries to attack her for the body in the back of her van!Now, she has a LOT of questions! But WHO is she supposed to ask? Sure some anonymous person or zombie more likely has been leaving her notes and helping her 'survive' but how is she supposed to contact them?

Then there is Deputy Inanov... Marcus. You know, the same guy who arrested her for stealing a car (that she almost didn't know was stolen when she 'bought' it) Marcus is also insanely hot, wicked sweet, totally caring... hot, kind, sensitive... HOT. But, how can she like him like THAT? But how can she NOT? The bigger question is does HE like her like that? Or is he just a sweet, concerned and incredibly sexy police man?

"Yeah, right. I'm finally getting my life together. Too bad I had to die first." -Angel

The end of this book will totally shock you, I SO didn't see THAT coming!! My Life as a White Trash Zombie is total awesomeness. I loved watching angel go from pill-popping reject, to a mature, respectable brain-eating adult.