#Review: Wisteria by Bisi Layton

Bisi Leyton was born in East London in 1978. She grew up in London, Nigeria and the States, listening to the stories life and love from aunts, cousins and big sisters.She lives in London, but has worked around Europe including France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the Czech Republic. She has a fondness for reading graphic novels. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Wisteriabooks Current Blog; Old Blog; Twitter; Goodreads





 

Blurb:

Sixteen year old Wisteria Kuti has two options—track the infected around the Isle of Smythe or leave the only known safe haven and face a world infested with flesh eating biters. But even with well-armed trackers, things go wrong and Wisteria ends up alone facing certain death, until she is rescued by the mysterious Bach. Uninfected, Bach is able to survive among the hordes of living dead.

Eighteen year old Bach, from a race known as The Family, has no interest in human affairs. He was sent here to complete his Great Walk and return home as a man—as a Sen Son. The Family regard humans as Dirt People, but Bach is drawn to this Terran girl, whom he has never seen before, but somehow knows.

Hunted by flesh eaters, cannibals, and the mysterious blood thirsty group called Red Phoenix, Wisteria and Bach make their way back to the Isle of Smythe, a community built on secrets and lies.

Review:
I can go either way with a YA book. Some are fantastic and I devour the entire series in a week. Some have the stereotypical teenager I hated in myself and despise in books I wish to read for pleasure. Wisteria fell into the former category. She didn't make me want to scream and beg for it to end, she was a very well-visualized teen. I liked her a lot and felt really awful for her over the abuse and treatment she endured from everyone throughout.

Seriously, I'm amazed she didn't go zombie-psycho on the town. Maybe in book 2...

The zombies were simply the world, the Nero virus how it all started. The story really centered on the characters, however, not the zombies so much.

The rest of the book, however, I had some difficulty with. For instance Bach. As in most all of Bach--his back story, his Family, his speech. Didn't like him at all. Nope. I could have done without his storyline and equally bad treatment of Wisteria. In fact, he's not worthy of being her love interest OR of having a distinct storyline.

Other little things that bothered me were the slang and the lack of description for the Isle of Symthe (Is this a real island? Or one of those places where it's made up like in Hunger Games and Panem?) I had no real physical layout of the place and found myself confused over distances and locations. As for the slang, I'm all for that, don't get me wrong but a little description on what it means would probably have helped. Are these English words? Or the post-apocalyptic world's words?

I'm all for Indie writing, definitely, but I'm also all for editing. I think Ms. Layton needed another pass with a really great editor. There were continuity errors, weird sentence structuring, repetitiveness, and lack of character development until the very very end. Hey, don't get me wrong, there's that in a 'publisher' published book, but again I recommend a great editor to weed some of that out.

Overall I'd give this book 3 stars for the interesting plot, the execution of said plot, and Wisteria. Give it a chance and see for yourself.


Excerpt:
Thirteen months after the first official case of Nero Disease


“Wisteria, run!” Rebecca O’Leary screamed over the radio.

Wisteria Kuti whipped around and came face-to-face with the blood-red eyes of a hungry flesh-eating biter. The biter was a man, infected by Nero Disease, who had long lost his mind. He looked more animal than human and he wanted one thing—to feed on the flesh of uninfected people. The biter growled and staggered toward Wisteria.

She fled down the deserted road to the nearest house. The front door was locked. She kicked at the door, but it didn’t open. Taking out her handgun, she smashed through the window of the door.

“Ugh,” more biters growled behind her.

She spun around, fired once, and hit one in the head. She unlocked the door by reaching in and turning the lock. Once inside, she chained and bolted the door.

Crash—a biter smashed through another window into the house.

Wisteria’s heart jumped and she darted up the stairs as fast as she could.

“Get out of the house, Wisteria!” Rebecca radioed.

I’m trying.

A biter grabbed her ankle as she ran. Falling hard on the steps, she wailed in pain. “Ah.” No time to cry, Wisteria. She fired at the biter holding her. One bullet left.

Three more biters appeared below and started coming up the stairs. Leaping up, she sprinted to the top floor and dashed into the first open doorway that led to the master bedroom. Locking the door, she headed straight for the window.

