Today for “Feature Friday” let us welcome the wonderful Jessica Gomez with her book Infected, the first book in the Flash Series 

We will have info about the book and Jessica, excerpt from the book,  and a awesome Guest Post written by Jessica .

Make sure to check everything out and go and show her some support and add her books to your TBR ;) 

Happy Reading :) 

 

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If the world ceased to exist in one moment in time, would you know what to do? Lillie thought her life was finally beginning to look up, and for once she seemed in control of her own future. Until a blinding light in the sky ripped that all away. When the luminosity snapped off, it flipped a switch, taking with it almost every human life, leaving behind few survivors… and the Infected. Decrepit and inhuman, the Infected brutalize everything that crosses their path. The flash has destroyed most people’s humanity, rendering Lillie a target for every horrific situation imaginable. Nine months later, she not only has to worry about herself, but her newborn child. After a year of living on their own and just making it, Lillie and her daughter catch a break, finding shelter and a new companion in a young boy. The new family dynamic has Lillie letting her guard down. Until one day, they are ambushed. More terrifying and faster than ever, the Infected nearly overcome them, triggering the relocation of their home. Taking a chance, Lillie and the children head to the mountains of Oregon. Little do they know - what waits there may be worse than the Infected.

 

 

 

Buy Link

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

            I stumbled down the sidewalks crumbled remains, watching the grey and white clouds swirl a daring dance around each other; waiting for rain to descend from their bellies. I couldn’t remember when the last time was that a drop of water touched these lips. Most of the rivers and streams have either dried up, been poisoned, or are guarded by renegade survivors―People you would be smart to stay clear of.

I scanned my surroundings, surveying the dilapidated, deserted city. The same broken cars, buildings, and roads that were once normal pieces of society flooded my vision. Roads and buildings overgrown by trees, weeds, and any other vegetation that wanted to reclaim their land. I always thought it would take longer than a year to erase anything and everything the human race was once proud of.

Buildings had been brought down by the rough year after the Flash, some still stitched together by steel beams, missing their skin. Others still stood, dressing up in vegetation. Either way, they all appeared as if they belonged in a graveyard, left abandoned by all the people who used to go about their daily lives in them.

The worst parts were the bones and tattered clothing left behind by those who perished, laying bleached in the sun. Some of them still held remnants of hair and skin. I paused to gaze at myself in a broken window. How long had it been since I’d last seen my reflection? I pulled the hood off my head and studied my features. My hair was brushing past my shoulder blades now. The last time I’d attempted to cut it, I’d used a piece of broken glass from a window. I almost severed one of my fingers in the process, so I decided to let it grow out.

            My long, blonde hair reflected off the few streams of sun radiating through the clouds, the color resembling shimmering wheat fields. Standing at about five foot two, I was a slight thing–not too short–yet not tall by anyone’s standards. I was always slender, but since the foods scarce, my clothes hang off me like rags. My green eyes sparkled back at me like emeralds, the one and only thing I loved about my appearance, and the one thing that could never be robbed from me in these rough months.

Seemingly, out of nowhere, my eyes locked onto seven men and two women who were standing behind me, smiling vindictively in the reflection on the glass. It was like they appeared out of thin air. I turned to run, but they were already surrounding me in a semi-circle. My breathing slammed in and out of my lungs as I began panting, as if I’d just ran a marathon. My vision was beginning to narrow and I knew that I needed to control myself.

“Go on, Ryan, you know what your choices are. Are you going to save her?” The man that spoke tilted his head back and laughed as if he’d said the funniest thing in the world. Ryan, the man he spoke to, wasn’t much older than me–maybe nineteen to my sixteen–and possibly one of the best-looking guys I had ever seen. His brown hair flopped into his bright blue eyes, his skin tanned and toned.

