Review: I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It by Adam Selzer

(Click image to go to the Goodreads Page)Title: I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It
Author: Adam Selzer
Started: 29/05/12
Finished: 31/05/12
Genre: Horror, Paranormal, Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Algonquin “Ali” Rhodes, the high school newspaper’s music critic, meets an intriguing singer, Doug, while reviewing a gig. He’s a weird-looking guy—goth, but he seems sincere about it, like maybe he was into it back before it was cool. She introduces herself after the set, asking if he lives in Cornersville, and he replies, in his slow, quiet murmur, “Well, I don’t really live there, exactly. . . .”

When Ali and Doug start dating, Ali is falling so hard she doesn’t notice a few odd signs: he never changes clothes, his head is a funny shape, and he says practically nothing out loud. Finally Marie, the school paper’s fashion editor, points out the obvious: Doug isn’t just a really sincere goth. He’s a zombie. Horrified that her feelings could have allowed her to overlook such a flaw, Ali breaks up with Doug, but learns that zombies are awfully hard to get rid of—at the same time she learns that vampires, a group as tightly-knit as the mafia, don’t think much of music critics who make fun of vampires in reviews. . . .

The first thing that came into my mind when I saw the cover and read the title was 'gross'. Why would anyone want to kiss a decaying dead body that probably wants to eat your brains? In this weird but interesting book, we have Alley, who is known for her mean music reviews and her snarky remarks. Her narration alone made me crack up more than once. BUT by mid-book, Alley became a disappointment to me. I did not like her drastic change in character after just 80-pages and all for what? A boy. A zombie boy. But she didn't know that. Okay, I get it, its hard for people in the books scenario to tell the difference between mortals and immortals since everyone basically dresses in goth gear. But how can you not notice his smell, face, clothes and the way he talks! It all screams ZOMBIE!

In the first few pages of the book, Alley Rhodes was cool, stubborn, mature and intelligent but when she changed into a love-dazed, stupid, naive 12-year-old, who did nothing but deny the fact that her boyfriend's a zombie during most of the book, everything I liked about the book just disappear and the storyline just began to drop quickly.

Plot was present, the characters are weak and disconnected from the reader. I just finished the book and I can't remember the names of any of the secondary characters. Sad, I know. As for the ending, all I can say about it, is that it was abrupt and lacking. The author could have written a lot more and made the ending more smooth but sadly, he just stuck to rushed and cut-short.

Despite all the negatives, I still enjoyed the book. It was entertaining and funny, how the writer portrayed  a zombie-human romance and the writing style was amazingly breezy and clean, which allows the reader to go through the book easily. If only the author wrote more differently, added more details, and made Alley less-intolerable, then maybe the book would have been amazing. Other than that, the book is an entertaining light read for the adventurous readers.