The infected clawed at the door, tearing it apart and snarling as they entered.

Lust after Death, Daisy Harris, and sexy zombies!

About Daisy:

Birkenstock-wearing glamour girl and mother of two by immaculate conception, Daisy Harris still isn't sure if she writes erotica. Her romances start out innocently enough. However, her characters behave like complete sluts. Much to Miss Harris's dismay the sex tends to get completely out of hand.

She writes about fantastical creatures and about young men getting their freak on, and she's never missed an episode of The Walking Dead.

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Lust after Death Blurb:

In the Pacific Northwest, where life hurries to keep pace with technology, a re-animated bride named Josie struggles to escape her creator and to find her identity in the half-erased circuitry of her mind and body.

Assassin Bane Connor just wants to get the girl to the Zombie Underground and receive his payoff-a mental reset that will erase his memories as well as his guilt. But an attack by a rival faction derails his rescue, and the wide-eyed female whose circuitry requires a husband tears at his hardened heart and ignites desire like he's never known.

Excerpt:

She picked up a bar of soap and her eyes widened. Normally Bane hated how newbies wondered at every damn thing—but this girl didn’t look stupid. She looked kind, excited, happy. The bar slipped out of her hands into the water and Bane watched as she dove head-first to find it. His hand left his dick to grab at the metal. He worried she might not know enough not to breathe under there.

Her head popped up again and she flipped her ebony mane from her face. A grin split her face. Damp curls of hair framed her cheeks, tangled at her shoulders, licked at her collarbone. She giggled and rolled the soap in her hands. Her eyelids fluttered as she smoothed the cream over her arms and up the long column of her neck.

Bane’s fingers traced over his lips as he watched her soap her body. He held his breath, silently urging her hand lower.

She obliged, skimming over the curve of her breasts before sliding her touch down her belly. Her palm dipped below the water and he lost sight of it, but her eyes fell to half-mast and her lips parted. When her arm reached farther, the girl’s eyes pressed tight as her mouth made a shape like an O.

Fuck! His legs swung out from under him and his fingertips barely caught on the thin ledge. Bane hung there for a moment, wondering whether to drop to the ground or pull back up. Despite his better judgment, he wedged his toe into a crack in the concrete wall and angled his body to push his torso higher until he once again peered like a letch through her window.

He shouted, finding her face right up to the glass. Her mahogany stare met his—surprised, curious, but not frightened. One corner of her mouth curled up into a lopsided, cherubic smile. She reached out a hand to the window and traced his face. When her fingertips covered his lips, her other hand reached up, stroking her own mouth.

Bane lost his grip, and with a winding thud, fell flat on his ass.

Where to buy Lust after Death:

Ellora’s Cave

Amazon

B

Wednesday Revews: Patient Zero

Every once in a while my reading kick involves all the titles in a certain genre I can find. After Night of the Living Trekkies, I ordered several zombie books and just finished Patient Zero. The first line caught me: When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with my skills.

 

Told in first person, the action read like a Vince Flynn or old school Clive Cussler or W.E.B. Griffin book-lots of action, tough talking guys who love their country and hate the bad guys who may or may not be utterly one-dimensional. With the additional of the stereotypical grey leader of a super-secret government organization. It's technical, jargon-filled, and o-stop, but it also has a ring of could-be potential to it, which most post-apocalyptic stories do. Or should.

 

However this does have the definite addition of zombies. Which, if you ask certain people, is always a great addition. That addition does lend a certain depthness to the story I otherwise might not have finished (but only because I've read the afore mentioned authors and enjoyed them). Zombies and terrorists and megalomaniacs? You can't beat it.

 

When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills.  And that's both a good, and a bad thing.  It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance....

Wednesday Review: Night of the Living Trekkies

Night of the Living Trekkies, where Star Trek and zombies collide--I kid you not!

Confession: I've actually been to a Trek Con. Did not dress up but stood in line for autographs and bought stuff...and more stuff.  I even own a bat'leth...somewhere. I've watched Galaxy Quest and enjoyed it immensely.

Yes, I am one of those.

When I heard about this book, I had to get it. It's much different than a lot of zombie books out there--more zombies than Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, which I thought had too few zombies and needed to plug up some zombie-sized plot holes.