The man’s words began to register and I knew that I had to get away, but before I could move, I watched as Ryan’s face changed from concerned, scared, and pitiful, to fierce and determined. He began his advance and I watched in horror as his eyes devoured me where I stood…

I bolted upright, my breath sawing in and out of my lungs at a burning rate. I glanced over to check the tiny sleeping bundle next to me. I waited for her blankets to move up and down, making sure she was still breathing before I wiped the cold sweat off my forehead. The dream always had a way of igniting my adrenalin, even after years of repetition. Taking a shaky breath in, I settled my nerves and placed a hand on my little angel, reassuring myself again. Life is completely fucked up. Not only did life as we know it end, but some of the worst events in people’s lives can bring about the best.

I pulled out the cracked mirror I’d found a short time ago from my pack and studied my features, the rising sun giving me enough light to see my reflection. I looked like a vagrant, someone who struggled to survive. I used to imagine being something–someone–a veterinarian, maybe? I always loved animals. Animals never judged you by the way you looked or where you came from. They loved without prejudice.

Growing up in foster care made me want to prove myself and show the world that I wasn’t “foster scum,” as some of the kids called me, but none of it mattered now. I was nobody, just like anyone else who remained in the world.

After the Flash lit the sky, the majority of the six and a half billion people on planet Earth dropped dead, or they mutated and died. When the Flash filled the sky with blindness, nobody expected it. People were going about their daily lives―shopping, working, playing with their children. Most people–the lucky ones–dropped where they stood, as if someone had flipped the off switch on millions of lives.

            The ones who didn’t die became the Infected. They were the ones who lived, but were affected by the Flash. They didn’t die immediately, but most died within months. Their deaths were rather unpleasant; they were normal one day, and the next their heads would start to blister. Those blisters became larger, looking more and more like tumors that leaked out bodily fluids resembling thick curdled milk from every part of their bodies.

            To make matters worse, these effects began driving them mad. The Infected would brutalize people, terrorize towns, and set buildings on fire, even if they knew people were inside―especially if they knew people were inside. The Infected ran riotously through the streets, harassing, killing, and beating any civilians they encountered. It was their sole purpose to kill and create chaos.             Now, years later, they no longer existed. Anyone who survived was relieved it was over. We were the Immune. We may have survived the Flash and the Infected, but we had the privilege of watching everyone we loved around us perish to various degrees. I went on living and breathing today as I did before the light in the sky ended everything. However, my surroundings were quite different. I never thought I would have to plan my future when no future existed to plan.

            Some of the Immune, which were becoming few and far between, turned to killing, robbing, raping, and even cannibalism. It was everyone for themselves. Most of this type died off. There were only so many people available to kill now that most of humanity was already dead, but there were people who had found ways of hiding or so one would believe. The Immune had to find a new way of life, doing whatever they had to do to survive. The new future consisted of only one motive, and that was staying alive.             The news stayed on long enough for the survivors to learn that the Flash was some sort of chemical weapon. Officials never released an official story as to whether it was ours, or if it was from another country, but at that point, it didn’t matter. The damage had been done, and had already Infected the entire world.            

            Information was never really accurate when it came to the Infected and the Immune. During that time, I wasn’t aware that I was Immune. I kept expecting to wake up with blisters all over me, eventually growing into baseball-sized tumors.

I watched as the news anchor became Infected with growths everywhere. When it was apparent that he was not Immune, he went on air and made a statement that even though he was not Immune, it was still his job to report to all the remaining people who were Immune, as much information as possible. He promised to do this until this infection took over and he could not continue any longer. He bowed his head after that day’s speech and never returned to the air. I’d assumed he died that night, but there would never be any way of knowing. He was a nice man, it seemed, and I had hoped that he had simply died, and that he never had to suffer from the madness that took over so many.             The information he was able to share did help. We knew what had taken place, what the outcome was, an estimation of people who had died, as well as the amount of people who may have survived. Only a small percentage of the human population remaining were assumed to be Immune from the Flash, but that estimation was made before they realized that just because you lived through the initial Flash, didn’t mean you were Immune. The real number of Immune, the people who suffered no side effects, was much lower.

