Return of the Loving Dead

Horror High School #1

by Araminta Star Matthews, Stan Swanson

Being in love with a zombie bites, but that won’t stop true love. Can it? Horror High School: Return of the Loving Dead is unlike any zombie book you’ve ever read. Meet Amber Vanderkamp, senior at Stephen E. King High School. Amber is poised to be class valedictorian when she graduates this year and has her sights set on the New York Center for the Performing Arts for college. Everything is wonderful in Amber's world. She always gets the lead in her high school's plays and is counting on the lead role in the school’s upcoming production of Romeo and Juliet. That is until her well-ordered world is thrown into chaos when her boyfriend, Zach, dies and comes back as a zombie. But how can she turn her back on the love of her life? How does she deal with the pressure? And will she remain committed to the boy she once considered her soul mate? Especially when her mother (with secrets of her own) is encouraging her to wait and experience more of the world. And her flighty best friend, Jasmine, is acting more peculiar than ever since Zach has become a member of the undead club. Add in the class bullies, Caleb and Darla, who seem to be doing everything in their power to ruin Amber's life and everything is here for a page-turning romp through a world where zombies are a part of everyday life.

Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

258 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2014

About the author

Araminta Star Matthews was born to a pair of geeks from very different geekdom styles: her mother, an avid Stephen King enthusiast, blacked out the windows in her crypt-style bedroom and drank tomato juice lovingly labeled "Fresh Blood;" while her father, a science-fiction/fantasy junky, read her The Lord of the Rings (with voices) on nights he wasn't building his to-pewter-figurine-scale Dungeons and Dragons models. She is pretty proud of her geek heritage, straight down to her redheaded roots, and wears the geek label with pride (sewn into all her cotton shirts). In her books, you see a blend of these two lifestyles: quirky sci-fi fantasy meets dark, bloody horror. At least, she hopes that's what you see...

In addition to being an uber-geek, Araminta is an accomplished educator at both the secondary and postsecondary level, having earned a terminal degree in Creative Writing (she could just call it an MFA, but "terminal" is so much more appropriate). She is passionate about her subject and loves bringing new ways of reading and writing to her students. Her book, Write of the Living Dead, coauthored with Rachel Lee and Stan Swanson, brings many of her writing lessons to print.

Because Araminta can't bring herself to sit still even for a moment, she spends her spare time (when she is not teaching or writing or editing) playing MMORPG's, reading (mostly classics), and inventing. She lives in Central Maine with her family.

Reviews

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

DELIGHTFULLY refreshing! Finally, a YA paranormal- apocalyptic that keeps the drama where it belongs, in the background, settings, and plotting. Forget the high school drama divas; forget the teenage angst! This is serious business, a story I could not put aside. Well-written, humorous, realistic: the novel let me suspend from the very first page, as it should be. BRING ON THE SEQUEL!!! Love with the "living impaired" rocks!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Return of the Loving Dead by Araminta Star Matthews and Stan Swanson is Curiosity Quills publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So, I have said this every time I have done a YA book review. I am not in touch with at all with this genre. So, I'm going to guess this one will appeal to the 14-17 year old crowd more so than the older teen, but could still reach that older age, but I don't think I would suggest it for younger than 14. ( I'm not the best judge, since my kids are grown)

Amber is dealing with her dad's death and putting up with her ever changing friend Jasmine or Jazz for short. She is pretty sure she has found the guy she is meant to be with in Zach. But, their plans for a future get derailed after Zach has an encounter with a Zombie.

Despite Zach's being a zombie, Amber soldiers on and sticks by him. If I had to hazard a guess I would say that part of what the author is trying to impress upon the reader is that life is not always smooth. Someone could be left with a handicap or disfigurement and high school kids and even adults will suddenly shy away from them. Prejudices and fear are usually at the root of the issue, but Amber doesn't let the pressure get to her.

