Abandon

by Stephanie Dorman

Annalise never thought she’d live to see the apocalypse, but after the 2012 election she finds herself in a world that is falling apart. Riots are occurring everywhere and when her ex-boyfriend Cort texts her with an escape plan, she accepts the invite and follows him to the mountains of Western Maryland.

Once they make it to their destination though, everything is not as it seems. The power has gone out, cell phone service is non-existent, and the six friends find themselves trapped in a vacation home with no way to discover what is going on elsewhere in the United States.

Turns out, they might not really want to know after all…

Find out more at http:///www.abandonseries.com/

Genres: Zombies, Post Apocalyptic, Horror, Romance

298 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2012

About the author

Stephanie lives in the D.C. area and, when not writing, performs polka variations of billboard top 10 songs at subway terminals using her (patent pending) one woman band music suit (this consists of an accordion harmonica, cymbals, jazz flute and full drum set among other instruments. All told the suit weighs 150 pounds and Stephanie has several trained helper monkeys and a shopping cart to move it around). She is a self-described “Polka Visionary” and pursues writing as a means of turning polka into a popular genre of music.

Stephanie can be contacted by looking at a mirror in a darkened room and repeating the words “Candy man” three times slowly. Unfortunately this methodology seems to result in a large number of unsolved murders and anyone contacting Stephanie this way does so at their own risk.

Reviews

[ZARIA (Sheldon Cooper lover) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF!!!
Cort is incompetent and an idiot!!!!

She was beautiful, with her long blond hair and hazel eyes.  She had perky breasts that were a C cup, just enough to fill one hand each.  Her ass was round and firm and she had legs a mile long.  If they were walking down the street it would be a fair assessment that she was definitely dating down. Unfortunately, for all the beauty that the Gods had given her they had almost comically deprived her of any sort of ability to think in a deep or analytical way.
Yet she is good enough to fuck for two weeks .....

Jenna and Kevin both looked at Cort in a sort of wonder and awe.
“You brought your ex-girlfriend and your current fuck-buddy?”
Gods comically deprived him of any sort of ability to think in a deep or analytical way.

“How do you know her?” Katy asked moving towards the bathroom connected to their bathroom.  
“Old friend of mine,” he lied easily.  It would be better until he figured out a way to handle both of them being there that Katy just thought they were friends.

[Kelli W · Rating 3 out of 5]

FYI - No Zombies or any zombie appearances occur in this book.
FYI - Meant to be series, but discontinued. Sequel was to be introduction of the actual zombie action. Characters and relationship development is entirety of first book, a foundation, before you're dropped into the apocalyptic chaos in the sequel. Unfortunately, the Author has not released a sequel or any other books for that matter since 2012. Her website link is no longer online. Without a sequel, this mostly reads as a short soap opera. Constantly going from scene to scene, but actual story moves at snails pace. (i.e. week of story action, takes 2 months of episodes to show;)) If zombies are what made you interested here, perhaps reconsider or adjust expectations. There are none, actual or in any dialogue. But if you're looking for a bit of soap opera drama, than this isn't too bad;)

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. I wish it had more of the Zombie aspect to it. But it was a good set up book for this series. You didn't really get much info on the zombie virus until the very end, and that was a bit frustrating. But it was more a glimpse of the very beginning, getting to a safe place, stocking up on supplies, and how much they were cut off from ANY information at all. They were totally secluded so had no clue about anything. So the next book should be very good. As I said this is a good set up for the next book to have real potential and could be a very good story!

[Madeleine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
A nice and easy read, I enjoyed it! I want more focus on the actual survival, though :)

ETA Why was this started nov 2016? Did I try to read it then? I doubt it!

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, let me just say that I really was grabbed right from the get-go by the cover. I love it! It’s creepy but cozy, too – does that make sense? Probably not, but that is exactly the feeling it evokes in me. The whole mess starts in D.C. which I found humorous. What can I say? In my opinion, our Capitol is already filled with a brain-dead congress. So that started the book off on the right track for me. Told from the perspective of a savvy young protagonist who has actually prepared for years for an apocalyptic event, the author gives a credible, realistic and sympathetic voice to her inner thoughts and actions. When she and her old group of friends meet up, she is forced to face some unexpected hostility and less than ideal circumstances (putting it mildly). Her Ex, Cort, is saddled with some unwelcome baggage, but as the situation deteriorates the small group is forced into a kind of detente if there is to be any hope of survival.

I love the show The Walking Dead, so it is not much of a stretch for me to enjoy this book. The writing is crisp, and the story moves along very well. The characters have their flaws and their quirks; that made me care about them and kept me enthralled in the story. There is less action than I would have preferred, but I felt the conversations were interesting and not stilted. I dislike contrived conversations that feel like the author is conveying information to the reader rather than channeling his/her characters’ thoughts and opinions. I never felt that here. This is the start of a series and I am eager to follow the adventure.

Reviewed by Laurie-J

[Mercedes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book; why then am I giving it only 4 stars? The editing could have been better. There were many sentences with a missing word or misplaced word causing me to re-read the sentence a couple times. Enough about that. I wasn't sure what to expect to have happened to the world once the group ran away from civilization. I did get very much involved with the characters and felt they were very realistic.

There are spoilers below so please stop reading if you don't want to know. I wasn't expecting Katy to die, I thought she'd hook up with Jake who I might add, I don't like one bit. What happened to the dog? Is he dead? Are they going to find him? Will he come back? I felt he was a very big part of the characters and their state of minds.

Ok spoilers over, the end of the book left me wanting more and revealed just what was going on in the world. I'm certain the next book will have much more of the zombie goulash. Keep your eyes on this author, she's good.

[Brandy Corona · Rating 5 out of 5]

m a huge fan of the majorly popular zombie apocalypse story line. I love the show The Walking Dead and this novel was simliar (in ways) to TWD which means I LOVED IT!

I like Stephanie's style of writing, the book was easy to read and understand. I loved how IN DEPTH she got with the characters. I love well developed characters and this was definitly a major plus in this story!

This story is not as 'action packed' as some zombie apocalypse stories can be, but that was just fine with me!! It was unique and very witty! This is a debut novel by Stephanie, and book one in a series! I am very anxious to read part two of this crazy story!!

[M.B. Mulhall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I love the idea of a couple who sits around planning for the Apocalypse. That sounds like something I would do!

The characters were relateable and I have definite favorites I am rooting for. There's not a whole lot of edge of your seat action and suspense, but there's a definite buildup and many parts that leave you wondering what's going to happen next.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series to see what goes on next! I dub it definitely worth a read. Pick it up!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this only three stars, because although I really enjoyed the characters and the interesting plot building, I felt I only got to read part of the story. It didn't read like a traditional part of a series book, it read more like just a novella. The premise is a zombie apocalypse, but don't expect to read about anything zombie related. The book follows a couple in executing the first part of "the plan" and never really fleshes out anything beyond the first step. that being said, I will be reading the next book so I can see where the author takes the story.

[Colleen Lindstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

So...one day I typed in to a search engine "I wish there was a zombie apocalypse". On one of the blogs I read, I found a link to this book. It was the very first zombie book I'd ever read, and am now completely hooked on them. It had descriptive character - super easy to get a good mental image of what was going on. My only complaint is that there wasn't more! I keep hoping there will be other books to follow, as we just barely got started with zombie adventures here.