            I was one of them.             I’ve always been a drifter, never having any ties to one place for too long. With no family to speak of, I was just a child passed around from foster home to foster home. When I reached thirteen, I ran away and lied about my age to get a job.

            When the Flash hit, I was doing pretty well for myself. I worked at a drive-in movie theater and lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Milton-Freewater, Oregon. The place was nothing special, but it was mine. Now, making a living doesn’t mean anything. Keeping yourself alive becomes your main priority, every second of every day.             Occasionally, you run across items that aren’t very useful, but helpful in making life feel somewhat normal. Earlier that morning, I found a calendar from the year 2049, the year the world changed forever. I was fifteen. It also had in the back, a calendar for the next three years, up to 2052. Today was June 19, 2054, meaning that my birthday was tomorrow, June, 20^th. Happy Birthday to me. I’ll be twenty years old.

            Comparing my handmade calendar to the new pocket calendar, I was satisfied to notice that my calculations of today’s date were correct. When I made my own calendar, I remembered to add a leap year every four years until a century year, which would not be a leap year. Useless information, really, but it’s something that I had learned and I hold on to those little bits of information like my life depends on it.

I woke my little angel and had her eat breakfast before we continued to walk down the broken path toward anything and nothing. I needed water and if the weather was going to cooperate, I would have my canteens filled by nightfall.

            Our days consisted of avoiding people, not that that was hard. There weren’t too many of them to avoid. Searching for food and water, making sure our stockpile was full enough to get us through at least three days, but there was never much luck finding anything new to eat.             Food was harder to find in recent months. After so many years had gone by, most of the stored food was now going bad, or already taken. The Flash killed quite a bit of the livestock, leaving only a few stray cats and dogs running around. Soon, the food would become scarcer, and the only way to continue living would be to hunt wild game.

Lucky for me, even though I was a girl, one of my foster parents had taught me a thing or two about hunting. We would do fine enough on our own. For tonight though, finding shelter to sleep in, out of the rain, was my main priority.

 

 

 

 

 

The other night I was asked that one question that everyone wants to know… What food would I search for in the Zombie Apocalypse? The idea taken from one of my favorite movies, Zombie Land, is a great topic of zombie conversation. In the movie their choice was a Twinkie, which is a great choice, but not for me. When I was young I ate an entire box with my girlfriend and then spent about nine hours on a boat in the hot sun. Needless to say, I threw up Twinkie for about twelve hours. Ever since then, not a huge fan. Now there are a few ways we can take this. Are we talking food, food, like dinner plates? For this I would have to go with ANYTHING pasta. I love me some noodles. Which is great for me, because I feel like this is one of the foods that would not expire for a while. However, if we are talking desserts, I may be a little SOL. My favorite dessert, the one I would LOVE to search for, would be cheesecake. I know, I know, I know what you are thinking… You are soooo screwed. Not only would it be difficult to find, but then finding it intact and not molded and rotten are slim to none. Which I’m pretty depressed over. I mean, what kind of world would we live in if there were no cheesecake? I don’t even want to contemplate that at the moment. So now this is my questions to you… What would you search for if every food you loved died out?

   

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Gomez is a bestselling author of Suspense, Romance & Paranormal, Apocalyptic books. She’s best known for her Paranormal novel, Infected. She independently published her first book, After the Before, in 2014, and reached #1 in Bilingual, Suspense, & Romance genres. She’s currently working on book 3 in the Flash series, Evolved, which is to release Fall/Winter of 2017. As well as a new Alpha, Suspense, Romance series, schedule for early 2018. For more about this author, visit one of the sites listed. She enjoys hearing from and chatting with her readers, who have the same passion for reading.

 

 

Links

Website *** Facebook *** Twitter *** Blog ***  BookBub

 

Infected Series Volume One Bundle - Andr... DNF'd at 11%

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Book – Infected Volume 1
Author – Andrea Speed
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 1228
POV – 3rd person, multi POV
Would I read it again – No
Genre – Paranormal, LGBT, Supernatural


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine



So, I've been waiting to read this book for a long time. The blurbs intrigued me, everyone kept raving about it and I'm a series lover, so I was interested right from the start. Sadly, it didn't work for me.

