Laurie S. (LaurieS) reviewed on 10/17/2012 + 504 more book reviews

I have wanted to read this book ever since I first saw the fabulous cover on someones blog. Its really eye catching, isn't it? Talk about a lucky author. And best of all, it fits its main character Angel perfectly. Well, I finally made time to read it and, uh, Im glad I did but I didn't expect it take so much time to read (nearly a month).

The book starts out when Angel wakes up in the hospital with no recollection of how she ended up there. She's told she overdosed and she figures it could have happened, she really is no angel, and though she vaguely remembers a crash she isn't injured. As she's making haste to get home, she's given a bag with a note and a cooler filled with bottles of some sort of chunky goo. The note explains that she is being offered a job at the morgue and that she must accept it, as well as drink the goo, OR ELSE. She sees this as a bit of good luck since shes a self-professed loser and screw-upper and decides to follow the demands of the anonymous letter. What the hell, her life can't get any worse right?

Angel drinks the bottled shakes and realizes it's pretty good, if a wee bit chunky and meaty tasting. At the morgue, she realizes she's going to be driving around dead bodies and assisting in autopsies. It skeeves her out at first but like the shakes, she realizes she enjoys it, especially when she sniffs her first human brain and her stomach starts growling. What is going on? Even though the title does kind of give away the game, Ill let you guess.

So basically the rest of the book follows Angel as she struggles with her new and improved self (the shakes make her feel good, enhance her senses a little and make her stronger), meets some interesting guys, deals with her drunken dad, gets embroiled in a decapitation mystery and gets past her white trash upbringing and realizes life may just have something to offer other than booze, drugs and horrible boyfriends. She grows up quite a bit during this book, yeah Angel.

Angel voice is sarcastic and self-deprecating, shes funny and shes crabby and sometimes shes a defensive bitch but shes also an optimist who takes all of the changes in her life in stride. I liked her a lot. Despite her rough upbringing she still has a soft heart and her relationships are complicated and believable. She doesn't blame her mistakes on the world and isn't a poor me type. She knows shes a mess and knows that a lot of it is entirely her own fault.

But alas, something is off with the pacing and parts of the book are soooo draggy with very little going on that I literally had to force myself to keep going. Im glad I did because the ending is satisfying and answers many of the questions that came up while reading. But again, it took me nearly 3 weeks to finish this 310 page book so I cant rate it as highly as Id like to. I think if youre looking for a fun (albeit sometimes slow) zombie tale with edgy charm, decently drawn characters, a wee bit of gore and zero sappiness youll find a lot to like here.

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