Eat Slay Love by Jesse Petersen (A review)

Rating: 4.0 stars
Genre: Dystopian Fantasy/Science Fiction

Eat Slay Love, by Jesse Petersen, is the third book in the Living with the Dead series. Sarah and David have been through hell and back after surviving the zombie apocalypse and escaping from Seattle where the infestation started. Along the way, they have stumbled across cults, mad scientists and other groups who have tried to kill them. Now, they intend to do everything they can to reach the Midwest Wall where they hope to find survivors, including Sarah’s mother Molly, and safety from the massive zombie outbreak that has spread all over the Badlands (the West).

It has been more than a month since David was bitten by a zombie after coming into contact with a mad scientist who also had a cure. Sarah has been having nightmares of him turning zombie and her shooting him dead. Thanks to the cure, David hasn't turned, nor does he desire to eat anyone’s brains. But, he's not exactly normal either. His strength has more than doubled, he needs more and more food to keep him from going hungry and he can walk among the zombies without being attacked. Sarah calls him the Zombie Whisperer.

Sarah, as always, is sarcastic, funny, and witty, as well as a little worried that the infection will end up costing David his life. She absolutely loves her guns and toys she picks up along the way, and by the end of the story, she has an even better toys to play with. Think really big guns.

On the way to the wall, the couple meets up with a reporter named Nicole Nessing who worked for ENZ – Entertainment News Zone (Think TMZ). She was down in Mexico when the outbreak started, and since then has been hearing things about the couples exploits from various survivor camps. Sarah calls her a stalkerazzi, and truly hates her when they first meet. They also meet Colin McCray, who is the lead singer of Lead Tongue who decided to remain locked up in a hospital in Oklahoma trying to get help for his drug addiction. Colin definitely should have been tossed to the zombies, but I digress.

Nothing is ever easy for Sarah, David and crew. They once again face a test of survival by a group who have come together to keep out the infected and other survivors. Call it Mad Max and the Thunderdome if you will. Eventually, they do reach the Midwest wall, but nothing is as it appears. In fact, it appears that the government is doing its best to ignore the situation in the Badlands.

I love the fact that Sarah and David have remained married throughout the zombie infestation; in fact, they’ve actually grown closer in every way possible. While others are struggling to survive, Sarah and David ended up making zombie killing a business adventure and have a growing fan base throughout the badlands.

I’m not going to spoil this story or the ending which is definitely worth reading about. The ending does leave open for the continuation of this series, but for now, this is the last book of the series. This book is only 200 pages long so readers will have no trouble getting through this book. There are a few unanswered questions that need to be answered including one very important one regarding David, and Sarah’s parents.

However, I still rate this as a fun and interesting book that will take its place in my ever growing zombie book obsession that I need serious help with.

**ARC Received from publisher via NetGalley.com** posted 06/19/2011