This bundle contains 6 novels. I got to the end of one. Although, really, I feel like I should say 0.5, because the cover of this bundle says that Prey is book 1, but Infected is actually book 1, according to the writing inside the book, and that's the only one I finished. I didn't even get around to Prey or Paris, which some people said would change my mind about the book. Unfortunately, I just don't have the will to keep going, not when I know that forcing myself to keep reading a book I'm not enjoying is only going to be detrimental to me and to the author. I don't want to write a review after I feel frustrated and angry because I forced myself to read something I don't like; that's no good for either of us, so I'm ending it on a note of indifference.

~

Book One: Infected
0-11%


Warning: This story deals with suicide, child pornography, alcoholism, kidnapping, rape and drug use.



The story is told in 3rd person, but I really didn't feel comfortable with it, for whatever reason. It felt, at times, like it was a 1st person narrative in a 3rd person disguise. That we were being the kind of information and thoughts that were generally kept to a 1st person POV, and it didn't sit well with me. It felt uncomfortable and awkward right from page one. The fact that it took 11 chapters (6%) to switch to Paris' POV didn't help, either.

The POV's were jumbled, started with Hank (who got killed on that same page) then shifting to Roan for the next 10 chapters. In Chapters 11 and 14, then the Epilogue, Paris took his POV for a little while, with one cat POV (Paris) for maybe three paragraphs at the end, somewhere. And then there was Mitch's POV (who also got killed on that page). Really, 90% of the story was Roan's to tell and Paris' POV really wouldn't have been necessary except in one case, because he did something useful that Roan wasn't there to see. But the second POV was pointless; he took on a case that they didn't even investigate, because Roan took one look at a picture and solved it.

To make it worse, page 1 started the beginning of Chapter 1 and yet, it began with a character who died before the end of the page. Now, I feel this should have either been a Prologue, to set the stage for what was to come, or it shouldn't have been included. Personally, it gave too much of the story away, for my liking. There was really no need for Hank, our first victim, to give his own POV. It didn't offer anything that we didn't learn from Roan's investigation and it didn't feel at all important for pushing the story forward. In fact, it ruined the suspense of what could have been a great intro, where Roan goes home to find Paris was loose as a cat all night. That wouldn't have felt important right away, until Roan's got the phone call about Hank. Then it would have been a great moment of suspense; did Paris get out? Had he done something awful? Did he have anything to do with this? Instead, we knew the moment Roan found Paris loose that there had already been a cat killing and it killed the suspense for me. It came across as a really obvious plot ploy to get us to immediately believe that Paris had done this, when it was clearly too obvious and clean cut to have been him. If it had, there would have been no book, unless he and Roan went on the run. Which the blurb told us never happened.

When it comes to the world building, I had trouble with it. Again, it felt a little too much like parts of this “world” were held back from us until it made the biggest impact in the story. But, in doing so, it meant that I was blindly stumbling my way through an unfamiliar world. There were only hints of what “the strain” and being a “virus child” meant, by the end of Chapter 1, and it took right until the last pages to discover some important facts about the creatures these Infected had become. It took 12 chapters to find out who Connor was, yet it often gave us extraneous information that we didn't need in the place of things we actually wanted to know.

I didn't mind the writing style, as I've read another novel by this author that I loved. But it felt much more disjointed than that other novel; less cohesive, more drifting and with less attention to detail. The characters, Roan especially, had a tendency to waffle on about unimportant things at the most obscure times. Often about things that were totally pointless, like detailing the exact specs of a gun, detailing how the appliances of their homes have name tags (?? Why ??) There are times where it feels like an idiot's guide to useless information, like describing cop's gallow's humour in detail, as if no one had ever seen a crime/detective show before. For the amount of information and detail that went into these things, it would have been better spend on world building and letting us feel more comfortable in a world we knew nothing about when we turned the first page. And don't even get me started on the constant parenthesis! I mean, they were everywhere and they added absolutely nothing to the characterisation or the plot. I could easily have deleted them or not read any of them and it would have made no different whatsoever, which makes me wonder why they were there in the first place.

