 | Title: My Life As A White Trash Zombie
 Sexual Content: Kissing. References to sex. Rating:
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Description
Angel Crawford is a loser
Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken.
That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in an horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the parish morgue--and that it's an offer she doesn't dare refuse.
Before she knows it she's dealing with a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey--just when she's hungriest!
Angel's going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because if she doesn't, she's dead meat.
Literally.
Review
Diana Rowland was becoming one of my favorite urban fantasy authors thanks to her demonically good Kara Gillian series, and now with MY LIFE AS A WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE, she’s cemented that position. Trust me, this is the zombie book for people who never read zombie books. It’s a nonstop riot of gross and girly fun.
Angel is nothing like her namesake. She’s white trash, pure and simple. She’s a dropout on probation for a little pill problem, her boyfriend could teach classes on how to be a loser, she can’t keep a job, and her dad is an angry drunk. She literally has NOTHING going for her. Until she becomes a zombie.
Zombieism in MY LIFE AS A WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE is a lot like vampirism. Strong cravings, preternatural strength, agelessness etc. Except instead of blood, Angel craves brains. Granted, noshing on brains from the morgue is not as sexy as a nibbling on necks, but there is none of the mindless staggering around Romero style action going on. As long as Angel stays ‘tanked up’, she’s as normal as she ever was. And thanks to her new dietary needs, she lands a sweet new job, the attention of a seriously hot detective, and for the first time in her life, friends.
The writing is super fun and full of sarcasm and just the right amount of snark. Angel knows she’s white trash and when she feels insecure or threatened, out comes the bravado. The combination made me feel both protective and proud of her with occasional moments of disappointment when she let people dismiss or take advantage of her. But she had street smarts in spades which she used to brilliantly navigate the intricacies of her new lifestyle and her budding sense of self respect.
If you didn’t know, Diana Rowland used to work as morgue assistant and crime scene investigator and the details she provides in MY LIFE AS A WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE benefit greatly from her experience. Everything felt authentic, and yet thanks to Angel’s voice, never intimidatingly complex. It was the perfect balance of info and entertainment.
Overall, MY LIFE AS A WHITE TRASH ZOMBIE is every bit as fun and trashy as the brilliant cover. The story is gory and gorgeous with plenty of humor and a great new protagonist to root for. There is also a tightly written murder mystery too that shocked me by the end. The next book in the series is called EVEN WHITE TRASH ZOMBIES GET THE BLUES and will be published in 2012. I’m already feeling the Hunger.
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