Barely Alive

The Story of Alexis Rose #1

by Raven K. Asher

Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ASIN B00I7BD3L2.

**Previously known as "NoWhere to Run"**

After six long months, Alexis Rose has just decided to begin a new chapter in her story after a car crash that tragically took her father away from her, and her family.
A crash that she can’t seem to get past, considering it was all her fault.
A fact her mother hasn't allowed her to forget for even a moment.
Her fraternal twin brother, Duncan, talks her into getting back to the life she had all but forgotten, and back to her friends that she had left behind while in her bubble of depression.
Her only worries are whether or not her forgotten friends will forgive her for pushing them away, and if her once boyfriend, Lucca, would forgive her and want to pick back up where they had left off.
Everything seems to be fitting right back into place as Alexis rebuilds her life, but as soon as it looks its best it all comes crashing down around her.
A deadly virus takes the world by storm.
The dead rise.
Her friends and family go missing.
And she’s left alone.
Alexis must quickly choose her path in this new apocalyptic world, but thankfully she finds someone who will keep her from falling back into despair.
Friends and loved ones die, and at moments all seems lost.
What will she end up doing in order to survive this cruel world that she has been thrown into?
Will she give up or will she fight?
When it comes down to life, death, or love, she must live to love, or die trying.

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 27, 2014

About the author

Raven K. Asher is the author of Barely Alive, Running Scared, and Dead End, the three books in her series, The Story of Alexis Rose. She is also the author of sci-fi series Eden One and The Onyx Wolves series. In addition she has written singles such as Losing Levi and When Tomorrow Never Comes. Raven was born and raised near a small town in Northern Ohio. Soon after graduating high school she moved to Chicago, Illinois where she lived for five years before moving back to her hometown in Ohio. Soon after moving back she met and married her wonderful husband. They now have two wonderful little girls. Raven works as a stay at home mom and raises Pygmy Goats and chickens as a hobby. She has always had a love for writing and has now made a lifelong dream of becoming a writer a reality. When she isn’t reading, taking care of her pets and kids she is diligently writing the many stories trapped inside of her head. Raven’s passions are for romance and horror, but she additionally enjoys sci-fi and fantasy stories. Her favorite stories to write are her post-apocalyptic tales.

Reviews

[Mehsi]

0 stars. Wouldn't recommend this book at all.

Warning: I won't be very nice to this book in this review. If you can't handle criticism and rage, please check out my other (nicer) reviews. Also there will be cursing.
I will also post a lot of stuff under spoiler tags, but I really need to write those down.

Those on Goodreads will have seen my 24 rage- and eye-rolling-filled status updates that I posted as I read the book. At first I didn't post updates, but in the end I just had to vent somewhere (other than my poor boyfriend who was sitting next to me, and who had so much fun hearing me rage about the book, he laughed so much when I began to rant about another part that was just so terrible, though he did give me good hugs when he saw I needed them).
And yes, I do know I could have easily dropped the book, but for some reason I just couldn't. Maybe I just wanted to see how many trainwrecks we could get in one book. Hint: Too many.

If you are looking for a zombie book, then I would recommend you take the other road, this book has zombies, yes. But that is all. There is 1% of zombie action. Some zombies get taken down. But there is barely any action. They don't really go out, and if they do, they just see zombies (and not even a lot), shoot them down, and walk on. Done. No scary parts whatsoever. No survival whatsoever. Apocalypse? Yes, sure, you know it is that, because of the few zombie appearances and the fact the town was bombed. Yes, within a day or so they just bombed the town. Which totally didn't make sense, and had me suspicious for the rest of the book. They didn't even bomb it right. Sure, a few of those zombies died, but most were just lying on the floor waiting for McDonalds meals to walk past. Good aim guys, good aim.
Also the zombie/apocalypse doesn't take place until quite a bit in the book. I even ended up getting bored at nothing happening. There were some hints that stuff was about to happen, but well, that drags on an on. I know that you want to build your world, but is it really necessary to do that 40~ pages of the 160~ pages (according to my ereader)?

