Review: Bad Taste in Boys

Bad Taste in Boys (Kate Grable #1) by Carrie Harris
Release Date ~ July 12, 2011
Delacorte Press ~ Random House
ISBN13: 9780385739689
Signed, annotated copy received from author as auction prize

Goodreads Synopsis:
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.

Bad Taste in Boys is the perfect book to pop your zombie-cherry- or a simply fresh and exciting take on the zombie craze for former fans of the genre!

I was hoping that I would love this as a quick read, and I was in no way disappointed. With a fun cast of characters, Carrie's quirky sense of humor, and a zombie story that comes as close to heartwarming as zombie books get, this is one to pick up!

1. YA with comedy:
   
   I LOVED that this is one book that had me cracking up all the way through it! Maybe it's just because I felt like I really connected with the sense of humour Carrie used in her writing here, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that my copy was annotated and I couldn't help spitting out my drink at her little comments in the margins, but it was fantastic! I'm not someone who's big on comedy, so it really impressed me that I was laughing during every chapter :)
2. Zombies (no brains, just heart):
   
   I liked the fact that BTiB didn't rely on guts and gore for its own personal zombie-fest; I think that's something that really works for this book, because it's a fresh spin on zombie reads and a great gateway book for those who may be hesitant to read about zombies. There's a few icky parts, but mostly in an "ewwwww, gross!" kind of way rather than a Saw-marathon-on-TV kind of way.
3. A gutsy, inner-nerd heroine:
   
   It isn't enough to say that I liked Kate as a heroine, because I ADORED her. I loved that she was someone who felt completely real; definitely a character one can easily identify with. And how many times do we get characters who really embrace their inner nerd? Thank goodness for girls like Kate who do, AND rock glasses at the same time (coming from someone who wears contacts)!

While Bad Taste in Boys works great as a standalone read, I'm really happy to hear that we can expect more in the series as well. You won't need to read future books to enjoy this first one though, but I'm so excited for more Kate Grable in the future!

I'll also add that this is an extremely quick read- it's a short book, and fairly light but that doesn't really take away from it's enjoyability overall although it also isn't a very complex or developed story either.