Review: Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel

Title: Dearly, Beloved
Author: Lia Habel
Series: Book Two in the Gone With Respiration Series
Published By: Del Ray (Sept. 25, 2012)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Dystopian/Steam Punk
My Rating: 3.5 Stars!

Goodreads Description:
 Can the living coexist with the living dead?

That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.


My Review: 
 

I really loved the first book in this series, Dearly, Departed. It was a really fun, interesting read with some fabulous characters. And for me, that is saying something because normally, I am not a fan of zombie and yet, I really did enjoy the first book.

So needless to say, I jumped at the chance to read the second book, hoping it would be just as fantastic as the first.

Now, here is the sort of not so great part. I struggled a little to get through this one.There I said it.

For whatever reason, this one just sort of dragged in parts for me. Maybe it was the political aspect of it (which there was a lot of). Or maybe there was just something more that I wanted that I didn't get.  I am not sure, but, I just didn't find myself as enthralled in this one as I was in the first. And honestly, that made me a little sad. I wanted to scan parts and that is just never a good thing.

I was happy to see some familiar and loved faces (Cas and all her fashion sense glory!) because really, this series does have a lot of great characters, so I did love that we got to see them all again.

Nora is strong and brave and really just kick butt. Bram is just wonderful. Yeah he is a zombie but oh is he a swoon worthy one! He too is brave and strong and loyal and just loves Nora with all he has. He would do anything for her and it shows. I never thought I would say this but he is one swoon worthy zombie and I can't blame Nora for falling in love with him!!

And there were some twists that I didn't see and a whole new set of issues (a new strain of the virus) that were great and intriguing.

This did pick up in the last little bit, which was nice. I really did love the way it ended. It was very sweet and some how just felt right and certainly did leave me wanting to read the next book so for that, I am giving this one 3.5 Stars!