This book is laced with humor and snappy dialogue and captures the age range and the way they see things. Lots of magic and suspense mixed in keeps the reader engaged . Zombies are so popular in TV and movies right now so this book should draw some attention. Young Adult novels such as thing one is really hard for me to rate especially since we are dealing with the high school age range. I
feel conflicted about the rating, but following my instincts I'm going to go with a 3.5 rounded to 4.

[Chris Torretta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't grabbed with the beginning of this one. I loved that it had zombies in it but the story actually starts two years prior with a zompocalypse but the plot to the book starts after the zombies are all taken care of and people are trying to move on with their lives. The problem for me was that I really enjoy the scariness behind all the zombie books that are out there and my favorites are the most horrible, with all the gore and craziness. This book did have some of that but not a lot, it is definitely based around young adult.

Also, the relationships at the beginning sort of drove me crazy. Two best friends fought so much that I was surprised that these two, Amber and Jazz, could even remain friends. It was hard for me to really get to know them with all the arguing and bickering and back and forth between them. Then we have Amber's flighty mom, which is explained later in the plot what exactly is going on with her, but she is so flighty that she almost seems like she doesn't care about Amber, and that really frustrated me as well.


The plot itself was interesting after I got past the idea that this wasn't going to be about blood and guts and what not, which honestly is fine, and the different take on zombies was interesting. I really like how they called them the Living Imparied because you KNOW that is exactly what would happen if zombies were to have a way to live with us in the world.


All in all I enjoyed the plot and how the characters come together and Amber's resilience. There are so many things working against her but she is stubborn and decides early on that this is going to work out no matter how many people do not believe in her and Zach. Interesting read, just not my fav. Curious about the second book though.

[Felicitia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So here's the thing. I have a 'thing' for zombies but when you watch and read too many of them, you tend to get bored of it. At least I am. Because all it is about is gore, ugly-skin-falling-apart-kind-of-way undead, and survivors surviving. I am tired of it. So novels like this captivates me. It's not all about surviving, they are about zombies yet they are also about humane conflicts. Like romance for example (because romance and zombie stories clashes ok) and so yeah, the next thing I knew, I am requesting an arc.

To be honest, I didn't love this book as much as I thought I would. The first few chapters for me were a bit boring to the point where I thought I wouldn't be able to finish this, but then I find the plot gradually getting more and more interesting. So here I am getting all excited to finally sharing my thoughts.

There is no problem with the writing style for me. If anything, the writing style is the main thing that actually kept me going to read and finish this book. LOVE. but the characters? not so much. I liked most of them as a whole, but unfortunately no one became my short list of favorite characters. The plot and conflicts though, was a whole different case. Like I said before, this book captivates me. There is a lot interesting things happening in this story. Like the way the story was set after a zombie apocalypse, and people are just trying to have a normal life again. And then theres our couple Amber and Zach, after Zach the boyfriend was turned into a zombie, instead of moving as far away as she could, the girlfriend Amber chose to stay and become some sort of guardian for Zach. Because she thought they are soulmate and she wanted to find a way to move forward as a couple with the zombie Zach. Interesting right? The twists are also delicious by the way.

Overall, I am standing in the middle between my pro and cons. I definitely enjoy reading this book a lot, but it's not exactly my favorites. Still, Recommended.

I want to thank Curiosity Quills for sending me an arc for Return of the Loving Dead. I wouldn't have experienced all these interesting twists if it weren't for you guys.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amber, Jasmine, and Zach are high school seniors. When Zach turns into a zombie, Amber takes it upon herself to become his guardian since she believes they are soul mates. How will this effect their school year? How will this effect her relationship with her best friend, Jasmine?

While there is a bit of a slow start, with the suspension of disbelief and continuing to the end, enjoyment is waiting in this comedic moderately descriptive tale.

Characters are often somewhat outrageous/extravagant, caring, emotional, and interesting.

