Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris

Release Date: July 12, 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 208
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Fountain Bookstore
Someone's been a very bad zombie.

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steriods are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate! She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town . . . and stay hormonally human.

Carrie Harris' debut novel Bad Taste in Boys is such a smart read. It pulls together so many of the elements readers love to see in YA fiction, including a smart but somewhat unexpected female protagonist, the hunky unattainable and secretly sweet jock, a dorky yet lovable little brother, a little bit of the paranormal, and a plot twist laced with the threat of blackmail. More plainly said.... Girl + boy + zombies + betrayal = Pure win.

Kate Grable, an aspiring med school student, is doing her due diligence as the student trainer for the high school football team when she discovers that someone is giving the team steroids. As if that wasn't bad enough, the steroids are turning her players into zombies. Once the outbreak begins, there seems to be no stopping it.

The drugs, black vomit that smells like "toasted poop", and the bites of the hungry undead are spreading the strange disease like wildfire. Fingers go missing. Feet get stolen. There's even an instance of Car vs. Zombie.

Kate, the only person with a clue about what's going on, is the last line of defense. The truth of how it all started and who's behind it is shocking to Kate, but equally as horrifying is that she may have had something to do with it.

Harris' portrayal of the clever, shy girl is spot on. Kate is likeable, relatable and easy to trust which makes you buy into her story even more. Her conversational voice is full of humor and a healthy dose of sarcasm and snark. It also gives her the ability to make the science understandable for even the dumbest of jocks, despite her being a bonafide science geek.

Aaron, the quarterback Kate's crushing on, is not the stereotypical lunkhead. He's not even that great of a football player, but he is sweet and smart and actually gives Kate the time of day. And, as an added bonus, I wasn't reminded how hunky he was every three pages.

My favorite character weaseled his way into several scenes and  into my heart. Jonah, oh Jonah, you are every bit the annoying little brother. But peel back the nerdy layers and buried inside is a genuinely good guy who would throw himself to the zombie horde before he let them take his sister. He throws an emotional wrench into the plot.

At just over 200 pages, Bad Taste in Boys is a book that can easily be devoured in a sitting. It's not heavy on the romance, but Kate and Aaron's relationship has a nice slow bloom. It's also light on the gore with the exception of a handful of scenes that include the icky black vomit. And if kissing and puking and vehicular maiming (does it count if he's already undead?) don't get you excited to read this fun, quirky take on zombies, there's also a strategically placed Twilight dig that's guaranteed to get you laughing.

Randy Russell Signing Today

If you happen to be in Richmond, VA today and you're looking for entertainment, a great new book, a chilling ghost story, or possibly all three then you should stop by Fountain Bookstore this afternoon to meet Randy Russell. His debut novel Dead Rules was released on June 21. I also have it on good authority (from Randy himself) that there will be donuts!

Here's a little about Randy's new YA novel...

Dead Rules by Randy Russell

Till death

Jana Webster and Michael Haynes were in love. They were destined to be together forever.


Do


But Jana's destiny was fatally flawed. And now she's in Dead School, where Mars Dreamcote lurks in the back of the classroom, with his beguiling blue eyes, mysterious smile, and irresistibly warm touch.

Us


Michael and Jana were incomplete without each other. There was no room for Mars in Jana's life—or death—story. Jana was sure Michael would rush to her side soon.


Part

But things aren't going according to Jana's plan. So Jana decides to do whatever it takes to make her dreams come true—no matter what rules she has to break.

He'll be talking more about it at his signing, but here's a teaser from WTVR's Virginia this Morning.
 

Where: Fountain Bookstore, 1312 E. Cary Street

Date: Saturday, July 9

Time: 2p.m.

Order your books HERE.

Hope to see you this afternoon!

Creature Feature Friday: Vampires

 Welcome to the freak show, folks! Creature Feature Friday will be haunting the blog for the next few Fridays, and some of my blogger friends and I will be representing our favorite paranormals.

There's an abundance of them out there and we're all die hard fans, so in the weeks to come you'll hear our takes on our chosen species. We'll tell you what they are, who they are, why we love them, and, most importantly, where you can find them. Keep checking back for fangs, fur, fins and more!

Today Sherry from Flipping Pages for All Ages is here to share her undying love for vampires...

What is a vampire?
Vampire: Drinks blood *MOST of the time*, Has fangs *MOST of the time*, Superhuman strength and speed, Usually very attractive (See picture below, to learn more about picture below go to question 4). (WOW it’s getting harder and harder to just describe a vampire… THANKS TWILIGHT!)

What do you love about vampires?

Ahhh where to start! Stories about vampires have been around for a very long time. They have been tweaked here and there, but essentially they have always been the same creature. In all honesty, the vampire is something that should be feared, and in some cases they are, but there are definitely those vamps out there that get our blood boiling. Good or bad, most vampires have charisma and can charm their way into your life, gain your trust, get access to your home, hence why they are so dangerous, as well as alluring. (Does the name Damon Salvatore mean anything to you?) They can be very attractive, they are immortal, they pretty much kick ass. I mean, these are the reasons why we are so drawn to them (as are the people in the stories and movies, even though they know they shouldn’t be). Overall, I enjoy reading about them and watching them in movies and shows. They are exciting and intriguing. When a vampire is involved, there is usually plenty of action and romance!