Here you have the addition of Star Trek and a man just back from several Afghanistan tours who isn't settling back into everyday life. Unlike a couple other zombie books I've read (see above mentioned Pride & Prejudice and Zombies) there's a plot without major holes and a satisfying ending

If you like Trek, or even have a passing interest in it, read this book. I may be slightly biased cause of my Trek love, but I think it can be read by Trek fans and zombie fans alike without to much confusion. It's a quick easy read--it'll never win any literature prizes but then the best books rarely do.

Wednesday Review: The Walking Dead

Finally managed to finish the series. I don't like horror, I don't thrive on it, laugh at it, or collect it. I think the last horror movie I saw was Halloween H20...and it was bad. This is my horror level, get it?

But zombies. I wasn't going to watch this, I was perfectly happy ignoring the latest in the zombie trend. But then I heard everyone (and I do mean that literally) talking about it. Not just zombie lovers, but people I wouldn't have thought knew what a zombie was.

So I caved.

And it was pretty good! AMC did a great job with the characterization, with the aftermath, and unlike The Road (2 thumbs down!) they explained the overall world and what happened. Whereas The Road left the apocalypse as a vague explanation you had to guess at and were left wondering if the water they drank and the air they breathed was contaminated or not, The Walking Dead (based on the long-running comic series) created a disease.

A mysterious, deadly, infectious disease, but one that left the survivors unscathed and able to survive without those pesky is-this-safe? questions.

Granted, the sheriff, was entirely too stupid to live, and should have stayed with the always stellar Lennie James, but alas. Because of course I'm going to ride into Atlanta (or any city for that matter!) on a horse amidst a zombie outbreak, with all the cars leaving town now burnt out shells, and not one damn sign of human life.

That's beside the point...it's about the survivors, which all the best post-apocalyptic stories are about. Give it a try, it's worth it.

Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance

Got zombie?

Homepage of the Dead...yup, you read right! It's a website dedicated to zombies, zombies, and more zombies. They're giving away a copy of Hungry for Your Love, so if you have ANY interest in zombies, stop on by!

From their about us page:

This site is dedicated to the horror films comprising the George A. Romero "Dead" series of films, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead.

And don't forget my Title Contest!

Review: Hungry for your Love

Just found a new review for my Zombified story in Hungry for your Love from Bitten by Books. Overall, they gave it 3.5 Tombstones, but specifically of Zombified:

The collection does have several excellent pieces that stand out from the rest. In Zombified by Isabel Roman, an FBI agent and a doctor with a family connection inherit an unusual old mansion in the wilds of Martinique.

Yes, there are others that stand out, but I'll let you read the review yourself.

Excerpt Monday Got zombie?

Got Hungry for your Love? You should! Halloween approaches, and in the true spirit (if not tradition) of the holiday, everyone should have a zombie romance anthology. :)

Excerpt from Zombified:

Three shrunken voodoo heads, a single gold doubloon, an ancient German Luger, and one and a half wooden legs later, they gave up. The rest of the house was as dusty as the entryway, so they opened the shutters, unpacked their camping gear and set up camp before the unused fireplace.

Before Rebecca knew what was happening, Griffin’s lips were on hers and they’d made love in an abandoned mansion in the middle of Martinique. It was the most pleasurable day she could remember spending in a long while.

“No pirate treasure,” she sighed, propping her head on one hand and looking at him.

“No, but lots of dust.”

Rebecca frowned at his frown and traced the line of his jaw. “What do you expect?” she asked. “The place has been closed up for years.”

She swept her arm out to encompass the end tables, coffee table, piano, and old style chairs—some wicker, some old enough to be certifiable antiques. Not that she had any real notion of what a certifiable antique looked like.

“Dust is created by human skin,” he mumbled. Shaking his head, he grasped her hips and pulled her atop him. “Are you sure you want to stay here for the night? Or do you want to drive back?”

“Na,” she kissed his lips. “Let’s just stay here. We haven’t explored a fraction of the place. Plus,” her lips trailed along his jaw, and Rebecca wondered when she’d become so fascinated with a man’s jaw line. “Plus we’ll just have to drive back out tomorrow. What’s the point?”

