Review 2020
I liked this even better the second time. I'm more on board with science and zombies now I guess. I really love the concept of this book. It's paranormal with sciency explanations and it's very unique. It's fascinating the idea of a zombie virus and I love how Kate comes to evaluate the evidence and come to a conclusion. It's pretty funny too - there's lots of witty dialogue, sarcastic remarks and amusing interactions. The romance was what let this down I think. It was random and out of place and the love interest, Aaron was kind of flat. But there's not as much as I remember either so that helps. I liked Kate but as I said below, she cares too much about what others think - it's just that now that I'm older I can tune out the teenage angst more easily. She was ambitious and smart and a little naive at times but fairly well rounded. Jonah is awesome. I love his pseudosword. And his hacking skills. And I love that he gets his own novella, if not his own book. Overall this was great. This would be suitable for older middle grade readers. It's pretty tame in both romance and plot. 4 stars.

Review 2012
Weird book. I initially bought it for the cover, it's simply gorgeous. The story sounded alright, bit outside of my normal tastes but definitely something different. The book was good. It started off a bit slow but it picked up as the book progressed and I flew through the last half. I liked the heroine for the most part. I liked her relationship with her little brother. I appreciated the fact she was a nerd but the focus on that kind of put me off a little. I think I maybe would've appreciated her more if she wasn't so caught up in what everyone thinks. I thought it was interesting that she was epileptic but I didn't really like all the negative comments about her being weird and freaky because of it. Felt kind of harsh. I liked that she was ambitious, the med school thing was cool and the science stuff was unique. I didn't like Aaron. Or them together; that was strange. Personally thought Mike would've been a better option and I was kind of hoping she'd decide she didn't like Aaron and go for Mike. I didn't really understand why Aaron even liked her, there was no real basis for that. I liked Rocky, thought she was a good character, wasn't the biggest fan of Kiki. It was good for a simple lighthearted read though and I'll definitely read the rest of the series. ( )

teen fiction; zombie humor/knee-slapping terror. If we didn't already have several, this could be another hilarious zombie movie. Or rather, a movie about a disease that mimics zombie-ness, since the infected characters in this book aren't actually dead yet. Great debut novel--can't wait to read Carrie Harris' next. ( )

Kate Grable is the best girl geek ever. This is a lightning quick read, and I loved how she didn't become less nerdy or geektastic to appeal to her crush object. Plus lots of delicious zombie gore. Like missing fingers and floppy scalps and severed feet. Woo! ( )

She's Got Books on Her Mind

Kate is the quintessential nerdy girl who would love nothing more than to grow up and become a doctor but more importantly right now she wants to get the High School Quarterback to notice her. As luck would have it she's helps the football team out when they have medical issues so she can stalk Aaron, said quarterback, without seeming like an actual stalker. She also discovers some strange new vials of what she believes to be steroids. As she tries to get to the bottom of these strange events start happening. A new threat starts forming in that maybe what were in those vials weren't steroids but a virus that unbelievably makes zombies. With her friends and families lives at stake Kate rushes to find a cure before the virus spreads and it becomes too late to save anyone.

This book was frustrating. It appeared at first to be a funny zombie story that would be a light enough read that would safely lead me into the zombie world (This is the first zombie book I've finished). That was not the case. In fact this book that was supposed to be funny came off like it was trying too hard to get a laugh out of you when only towards the end I genuinely smiled once or twice.

It was fast paced from the beginning and only at the end could I appreciate that because I really wanted to get through with this story and be over with it. Also, being that it was too face paced it neglected any actual background for the main character. I would have liked to know how she was before she took on the job to help out the team with medical issues. I guess she was in more of her shell? No one saw her? That makes sense for someone who prefers medicine and science than people BUT I want to be able to connect with this girl. It would have been nice if the author was more specific about that. Why bring it up at all if you are never going to mention it again?

I came to the point where I was forcing myself to finish this story because although I wasn't exactly enjoying it I was curious to know what happens at the end. After rolling my eyes a couple of chapters in it did get a little interesting. I couldn't get excited when the zombies actually attacked her because maybe it's me or maybe the story was already wearing me down, I don't know. But, when everything hit the fan I did enjoy the action because it felt real and justified. Although I was confused by how one of her friends was either so accepting that zombies were real or seemed to know what was going down already so she went with the flow. Honestly, I might have skipped something but I don't think I would have missed something like that.

I don't get why she has the friends she does. I couldn't see the connection with them. I just couldn't connect at all. The only person who I truly liked was Kate's younger brother Jonah. He was also a very nerdy person who even fashioning his own sword. He was at that age where he would squeak when he talked sometimes. I actually think I smiled more than I thought I did because of him. He was incredibly loyal and endearing. He was for sure the best character in the whole story.

Ugh. I must talk about the love interest jock. One minute she's lusting after him the next he's suddenly interested. She thought about him way too much when a whole zombie apocalypse situation was happening right in front of her. Their whole relationship was unrealistic and irritated me to no end. They would have to be the worst couple/romance thing I have ever come across other than in *cough cough* Perfect Chemistry. It's really bad people.

The one last thing I will say is that other than Jonah there was one other part about this book I liked. I liked the cure. It was a very triumphant cure. It says something to the character. Your "weakness" is only a weakness if you think it to be one. I was actually impressed that it came down that way. Now I might try a zombie book in the future but I don't see myself continuing with this series. It had a couple of good moments but... meh. It wasn't a good book.

Overall: Frustrating to say the least. Some good moments but the MC and the story fell flat for me. I don't recommend it at all. ( )

This was fine. I can't figure out how the title fits in, though. Her taste in boys was fine, now that I think about it.
As short as this was (about 200 pages), it seemed wordy. Like there was so much talking that I started getting bored. Even the action had too much thought, if that makes sense.
I've read some fantastic YA zombie books (Rot & Ruin anyone?), so this just seemed weak. I really hope it's not because Harris was pandering to the girl crowd and trying to soften the book.
Yo, I picked up a zombie book, I expect gross things. If you picked it up and were shocked by blood and guts, that's your fault. ( )