Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland

Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues (White Trash Zombie, #2)

by Diana Rowland

Horror meets humorous urban fantasy in second book of the White Trash Zombie series • Winner of the 2012 Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist by the RT Awards

Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she’s beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that’s right—the zombie mafia.

Throw in a secret lab and a lot of conspiracy, and Angel’s going to need all of her brainpower—and maybe a brain smoothie as well—in order to get through it without falling apart.

Reviewed by Kim Deister on

5 of 5 stars

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Hands down, Angel Crawford is one of the most unique protagonists I have ever read. She is so incredibly flawed, yet true to herself, that I cannot help but love her. She is smarter than she gives herself credit for, clearly a product of a lifetime of being told that she is a loser. She is snarky and completely transparent in her honesty. She refers to feeding as "tanking up" and her battle cry is "zombie super powers, ACTIVATE!" What is not to love?

This book was full of action, an all-out war and government conspiracy. The military intelligence former Army girl in me loved all of that. I felt like Angel came into her own in this book, finally starting to accept that she is more than the product of her past. If it is possible, I think I liked her even more after this book.

But then there is Marcus. I think I now like him a little less. He came off as rather weak-willed at times, as well as pretty arrogant towards Angel. I really, really, really didn't like that. He's redeemed himself some, but I didn't like the attitude towards Angel, the girl who had too much of that attitude in her life as it is. It had a marked effect on her character, though, and I suppose it was necessary for her to grow.

There were some other great characters, too. Ben Roth is a sheriff and one of the few that treats Angel as a worth human being. He is one of my favorite supporting characters. We also learn some interesting things about him. Derrell is another favorite, a death investigator who is Angel's partner. He is hilarious and kind and I love him. Nick is a pre-med student that works with Angel at the morgue and is generally a jerk. But we see a side of him this time that is very different and I loved that Angel (a zombie) humanized him (a human). That little subplot was really awesome!

We also learn a lot about zombies in general, especially in how they are created. It is very different than traditional zombie lore and not as easy as one would think.

Things to love...

--The supporting characters. They were very well-developed and added a lot to Angel's ongoing changes as a person.
--Angel's personality. I love that she doesn't try to be anything other than what she is, just a better version of it.

Things I wanted more/less of...

--Less arrogant Marcus. His attitude largely annoyed me.

Some Quotastic Goodness

--Hello, my name is Angel, and I’ll be your zombie today (Loc. 102).
--Hi there, darlin’. My name is Angel, I thought. I’ll probably eat your brain sometime soon. I hope you don’t mind (Loc. 337).
--“You don’t have to lie. A good zombie boyfriend tells his zombie girlfriend if she’s starting to rot. Just like you’d better tell me if I have spinach in my teeth (Loc. 408).”
--“Zombie Super Powers, activate, you fucking bitches (Loc. 3279).”

My Recommendation: This is such a fantastic series! It is not a standalone so be sure to pick up My Life as a White Trash Zombie first and read, read, READ!

This review originally appeared on my blog, http://thecaffeinateddivareads.multifacetedmama.com/?p=9435.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 12 February, 2014: Finished reading
  • 12 February, 2014: Reviewed