Hulking shadows emerge out of the chaotic flurries of the blizzard. Something is dying, and so they come, like vultures.
After months of struggling south to escape the zombie-infested remains of New York, a snowstorm traps 23-year old artist, Emily, and her son in an abandoned gas station. Starving and desperate, they encounter Aaron, an Army medic on a mission of his own, who offers them a ride to ease the journey.
The road is a long and dangerous place to travel, and every day brings a new threat. But fear and adrenaline also drive the two closer together; they find laughter and a budding attraction that starts to thaw at their numb and deadened feelings. And that’s when the pain really starts to hit, when places long thought lost prickle back to life. Eventually, they will have to fight not just for survival, but for a future together, or their broken world will swallow them whole.
*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
Living in Zombieland isn't the most fun. It means you are constantly on the run, living in fear and going on survival mode. Emily has been travelling South for months now with her young son and when he gets sick, she fears this might truly be the end. Luckily they run into Aaron. He's a former army medic and pretty much essential now for their survival. The man even has a car, which is about as rare as finding non-infected humans.
They form an alliance and decide to start travelling together. Now he is a young man, she is a young woman, there are no other options within a hundred mile radius, so you can guess what happens between these two. It's certainly no instant love as it starts out two people needing each other for survival. Though slowly they get to know each other better. They each have had their struggles in life, but all that seems so unimportant now. The road between Aaron and Emily isn't easy and when you're living on adrenaline, things can get heated.
The overall threat of zombies was always more on the background until they are suddenly in your face. Often things felt safe and I was so caught up in the drama between the characters when the zombies showed up. They certainly gave the story room for plenty of twists. I likes the fact that the story was about two ordinary people, not some heroes looking for a cure or something like that.
I did sometimes had trouble connecting with the characters, mostly with Emily. Often she behaved a bit like a drama queen and her focus was too much on the past instead of on the future. While Aaron was a regular nice guy and I applaud him for being able to keep up with Emily's mood swings. Now with these circumstances I can understand it's not easy for anyone, so they really should give each other a break.
After Life Lessons was a different kind of zombie tale, with two people who needed each other for survival and got so much more in the end.
The Authors
L.C. and Laila met in 2010 on an online forum and have been inseparable ever since. Having supported each other in their individual writing projects for years, they finally decided to work more closely together in a cross-continental cooperative writing partnership. Together, they host the podcast Lilt and started their micropublishing venture Lilt Literary in 2013.L.C. (generally known as Lorrie) lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, kids, and too many pets. Lailais a nerdy German translator, living in Cologne with her kitten and a lot of sparkly lights.
