Title: Zombie Queen of Newbury High
Author: Amanda Ashby
Genre: Young Adult, Zombies
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: 5 March 2009
Pages: 208 (eBook)
Synopsis
Quiet, unpopular, non-cheerleading Mia is blissfully happy. She is dating super hot football god Rob, and he actually likes her and asked her to prom! Enter Samanthacheerleading goddess and miss popularity who starts making a move for Rob. With prom in a few days, Mia needs to act fast. So she turns to her best friend, Candice, and decides to do a love spell on Rob. Unfortunately, she ends up inflicting a zombie virus onto her whole class, making herself their leader! At first she is flattered that everyone is treating her like a queen. But then zombie hunter hottie Chase explains they are actually fattening her up, because in a few days, Mia will be the first course in their new diet. She’s sure she and Chase can figure something out, but she suggests that no one wear white to prom, because things could get very messy.
My Rating
* * *
The Review
Zombie Queen of Newbury High is one of those books which makes the reader laugh, but is forgettable. First off, the characters of Mia and Candice doesn’t really go through much development apart from the whole beating-the-odds scenario. The book is rather short and things always seem to be rushing through.
Candice, the quirky BFF, is a hypochondriac and has a habit of going to a place where a woman sells natural medicine. Candice takes Mia to that place just so Mia doesn’t lose Rob before prom. Things go awry from there on. The whole fattening-up-the-zombie-queen was a pretty hilarious situation with Mia getting all types of candies and snacks.
What annoyed me about this book was that all of the seniors didn’t behave like they were 18-years-old. The dialogue between them was petty and too unlikely that it could only be laughed at. Yeah, prom is a huge deal for high school seniors, but even though Mia knew how typical she was being, she decided to carry on with it. It is safe to say that the whole story revolved around Mia fixing the catastrophic situation just so she could happily attend prom.
Moving on to Chase. What a guy! Sure Chase is someone who never gets angry, is always considerate and what not. But seriously, he sounded more like someone from an adult contemporary romance novel with a little bit of seduction thrown in. He didn’t even resemble an 18-year-old boy, let alone someone supposedly at the peak of raging hormones. It is safe to say that Rob and Chase were poles apart and not in the way appropriate for lead characters in a book geared towards teenagers.
Overall, the Paranormal Containment thing was seriously lacking and there were some major flaws within the story line. There were some parts which were just waved away casually in the end and the whole zombie situation though full of humor, seemed to lack something. Nevertheless, I had a few laughs while reading it. The title, Zombie Queen of Newbury High, is nothing short of intrigue, anyway.
Best Quote:
“Do you think we could stop talking now so I could kiss you? I’ve heard that it’s how all the very best TV shows end.”