Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune, and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, steampunk meets romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.
The Bookish Brunette thought:
Dude, a freaking freight train could not have pulled me away from this book after the Prologue… What am I saying? After the first sentence:
“I was buried alive.” ~Bram
Bram is stuck in a mining shaft elevator, in the very place that he was so thankful to have found work so he could support his mom and sister. Bram’s best-friend Jack, is lying beside him bloody and broken after a massive cave in… *TEARS*
The year is 2193, and Bram is recounting the days events on a digital camera for anyone who may find it one day, and it’s HEARTBREAKING! This is the first three pages people!
We’re immediately drawn into the beauty of an antique Victorian-type futuristic setting. Seriously, I don;t know how else to explain it. Lia Habel has written a GORGEOUS world… I’m jealous, I want to live there! The dresses, the cars… or “carriages” (which is a very sleek, awesome ride), the gadgets…
The ENTIRE world and imagery created by Lia Habel was nothing short of absolutely amazing, I’ve never read anything like it!
Now, Dearly Departed is told in first person POV- but from SEVERAL different perspectives, told in alternating chapters. Don’t let this deter you- because it is NOT confusing at all, and I totally loved seeing everything from so many different perspectives!
Bram is literally- SUPER to die for sweet and you can’t help but fall for him- ZOMBIE or not! Seriously, I dare you to read this book and NOT love Bram!
Steampunk/Futuristic mixed with the old-time Victorian is nothing short of awesome. Throw in a war, kick butt characters, romance AND zombies??? You’ve got yourself a winner in Dearly Departed!
BUY Dearly, Departed!!!
Book loving, zombie freak, stiletto wearing, twitter whore, coffee addicted Brunette with a purse fetish.
Collector of flamingo paraphernalia & zombie keepsakes… Frequenter of thrift stores... cRaFtY bitch... and I match my eye-shadow to my outfit - everyday.