My biggest rage on the book would be our MC. Lexi, Lex, Sweetheart, Pumpkin, Alexis, Rebel, Babe, Baby, sorry I just had to list all of her names and ones she gets by characters.
She was just one the most annoying, irritating, how the fuck will she ever survive (though then again the zombie apocalypse isn't that scary), frustrating, dumb, and sorry, I am normally not one to slut shame, but considering the events of this book, slutty, terrible, and well I could go on for a few more days, but I will leave it at that.
Miss Lexi-wexi, just got out of a depression over the death of her dad. I felt a bit sorry for her at that moment. It must be heart-breaking to see your dad die in front of you. And feeling guilty about it. So far so good, the character was nice. She seemed friendly.
But then she magically gets back with her boyfriend whom she dumped (or well ignored) when she was depressed. Of course it is totally normal to then almost have sex, twice, I must add. Wow... Not really how it works people.
And then the whole shitstorm takes place, and say bye bye Lexi, and hello to what the fuck is wrong with your head woman.
We meet Hunter, a new guy, and instead of being afraid of this guy (he comes in when she is naked (she just showered)) he threatens to do stuff, she magically flips him over and she likes his scent? Also, after that it is pretty much instant love. She keeps grinding against him, flirting with him, EVEN WHEN SHE HAS A FUCKING BOYFRIEND. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, this girl's boyfriend left the building (to find her brother/family for her), and she is horny as hell. Of course she keeps being decent and only does certain stuff with him, including, when stuff gets shitty, sleeping with him, because OH NO POOR Lexi-wexi can't sleep alone.
Then when the boyfriend gets back she totally bitches against him, because he DARED to leave HER. When she NEEDED him. So it is OK for her to just hump another guy, because hey, he was available when her boyfriend wasn't and she needed some comfort. At that point I just kind of checked out and was like what the fuck is wrong with you. Your boyfriend, who loves you eternally, and did all kinds of stuff for you, is getting fucked over because he wasn't around but instead was working on finding your family, and then later you? What?
And then the love triangle starts. She sleeps with both guys in the bed because again, she still can't sleep alone. Hello? Awkward much? Poor guys. They both want her, and she both wants them, not making it any easier on them.
Of course she still flirts with both, and she also kisses and humps both of the guys. Because why not?
If that wasn't bad enough we have a confession of a friend, he also loves Lexi. And thus the book became a love quartet.
Then later on Lexi gets depressed again after a terrible thing that happened, and runs off. She finds a new HOT GUY to fuck, sorry, this is how I see it. She immediately fucks the guy, and thus a love quintet is born. Because, HEY, she still loves those other guys, but they aren't around, and so why the hell wouldn't she fuck yet another guy? At this point I was just laughing so hard at how bad the book was.
Also, I am not entirely sure if it is a good thing to um do piercings in a world with barely any hygiene and the fact we are still not sure how screwed the world is next to this region. But oh well, not my problem.
Lexi was just pathetic. Before she makes her harem of 4 guys, she is immediately depressed when characters have to leave to find supplies (and other horses). She just hides in her bed, even though her best friend just came back from hell (rape, beatings, and her best friend dying) and needs support. Oh No, of course not, only Lexi may be sad and depressed and not eating. Gosh no, anyone else should just be happy happy go lucky. *sighs*
Lexi's world revolves around her, and no one else. Oh and her hot boy harem, but that aside, even they get bitched if they dare to do anything that Lexi doesn't approve of.

The endearment names were just getting silly. Instead of switching and having some variety, you knew which character you had because of their endearment names for Lexi, I am not sure how many times I heard the word Pumkin, or Sweetheart, but after a while I just felt like puking. Even though it turned out creepy when during a dreamstate thing, Lexi meets her parents and they have the same endearment names as her two hot boyfriends. AWWWWWKKKKWWAARDDDD.

I didn't get the guys. They seemed to be totally OK being Lexi's first or second, or even third guy. It was just highly awkward and I didn't get why the guys just didn't move on. Yes, they loved Lexi, yes they hoped for a chance, but if this was me? And Lexi was someone I loved and wanted, but she wanted to share me with other guys, I would just be like: Nope, no thank you. Bye! But apparently these guys don't mind the awkwardness, the double/triple hugs, the kisses, the sex she has with other guys. Weird!

And the only guy I really liked probably because he was the only one with a brain, gets killed. Oh no, not by a zombie. Hahahhahaha, no. Sadly, one of the girls (who was raped/beaten) can't take it any more and thus decides to leave this place and go to heaven. And takes the guy with him. Argghhhh.

Then we also have several cases of beatings and rape. Yep, you heard me right. Nothing too graphic, thank the heavens, but you still know what was going on, and it was just highly uncomfortable. Bah. :|

Then we have the absolute horrendous ending. I am not even going there. :|

As I said above, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. I am not even sure how I made it through, there were just so many times that I just want to kick characters, throw Lexi in front of zombies (though it will be hard to find them).

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com

[Kimchi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoilers!!!!!!!

This book was awful. Grammatical errors, and a plot hat was super annoying. Lexi is sad her dad was killed in a car wreck. She's been depressed. Finally goes back to school. Her friends embrace her after she ditched them. Her boyfriend takes her back after she ditched him. Cue the zombie apocalypse. Her family goes missing for a week. A stranger shows up to her house and takes up residence. She immediately falls in love with him. Six weeks later her boyfriend shows up. She is devastated because she feels like she is going to lose hunter. They share her time. Someone else is in love with this girl. He dies. Then she runs off because she is so mad. She end up hurting the people that she cares about to go off into the unknown. Introducing two new guys that she loves.
Just dumbbbbbb!!!!! I'm so mad that I wasted my time reading this book. I am no longer following this author if this is the kind of books she is putting out.

This girl was weak and fragile and a little on the promiscuous side. ( a lot) and finally dun dun duuuuu her is the kicker. The author tries to catch readers with a cliffhanger............ amnesia.

This book wasn't even worth the one star.