Undead Much? by Stacey Jay

Undead Much? by Stacey Jay
(Spoiler warning: Because this book is part of a series, this review may contain spoilers of earlier books. If you haven’t read the previous books, you may want to skip this review)

author’s website: Stacey Jay
release date: January 21, 2010
appeals to: Young Adult
genre: Paranormal (Zombies)
length: 304 pages
overall rating: 4 Stars

*the back cover*
Q: How many guys does it take to make your boyfriend wild with jealousy?
A: Only one, if he’s UNDEAD.

Megan Berry had a perfectly average new-sundress-and-boy-obsessed life – until her power to settle the Undead returned. Oh, and then her best friend tried to kill her – and ruin homecoming – with a bunch of black magically raised zombies. At least she got a spot on the pom squad and a smokin’ boyfriend (Ethan). But now Megan is in deep fertilizer all over again. Why? Well, let’s see. . .
* Feral new super-strong zombies? Check
* Cheerleader vs. pom squad turf war threatening half time as they know if? Check.
* An Undead psychich hottie (Cliff) who’s predicting a zombie apocalypse – and doing his best to tempt Megan away from Ethan? Yum. I mean, check.
* Earth-shattering secrets that could land Megan in Settler prison for lif? Um. . . it wasn’t me!!!

Everyone thinks Megan’s at fault for the new uber-zombie uprising. Looks like she’ll need the help of both Cliff and Ethan if she’s going to prove her innocence before it’s too late.

*my review*
After reading “You Are So Undead to Me,” I was excited to read the sequel, but this book started out kind of slow and a little confusing. There were Zombies who weren’t acting like normal Zombies, Megan was in trouble but didn’t know why, and Mom and Dad were acting weird. Then there is the introduction of a new character – Cliff – who is another un-normal zombie, but with psychic visions. And, Monica – Megan’s nemesis in the first book - was actually being nice to her.

So even with the slow-ish plot, I was interested in the way that the characters were developing and I was intrigued as to where the story was going, so I kept reading, and boy, am I glad I did!! About half way through the story, the plot really starts to pick up. There is more action, and a lot more suspense, even than the first book. And the story seems to come to a great conclusion – questions are answered, problems are solved, etc. EXCEPT that the last three pages gave me an “are you freaking kidding me? There has to be a sequel!!” attitude!

The interactions with characters in the first half of this book actually added to the intrigue. Cliff was especially interesting. He seemed to like Megan and her attraction to him was kind of weird because (1) she’s supposed to be head-over-heels for Ethan, and (2) he’s dead! We also meet Aaron in this book. He’s the new (and only) male cheerleader, but he is also super creepy. And coming back to Monica, she seemed to be concerned about Megan, but I kept thinking – Jess was nice in the first book and look how that turned out!

Overall, I thought this was a very fun book, and I am VERY hopeful that there will be more to come in the story of Megan Berry!

*short and snappy*
writing: quick and fun in the same style as “You Are So Undead to Me”
plot: slow to start, but it picks up speed about half way through and finishes VERY strong
characters: growing – you learn a lot more about the “supporting” characters (Monica and Ethan mostly) in this story than in the first book
memorable line: “By lunchtime I hated my life and all the people happily chattering in the cafeteria. I hated raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens and all that crap.” (p. 56)
judging by the cover: cute – I love that the characters faces aren’t shown; it lets me put the faces as I imagine them to be in the scene
miscellaneous: I was recently reading Stacey Jay’s blog, and love it. Reading it feels like having a conversation with a friend.