Zombie Day Care

[cornerofmadness]

Zombie Day Care by Craig Halloran

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Got this one from the author at a local author fair. I had been on the fence about it. I should have stayed there. Don't get me wrong, there are good ideas in this, especially as horror-humor like The Evil Dead (I mean the thing that initially stops the Zombies is basically a knock off mountain dew) but it is in desperate need of editing. I get it. Editing is very expensive. I'd encourage at least find a writers group for indie/self pub authors.

The zombie outbreak is world wide and simultaneous (so one assumes it was an attack, maybe one that got out of hand. We only have that hinted at in this). Fast forward to after we learn mountain dew quiets them down. Now we have zombies in day care (I don't think all the zombies are kids but there are a few which is more horrific). Nathaniel was the one who discovered the soda solution and is now world famous and barely a character in this after that, busy with interviews and tours.

Henry and his brother Jimmy along with their step dad Stanley all work for a day care in West Virginia. Henry's girlfriend Tori works there too. More on that later. There's not really enough plot in this novella or maybe it's not enough worldbuilding but there's a serum X and what it does and why we have these day cares isn't all that clear (but it's safe to assume they're trying to cure the zombies and bring them back to themselves. Henry's mother is one of them).

But mostly the plot is Jimmy hates his brother, seeing him as having everything and lusting after Tori in a very gross way. So Jimmy lifts his plan right from the original Jurassic Park: get the serum, sell it, make millions and screw over his brother in the process because Jimmy is great just no one sees it but Jimmy.

And that's the whole plot in a nutshell. Jimmy does his best to trap Henry and the rest in the facility while he escapes to go become a millionaire or whatever it is he's dreaming about. The problem is there are too many pov characters who are indistinct for one novella. The world building is lacking. The misspellings/grammar issues are abundant and women exist literally to be gawked at, masturbated over and otherwise be treated as dolls with no real autonomy (by Jimmy and a couple others but not so much Henry who is sort of the hero of the story).

At the end there is a hint there is more to come (and looking at the back material yes there are two more books) but I think my zombie experience ends here and I can check the Z letter off my challenge for the year.



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Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore

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Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was super sweet, a 4.5 read for me. There were a few things that niggled at me, namely some of the romance tropes (If I had to hear about how sexy his forearms were one more time....)

The novel opens in media res with your typical D&D hero storming Guy ShadowFade's castle and taking him out and she has to decide does she take out the powerful plant witch he raised from childhood, his right hand, the Thornwitch. For reasons we don't know (but eventually will) Violet Thornwitch Thistlewaite is given a second chance with the command of 'be good' (or I'll be back to end you being understood)

Violet settles in Dragon's Rest right in the shadow of Shadowfade's castle and this one of my biggest issues. We never hear from her why she doesn't go far away where no one will possibly know her. No she plops down ten feet from the castle (there is a cool twist much later on in the book which was quite satisfying on this issue).

Violet rents half a green house and space from Pru who runs an apothecary (sort of, she's meant to be a traveling bard) with her brother, Nathaniel Marsh, the grumpiest alchemist this side of the Queendom. Convinced her thornwitch magic is evil, Violet starts using a 'different but good' well of it as she sets out to be a florist.

Immediately she and Nathaniel are at odds because he wasn't told his sister traded away half his work space. Also Nathaniel doesn't want to be here doing this (and failing at it because he's weeks away from the bank taking everything) but his parents have died and he's trying to honor them and he didn't like what the Queen was asking him to do with his alchemy. He has secrets of his own (themes of second chances and redemption are redolent in this).

There should be an 'annoyances to lovers' trope tag. These two aren't enemies per se but they get under each other's skin, his even more so than hers. What starts as a cute sign war as Violet tries to get her new business off the group, becomes a romantasy plot. It's sweet and they're fun together.

But every good story needs tension and this has it in spades with this bizarre blight destroying crops and trees and other plants in town that starts when Violet arrives, with Violet wondering if she truly can be good and the layers of her complicated relationship with Shadowfade are peeled.

At least Violet and Nathaniel can agree they need to work together to stop the blight so in walks another of Shadowfade's men, another alchemist who of course knows Violet's secret (because again she moved barely outside her previous bedroom for pete's sake.)

While I wished Violet's motivation for picking Dragon's Rest was clearer earlier on, that's a minor quibble. I like Violet and Nathaniel very much. It's overall a sweet story with a bit of spice.

Thanks to Netgalley for the arc.



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