Overall, a cute read.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy to read and review. Great book. I couldn't put it down. I love the twists and turns that are in it. Amber is a high school girl who sees her boyfriend get bitten and then turned into a zombie. She becomes his guardian and her mother doesn't like it neither does his father. With the on and off help from her friend Jasmine she tries to keep him out of trouble. She finds out some things about her parents that leave her stunned and wondering what to do next. I highly recommend it to everyone. It's a fun read. I look forward to reading more books by both authors.

[Catherine Cavendish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great, fun, tongue wedged firmly in cheek zombie read. I thoroughly enjoyed Amber and Jasmine's exploits as they tried to help the hapless Zach. I loved the nods to the classics of horror. The authors must have had a lot of fun writing this because my enjoyment came from the sheer joy of their writing. I laughed out loud and, at the same time, felt a strong desire to see Amber succeed. The excerpt from the second book in this series is included and I am glad to say there is more of the good stuff to come. Loved it.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you get when you mix wit and zombies? You get a fantastic story! Interesting concept and well written. I loved the references to movies, books, and Stephen King that were scattered throughout the story, very clever...my favorite character was definitely Jasmine. I will be impatiently awaiting the next book! :)

[Matilda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could not put this book down, it was such a fun easy read and I can’t wait to read the next one. I don’t read many zombie books because I find them quiet predictable but this one is anything but that. A Funny, well written book and very different from typical Y.A love story.
I definitely recommend this book, Thank you Araminta Star Matthews and Stan Swanson.

[Madila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book,I love the twists and returns in it.It is well written and it will keep you reading.

[Paige · Rating 1 out of 5]

Check out my review here: http://thepaigeturnerblog.wordpress.c...

[Bree Hodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, fun read!!!!

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, campy, story but not much more than that. The writing was lacking at some points and I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters. I liked the idea of the world where the story takes place but felt like something was maybe....missing? Again, was a fun read though.

[TheCosyDragon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.

Amber thinks she has the best life. She's going to be top of her class, she has a fantastic loving boyfriend, and everything is right in the world. Unfortunately for her, there is an untreated zombie on the loose, and she's going to lose her life as she knows it.

This is an interesting turn on the zombie theme that seems to be getting out of control (zombie apocalypse survival team anyone?). It's a slightly different idea, to have zombification as a curable disease to some extent, rather than people running around and randomly killing each other.

I couldn't understand how Amber knew that she'd want to look after Zach for the rest of his life. His ears were falling off for goodness sake! Amber seems like a bit of an idiot to me. True love is a bit hard to detect (or at least, I think so with my current experiences), and she's committing to a life time of expensive medications and making sure he doesn't eat brains.

I agreed that the holding facilities were just cruel. They should have just killed them. I'm sure it's hard to kill someone who's been zombified, but at the same time, are they really much more than a potato? I would think I would put plans in place to kill me off if I ever became a zombie!

I would have liked to hear more science about the zombies and the treatments. How do the treatments work? How did they come up with them? What's with the new genetic testing? Why can't they detect whether someone is infected earlier and do something about it? I guess this is a teenage fiction novel, so I can't expect too much of it.

Worth reading if you like the genre, if not, give it a miss as there's other novels to be read where to protagonist isn't quite so stupid and naive. Perhaps the second novel in the series will be more enlightening, but we'll see.

[Devyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads.

If Disney was going to make a zombie movie this is what it'd be like.

Return of the Loving Dead is unlike any Zombie book I have yet read. There isn't much gore, violence, or zombie killing that is expected in most zombie books. I like my zombie books to have lots of gore, violence, and zombie slaughter. This book is, to put it bluntly, a YA chick lit. I'm not saying chick lit is bad, I just don't like it combined with my brain munching undead villains.
Return of the Loving Dead may not be my cup of tea, but that doesn't mean its not yours. So don't knock it til you try it!

[Kme_17 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have received this as a first read. I really like the book. It was a fun read ! I haven't read much zombies books. This was a zombie book set in the high school. It had a great sense of humor. I love the main character as she tries to date a zombie. Just great fun.