 Favorite vampire in fiction:

I always really hate just picking one because that’s usually never the case. There is generally something I like and dislike about all characters. But since I have to choose… It’s going to have to be Adrian from Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy Series. Now I actually haven’t finished the books, but from what I have already read about Adrian he is a very likeable character (he does have his jerk moments). He’s tortured by his gift, good looking, and he can be amazingly sweet (as shown by the way he treats Rose). I wanted him to succeed, to get what he wants, and to be happy. I love reading scenes with him in it and I look forward to seeing how his story will evolve in the remaining book and in the future (spin-off series!!).

Favorite vampire in pop-culture:
Definitely Mick St. John from the T.V. series Moonlight (that got cancelled after one season even though it was voted as a People’s Favorite Show). A sexy vampire who works as a private investigator, that falls in love with someone he rescued once and who drinks blood from donor bags instead of harming people? How can one NOT like that??? (See picture above for further proof of sexiness (Recognize the actor, he now plays in Hawaii 5.0).

If you like vampires you should read...

• The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
• Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
• Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith
• The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer
• Thirst by Christopher Pike
• The Evernight Series by Claudia Gray
• Night Runner by Max Turner
• The Morganville Vampire Series by Rachel Caine
• Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
• Anite Blake Series by Laurell K. Hamilton (adult novels)

Or watch...

• Underworld Series (movies)
• Moonlight (T.V. series)
• Blade Series (movies)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie)
• The Lost Boys (movie)
• From Dusk till Dawn (movie)
• The Vampire Diaries (T.V. series)

More Author Insight: Sacrifices

What is the biggest sacrifice you're made to pursue writing?

"Having a social life in college. On one hand, I'm not into the drinking and partying scene anyway, but on the other, it did get lonely sometimes. Writing is such a solitary profession that sometimes it's difficult being social, and as an extrovert, I sometimes go stir-crazy. But writing is totally worth it." - Aimee Carter, author of The Goddess Test. 

"I left professional theatre to pursue my novels, you can't be out on the audition beat all the time and stay on top of your writing. But thankfully I do a lot of conferences (in full Victorian regalia) and readings of my work, so there's a lot of performing involved. :)" - Leanna Renee Hieber, author of Darker Still and  The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess.

"I realize others have sacrificed so much more -- all I did was give up a paying job, endure two years of people asking 'did you sell a book yet?' and wibble about not carrying my weight before I finally sold a book. We didn't starve, but I did feel awfully selfish and inadequate during that time." - Sonia Gensler, author of The Revenant. 

 

"Honestly?  Personal relationships and potential friendships.  When a relationship ever kept me from writing… well, lickety split, I was gone, gone, gone.   Do you know what modern American novel ends with the line, 'Lickety, lickety, lickety split'?   No, it’s NOT Forrest Gump.  Good guess, though.  I’ll give you the author, you tell me the novel.  It’s Toni Morrison.  Hint: It’s her book that I love best." - Randy Russell, author of Dead Rules. 

Author Insight: Sacrifices

What is the biggest sacrifice you've made to pursue writing?

"Sleep. And, by association, dreams. I really prize my dreams. Kept a dream journal -- not for any New Age reasons and I abhor dream 'interpretation' -- for about fifteen years. I'd write out or draw the dreams I had and was amazed by the similarities in some. There were some really odd coincidences and creations in my dreams during much of my teen years. There was one month that I dreamt of the same location five times in a row. I would leave myself messages hidden inside books and return to retrieve them in later dreams. Crazy stuff and, no, drugs were not involved." - K. Ryer Breese, author of Future Imperfect. 

"Time with my family. I spend so much time locked away with my characters it fills me with guilt." - Leigh Fallon, author of The Carrier of the Mark. 

"Sleep." - Elana Johnson, author of Possession. 

"Stability. I quit an office job with good benefits and a steady paycheck and work part-time as a bartender so I would have more time to write. Writing does not pay well. Bartending pays the bills, but it's not a reliable income all the time either. I'm a Cancer. I need security. It scares the crap out of me not to have a steady, stable, reliable income, but I do it because I want to give writing my all. Oh, I also live some place that I don't really want to live because I can't afford to move to my dream city (Seattle). That's a pretty big sacrifice for me, too." - Stephanie Kuehnert, author of Ballads of Suburbia. 

The Forever is finally here! Giveaway

Okay, so that's kind of a lie. There are ten days left! But in honor of the release of Forever, the final chapter of Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, I'm giving away signed copies of the entire trilogy including a signed personalized copy of Forever that I'll be getting signed for the winner at the launch next week.

Are you excited about the chance to win signed copies of all three books? Prepare to be more pumped up! I'm throwing in an advance copy of Maggie's new stand alone novel, The Scorpio Races (Scholastic, October 18).

All you have to do to is fill out the form below for your chance to win!

Check out Maggie's U.S. Tour dates HERE. And don't forget to pre-order your signed, doodled copies of Forever and The Scorpio Races from Fountain Bookstore. You can also order of autographed Maggie books.