College freshman Parker Osborne is having the worst day ever. He humiliated himself trying to pick up a cute guy, he hasn’t made any friends at school, and his stupidly hot jerk of a TA gave him a crappy grade on his paper. He’s going to drop Adam Hawkins’ film class and start fresh tomorrow after he’s had a good sulk.
But Parker’s about to find out what a bad day really looks like—if he can survive the night.
A virus is unleashed, transforming infected people into zombie-like killers. After these quick and deadly creepers swarm campus, Parker only escapes thanks to Adam swooping him onto the back of his trusty motorcycle. Now they're on the run—and stuck with each other.
When they’re not bickering, they’re fighting off the infected in a bloody battle for survival. Their only hope is to head east to Parker's family, but orphaned Adam has a secret he’s not sure Parker will accept: he’s a werewolf. Can they trust each other enough to find some light in these dark days?
Wow. Oh, wow. There is so much I loved about Kick at the Darkness.
I was so hesitant to read this. I don't know why, it's Keira Andrews FFS. Don't worry, I won't have her just sitting there on my kindle, unread, for that long ever again.
It all starts out like any contemp romance. Parker has started college and is having a generally crappy time. It's not like high school and his grades are feeling it. Well, one grade in particular. The TA in his film class gave him a 'C' *gasp* and Parker has a bit of a fit.
He's having a bad day and just trying to get through it all. So he's ignoring all the news stories he's hearing and ignoring phone calls. Until the news stories were brought to his campus in a hungry group of flesh eating zombies.
While freaking out and trying to escape he runs into the jerkface TA, Adam. He and Adam stick together to get out of the danger zone. The hole up together and watch each other's backs.
The story isn't so much about the virus or the cure. It's more about Adam and Parker. The headed East, towards Parker's family. So much about their journey and expectations rang true to me, well as much as a zombie apocalypse can ring true, I guess. Parker had to check on his family, no matter how unlikely it seemed that they would find them. And he knew this, knew how unlikely it was to find them at all, let alone alive. They used their journey to help them cope. They had a plan, no matter how crazy it was to travel the country at a time like this, at least they had a plan and a purpose. I think this kept them sane.
Neither Parker or Adam came out to each other, so they weren't sure if their attraction was reciprocated. Which led to nervous touches and sly glances and tension. Not only did they have good sexual chemistry, but they formed a strong friendship. Parker really matured from the entitled college student he started out as. Adam and Parker slowly moved forward, realizing that maybe they were both feeling this. Holy shifters, they were sexy. There was dirrrrrrrty talk, mmmm yeeeesssss. Dirty talk and sex in (partially) shifted form and just hotness all around. Damn, they were sexy.
During their survival there were hints that Adam wasn't quite human. Parker noticed these things, but didn't really think on it too much. Well, until Adam went wolf in front of Parker. There was some development of this plot line, but there were a lot of things left open. For me that only solidified that this story was about Parker and Adam. Not the virus, not a cure. But these two guys and their story.
Then the ending. Oh my. The end. The image I was left with on that last page was just beautiful. After a book about flesh eating zombies, I was left with something beautiful that I can still clearly picture in my mind. There's so much hope for Parker and Adam and I couldn't be happier with where they left off. That's not to say I wouldn't love more of them.
Ms. Andrews has shown her talent in two vastly different genres and stories; after loving her Amish series, she has a solid spot on my auto-buy list.
A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment