If you saw it, would you read it? Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel
About the front:
There is something really creepy about this cover. I LOVE the colors — the muted red and deep blacks. The script of the title and the girl’s face in shadow. While I’m focusing on her, I’m looking beyond it too … to the trees that look dead or are in the middle of winter. I see what looks to be a cemetery which I assume is relevant to the title. Right now I’m imaging this as a paranormal. The old fashioned umbrella has me curious, too. It’s such an eclectic mix of images but they all feel right. Like they are meant to be together. I need to know what the back says. 🙂
Now let’s look at what the back says:
Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune, and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, steampunk meets romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.
Does it match? Front to Back without the in between?
Totally! Okay, I have to admit first the hint of ‘zombie’ here made me cringe. I am NOT into Zombies. Yes, I know they are a fad and ‘the new vampire’ but I seriously don’t get the appeal. However, the blurb here suggests that while the guy in her life is zombie-like, he also isn’t, so for me that alone redeems my potential for reading it.
The blurb itself is very well written. It’s flows smoothly all the way through. I love the idea of it being 2195 and still referencing an antiquated era. The combination just sounds so unique to me. I love that it’s a romance but I can already feel the NOT happily ever after. How will that get resolved if it’s a true romance? Well … I can imagine a few scenarios … and now I’m even MORE inclined to read it. 🙂
Where I’d read it
On the couch with life around me. Zombies scare me. It’ll have to be daytime. 🙂 I’m looking forward to it!
Will you add it to your bookshelf virtual or otherwise? Share in the comments!
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