I also wasn't a fan of slagging off everything in sight. I'm not sure if it was the author's taste's bleeding into the writing or if Roan was just meant to be so judgy and unlikeable, but I'm kind of shocked that any sane publisher or editor would allow anyone to slag off the likes of Paris Hilton, Coldplay and American Idol in one of their novels. In this world, people can get sued for pulling stunts like that and it really puts a barrier between the reader and author/book, if that person is a fan of those things, only to have to read them being slagged off. I mean, the stuff about Courtney Love might have been tabloid common knowledge but it's also not a great idea professionally.

Now, I'm no fan of any of these things, but I had to look at it like a professional and it just didn't work for me. It was rude, obnoxious and it made me feel like Roan was a person that I really just didn't want to be anywhere near. I don't mind a little sarcasm or pessimism in my characters, but when they dive right into showing contempt and disdain for everything in their path, then it's a turn off, not a personality quirk. I also don't know why I'd be expected to love a character like Paris who is labelled, multiple times, as the perfect liar, chameleon and manipulator. Those are not positive traits and they really made me question whether this series was for me or not, the moment that was mentioned the first time. And all that talk of Slutty McWhore? Seriously? That's supposed to be endearing? Slut shaming a character and then having them slut shame themselves? Nope. Not for me. At the same time, I have to wonder why they're even together, because I felt very little chemistry and Roan spent the majority of the book worrying that everyone Paris tried to “charm” would steal him away or make Paris cheat on him. He had a serious complex about their 5 year age difference and Paris' past as a self-proclaimed whore. A term I hate with a passion.

I, quite honestly, nearly DNF'd this book three times, mostly before the halfway mark. I just didn't care what happened, I didn't like Roan or Paris, I didn't care who the killer was or why they did it. The book just wasn't engaging enough to make me keep reading, even at that point. But, I pushed through, because it's a review book. But, when nothing changed, I knew I wasn't going to be going any further with the series. I finished book 1 and that was all I needed to read, to know that this world, this series and I were never going to see eye to eye. No mater how intriguing the concept or the blurbs of the future books, I can't follow a series where I hate the two MC's.

The ex-cop turned private detective, who hates being a cop but weasels into cases, was very stereotypical, as were all the comparisons to other famous P.I.'s. It made Roan feel somewhat of a joke as a private detective, because he couldn't even take his own job seriously. He just wanted to be a cop without actually being a cop.

The established couple concept was good. I liked that it didn't get hot and heavy all the time, with only off-page sex and nothing explicit at all in those terms on page. I liked the idea of the five separate strains of 'infection', but the seriously judgy, bitchy, condescending MC's who were cynical, bitter and had a chip on their shoulder, while manipulating everyone in sight and using so-called “charisma and charm” to get what they wanted ruined it for me. While the story had bags of potential and could have been an incredibly unique venture into the world of shifters, it left me feeling indifferent about the plot and downright hating the MC's.

Overall, the story (and series) had great potential, but it was just so laborious to wade through the excess detail/description/plot tricks that it just wore me down.

Book – Infected Volume 1
Author – Andrea Speed
Star rating - ★★☆☆☆
No. of Pages – 1228
POV – 3rd person, multi POV
Would I read it again – No
Genre – Paranormal, LGBT, Supernatural


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine



So, I've been waiting to read this book for a long time. The blurbs intrigued me, everyone kept raving about it and I'm a series lover, so I was interested right from the start. Sadly, it didn't work for me.