“Definitely not an ordinary woman,” he said against her mouth. “Most I know would rather head back to the hotel than stay here. In the middle of nowhere.”

“Hey,” she smiled, “at least we have electricity.”

4 stars from Romantic Times
4 cups of coffee from Coffee Time
4.5 hearts from Night Owl Romance

Zombie love anyone?

Never thought you'd read those words, did you. Welcome to the new writing world, where anything goes. I'm not mocking, and not cause I'm in this particular anthology. Or not just. We are in an age where the confines of that pesky box are no longer.

• Want to write your time travel Civil War romance? Go right ahead.


• Or a forward time travel (traveling forward in time rather than backwards) from Ireland to Texas? Go for it!
• Zombies, werewolves, vampires, oh my! I don't have statistics, but I recently read that paranormal is the largest romance sub genre. Yup. I so believe that.


• Menage? M/M? F/F? There's a market, a huge one, and it's no longer under Anonymous, or in Penthouse, or anything else you don't want it to be. Talk about a large romance sub genre!
• (When I say sub genre I mean under the romance umbrella, since that's pretty all encompassing.)

With the explosion of e-publishing, stories the 'regular' print publishers refused to look at are now getting attention. They're not only being picked up but they're selling well. So why not Quirk Press's Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (needed more zombies and less plot holes) or Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (haven't read it, so can't comment)?

Don't believe me? I just read a post on this very thing. (Granted I wrote this blog on Tuesday and read the post on Wednesday but the timing was perfect!)

Hungry for your Love is the zombie romance anthology from Ravenous Romance and St. Martin's Press. St. Martin's Press bought the print distribution rights to Ravenous's zombie e-book. Tells you something, huh: zombies (and that outside the box thing) are everywhere.


My story, Zombified, admittedly has the zombies cast as the bad guys, there's an excerpt on my site, just follow the link. Don't believe you'll like it? Want to see what else is out there? Contact the other authors for the first couple pages of their story-or the e-book is available from ravenous for $4.99. Trust me, it's well worth it.

Hungry for your Love

New cover! Isn't it gorgeous? In a zombie-love kind of way? Forget zombies as mindless eaters, eating minds, and think of the zombie possibilities. Go with me here...OK? Now, isn't it a gorgeous zombie-loving cover? There...that's better.

Sure, my story, Zombified, is all about the mindless eaters, eating minds, but that's because I read it straight off reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Evil scientist, much pop-culture phrases, 2 lovers on a deserted plantation in the middle of Martinique. What's not to be creepy?

This is the St. Martin's Press hardback cover due out September 28, 2010 (according to the B&N website). Reserve your copy today!

4.5 Hearts from Night Owl Romance:
Excerpt: Roman gets mad props for cramming so many pop culture references into this story I almost couldn't keep up. Everything from Freddy Kruger to Scooby-Doo gets it own little mention. Zombies are only present in the last third of the story, but they make up for it in numbers at least!

Another week, another story plotted

I've been a little busy the past week or so. There was the Northern Roses and Southern Belles blog tour, I wanted to write my zombie story, and plot out a new Regency set story. So this is where I stand today:

Northern Roses and Southern Belles is #8 on The Wild Rose Press Top 10! WOOT! It's been there for over a week, and I'm thrilled. My fellow Victorians and I worked hard on our stories and to bring interest to battles and events of the Civil War that aren't normally heard of. I hope you'll check it out and enjoy the stories.

Zombified. That's my zombie story title for Ravenous. I keep saying it's Night of the Living Dead meets Scooby Doo, and that's the best explanation I can come up with. It takes place on Martinique with 2 Americans trying to figure out what they want to do with a house they've inherited. It's a spicy story with romance, zombies, mystery, and sex. :) Ravenous hasn't accepted it for their anthology, but I'm hopeful!

Lastly, there's the vaguely plotted, not titled, but YES! named characters for my Regency. I don't have a lot of it outlined, it's a mystery/suspense/hunt spicy romance, but this is what it doesn't include:

• Egypt, Greece, or Roman antiquities
• A timid heroine wallflower
• A hero mysteriously involved in the Napoleonic wars with no mention of what he does or why he's not on the continent and in England instead.