This is about to become a Do Not Finish. I'm currently at chapter 11 and I have been trying to dnf since chapter 7.
This is purely the most horrible travesty I have encountered for a good long time and from an author I normally like..
It is the most rape-y, unsexy, scarily wrong...thing, but like watching a slow train wreck I kept going despite the fact that it is, at times, making me somewhat nauseous. Also I have kept hoping for worldbuilding, I liked the first in the series after all, but there is little world building.
Zombie apocalypse in Stanthorp. I like that it is set in Stanthorp. I knew when I read the description I would find it a bit confrontational, because the leading lady Roslyn, is kept captive and chained. Which is, absolutely, gross and rape-y. I did not expect to find Roslyn such a moronic wimp. That is a problem for me. The leading lady in#1 was a feisty, smart individual in whom I was interested. Roslyn is useless, whiny and fails to demonstrate intelligence, survival instinct, self respect, self awareness or indeed any other redeeming or relatable qualities.
Nick fails as anything except a loose tie in to the first book. He has moments of believability kind of, I guess. At least I can more readily believe he thinks it is a good idea to trade goods for a woman and then keep her chained up, because he wants to fuck her, than I can believe the woman in that scenario falls for him - but the things he does are apaulingly creepy, downright horrific. The diary episode, is that seriously mean to be cute? Or funny? Surely no one actually found that scene sexy? It is so nasty I'm probably going off sex for at least a month.
So the leading guy is about as sexy as Ivan Millat while the leading chick has a non functional brain. Shrug. Other lusty books can work with that. This one is repugnant though, unless you are really big on rape fantasies.
A woman chained and handcuffed against her will while being sexually molested, while she says no? That's a big nope from me. But the fact that she is not fighting against it and is 'falling for' her captor is that extra mile of nasty.
With the horrid Roslyn horribly chained up in a single prison cabin with the sociopathic Nick , all that could have rescued this book would have been good world building. Unfortunately, that cabin has been ninety five percent of the narrative and there is no world building. Maybe it is being saved for later, after Roslyn has fully fallen for her jailer.
I don't even want to know the ending, I am pretty sure it will be as deplorably unlikely as the story so far.