This bundle contains 6 novels. I got to the end of one. Although, really, I feel like I should say 0.5, because the cover of this bundle says that Prey is book 1, but Infected is actually book 1, according to the writing inside the book, and that's the only one I finished. I didn't even get around to Prey or Paris, which some people said would change my mind about the book. Unfortunately, I just don't have the will to keep going, not when I know that forcing myself to keep reading a book I'm not enjoying is only going to be detrimental to me and to the author. I don't want to write a review after I feel frustrated and angry because I forced myself to read something I don't like; that's no good for either of us, so I'm ending it on a note of indifference.

~

Book One: Infected
0-11%


Warning: This story deals with suicide, child pornography, alcoholism, kidnapping, rape and drug use.



The story is told in 3rd person, but I really didn't feel comfortable with it, for whatever reason. It felt, at times, like it was a 1st person narrative in a 3rd person disguise. That we were being the kind of information and thoughts that were generally kept to a 1st person POV, and it didn't sit well with me. It felt uncomfortable and awkward right from page one. The fact that it took 11 chapters (6%) to switch to Paris' POV didn't help, either.

The POV's were jumbled, started with Hank (who got killed on that same page) then shifting to Roan for the next 10 chapters. In Chapters 11 and 14, then the Epilogue, Paris took his POV for a little while, with one cat POV (Paris) for maybe three paragraphs at the end, somewhere. And then there was Mitch's POV (who also got killed on that page). Really, 90% of the story was Roan's to tell and Paris' POV really wouldn't have been necessary except in one case, because he did something useful that Roan wasn't there to see. But the second POV was pointless; he took on a case that they didn't even investigate, because Roan took one look at a picture and solved it.

To make it worse, page 1 started the beginning of Chapter 1 and yet, it began with a character who died before the end of the page. Now, I feel this should have either been a Prologue, to set the stage for what was to come, or it shouldn't have been included. Personally, it gave too much of the story away, for my liking. There was really no need for Hank, our first victim, to give his own POV. It didn't offer anything that we didn't learn from Roan's investigation and it didn't feel at all important for pushing the story forward. In fact, it ruined the suspense of what could have been a great intro, where Roan goes home to find Paris was loose as a cat all night. That wouldn't have felt important right away, until Roan's got the phone call about Hank. Then it would have been a great moment of suspense; did Paris get out? Had he done something awful? Did he have anything to do with this? Instead, we knew the moment Roan found Paris loose that there had already been a cat killing and it killed the suspense for me. It came across as a really obvious plot ploy to get us to immediately believe that Paris had done this, when it was clearly too obvious and clean cut to have been him. If it had, there would have been no book, unless he and Roan went on the run. Which the blurb told us never happened.

When it comes to the world building, I had trouble with it. Again, it felt a little too much like parts of this “world” were held back from us until it made the biggest impact in the story. But, in doing so, it meant that I was blindly stumbling my way through an unfamiliar world. There were only hints of what “the strain” and being a “virus child” meant, by the end of Chapter 1, and it took right until the last pages to discover some important facts about the creatures these Infected had become. It took 12 chapters to find out who Connor was, yet it often gave us extraneous information that we didn't need in the place of things we actually wanted to know.

I didn't mind the writing style, as I've read another novel by this author that I loved. But it felt much more disjointed than that other novel; less cohesive, more drifting and with less attention to detail. The characters, Roan especially, had a tendency to waffle on about unimportant things at the most obscure times. Often about things that were totally pointless, like detailing the exact specs of a gun, detailing how the appliances of their homes have name tags (?? Why ??) There are times where it feels like an idiot's guide to useless information, like describing cop's gallow's humour in detail, as if no one had ever seen a crime/detective show before. For the amount of information and detail that went into these things, it would have been better spend on world building and letting us feel more comfortable in a world we knew nothing about when we turned the first page. And don't even get me started on the constant parenthesis! I mean, they were everywhere and they added absolutely nothing to the characterisation or the plot. I could easily have deleted them or not read any of them and it would have made no different whatsoever, which makes me wonder why they were there in the first place.

