Title: Contagious
Series: Book One, The Contagium Trilogy
Author: Emily Goodwin
Published: 2012
Format: Ebook provided for tour review
"I wasn’t afraid of death. If I died, it would be over. My worst fear wasn’t of dying, it was of living. Living, while everyone around me had their flesh savagely torn from their bodies to be shoved into the festering and ever-hungry mouths of zombies. It terrified me, right down to my very core, to be alive while the rest of the world was dead."
In the midst of the Second Great Depression, twenty-five year old Orissa Penwell doesn't think things can get any worse. She couldn't be more wrong. A virus breaks out across the country, leaving the infected crazed, aggressive and very hungry.
Orissa will do anything-no matter if it's right or wrong- to save the ones she loves. But when she discovers that most of the world is infected or dead, she must decided if those lives are worth saving at all.
Cover Artist: SweetDreams
This is a pretty damn good book. I was pretty excited to start reading it, I love a good zombie apocalypse. But I have to be honest with you – for a good portion of the story, I didn’t like the main character, Orissa. I kind of felt like she was a bit bitchy, a little manipulative, and I felt like we knew she was coming around 5 minutes beforehand because her ego arrived first. It’s not like I wanted her to get eaten by the zombies, because I needed her alive to save these other characters who needed her. But come on, Orissa, you are not the most awesomest on the planet! Or are you?
But then she kind of grew on me. I began to like her and her cocky attitude. She proved herself time and again that she had the walk to back up the talk. There’s still a whole lot that I don’t know about her. This girl has a lot of secrets. But she is not a cold and calculating woman, she is a woman who has a checkered past with people she cares about out there in the world. And she’s now got a handful of them to protect.
If there is one thing that I’ve learned from any zombie apocalypse – stay out of the hospital. Especially as a patient, if you can help it. It signs your death warrant. So when sexy blue eyed Dr. Padraic Sheehan protects a bunch of “expendable” people by hiding them in the basement, he earns a spot in my favorites book. Even if he does start to irritate me a little bit later. He’s a good guy, and he deserves to be happy.
And the rest of Orissa’s group is as varied as can be. But I like them, for the most part. Her BFF, Raeya, is fantastical. Zoe can melt your heart. And well, Argos is the man’s best friend I’d love to acquire when the time comes. But then…. *cue sexy music* Hayden enters her life. *swoooooooooon*
The man is military…well, ex military now. But he is stacked. He is smart. He is sexy. Of course. And the sexual tension between Orissa and Hayden is so thick you could suffocate. I love him. And oddly enough, he makes me like Orissa more. I don’t know how. Maybe he brings out her caring side a bit more, softens her. He makes her more real to me. I love the way they silently and maybe even subconsciously seek each other out and find a way to be near and touching. It’s very warm and endearing in such bleak times. And this is without a kiss or sexual encounter. Sometimes your heart just knows.
It’s a bit crazy that a book can have a good mix of horror, action, drama, emotion, and yes – sexual tension. But it does. It took me a minute to really get into it. But once I did I couldn’t put it down. A lot of the book kind of felt frantic, and of course, if it was real life (it will be one day), it would feel frantic. So that part I was really digging. There are some very cool fight scenes and action sequences, something the special effects junkie in me would love to see on screen. I definitely think this is a book to add to your zombie collection. It’s one of those books that left me cussing a whole stream of expletives much to violent for the likes of Fictional Candy.
I just want to know, what is going to be your “go to” weapon when its time to kick some zombie ass?
Author Bio:
Emily Goodwin resides in Indiana, where she lives with her husband and many four legged children, including their much loved German Shepherd named Vader. Accused of being a day dreamer, Emily began writing at an early age, making use of her active imagination. She has a degree in psychology and is currently working on her second degree in nursing. Emily likes anything paranormal, 80's rock, going on crazy adventures with her friends, making (and wearing) costumes, Renaissance Fairs, and is an animal rights activist.