I also wasn't a fan of slagging off everything in sight. I'm not sure if it was the author's taste's bleeding into the writing or if Roan was just meant to be so judgy and unlikeable, but I'm kind of shocked that any sane publisher or editor would allow anyone to slag off the likes of Paris Hilton, Coldplay and American Idol in one of their novels. In this world, people can get sued for pulling stunts like that and it really puts a barrier between the reader and author/book, if that person is a fan of those things, only to have to read them being slagged off. I mean, the stuff about Courtney Love might have been tabloid common knowledge but it's also not a great idea professionally.

Now, I'm no fan of any of these things, but I had to look at it like a professional and it just didn't work for me. It was rude, obnoxious and it made me feel like Roan was a person that I really just didn't want to be anywhere near. I don't mind a little sarcasm or pessimism in my characters, but when they dive right into showing contempt and disdain for everything in their path, then it's a turn off, not a personality quirk. I also don't know why I'd be expected to love a character like Paris who is labelled, multiple times, as the perfect liar, chameleon and manipulator. Those are not positive traits and they really made me question whether this series was for me or not, the moment that was mentioned the first time. And all that talk of Slutty McWhore? Seriously? That's supposed to be endearing? Slut shaming a character and then having them slut shame themselves? Nope. Not for me. At the same time, I have to wonder why they're even together, because I felt very little chemistry and Roan spent the majority of the book worrying that everyone Paris tried to “charm” would steal him away or make Paris cheat on him. He had a serious complex about their 5 year age difference and Paris' past as a self-proclaimed whore. A term I hate with a passion.

I, quite honestly, nearly DNF'd this book three times, mostly before the halfway mark. I just didn't care what happened, I didn't like Roan or Paris, I didn't care who the killer was or why they did it. The book just wasn't engaging enough to make me keep reading, even at that point. But, I pushed through, because it's a review book. But, when nothing changed, I knew I wasn't going to be going any further with the series. I finished book 1 and that was all I needed to read, to know that this world, this series and I were never going to see eye to eye. No mater how intriguing the concept or the blurbs of the future books, I can't follow a series where I hate the two MC's.

The ex-cop turned private detective, who hates being a cop but weasels into cases, was very stereotypical, as were all the comparisons to other famous P.I.'s. It made Roan feel somewhat of a joke as a private detective, because he couldn't even take his own job seriously. He just wanted to be a cop without actually being a cop.

The established couple concept was good. I liked that it didn't get hot and heavy all the time, with only off-page sex and nothing explicit at all in those terms on page. I liked the idea of the five separate strains of 'infection', but the seriously judgy, bitchy, condescending MC's who were cynical, bitter and had a chip on their shoulder, while manipulating everyone in sight and using so-called “charisma and charm” to get what they wanted ruined it for me. While the story had bags of potential and could have been an incredibly unique venture into the world of shifters, it left me feeling indifferent about the plot and downright hating the MC's.

Overall, the story (and series) had great potential, but it was just so laborious to wade through the excess detail/description/plot tricks that it just wore me down.

Afflicted: Patient Zero (An Outbreak Zombie Infected Horror Suspense Series, Book 1) Hunger. Terror. Survival. by Derek Shupert is a horror story about zombie infection. I gave it four stars. It is a fast book to read and kept my attention from start to finish. It is five star for content but needs a lot of editing for homonyms or typos.

 

Mike is a military veteran who is infected but hasn't turned yet. This is an excellent viewpoint. He's still more human than undead.

 

"Again, standing with my Glock gripped tight in my palm, I wonder what the hell is going on here. Not but a couple of hours ago, I was running for my life with Ray and feeling like a happy meal to go."

 

Mike met a bushy-haired man. "I'm still leery of anyone I meet, but I'll take my chances right now with someone who doesn't act like they want to use me as a chew toy."

 

I received a complimentary copy in an Amazon promotion. That did not change my opinion for this review.

 

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VF3AHKO