This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I had a lot of fun with this one! I had a bit of a rough time with parts of the previous book in the series so I was really happy to have such a good time with this one. This is the fifth book in the series and I do think that this is a series that needs to be read in order. A lot of things that happened in previous books played a big role in this story. I listed to this book for hours at a time and even found myself cleaning things around the house just so I could listen a little bit longer.

Angel is not in the best place at the start of this book. Becoming a zombie has really forced her into cleaning up her life but in this book she finds that she isn't immune to everything. Eventually others figure out what is going on and she is able to get some help. I really liked seeing Angel deal with her demons. She wasn't always nice and likable but I enjoyed spending time in her mind as she try to work through things.

There is a mystery at the core of the story that Angel is trying to figure out. She sees a few things while recovering a body with her job at the morgue that leads her to believe that she may know the culprit. All of this is going on a the same time a big zombie movie premier is the big event in her hometown. With everyone running around dressed as zombies and zombie hunters, there is no shortage of entertainment in this book. There is plenty of excitement in this installment and Angel finds herself in a few rather dire circumstances.

Allison McLemore is the voice of Angel. I honestly could not imagine experiencing this series in any other way but audio. She really brings Angel to life and does a great job with the other characters as well. I like that she can express Angel's emotions through her reading and is able to add a bit of excitement to the action scenes.

I would highly recommend this series to others. I think that Diana Rowland has created a wonderful group of characters that are a lot of fun. I love her unique take on zombies and I look forward to listening to the next book in the series very soon.

Initial Thoughts
I liked this one. I was pretty much hooked on the story from the start. A lot of events from previous books come into play in this story. The narration was wonderful and I think that the audio is the best way to experience this series. 

Book source: Audible purchase

Angel Crawford has buried her loser past and is cruising along in undead high gear--that is, until a murder-by-decapitation sends her on a hazardous detour. As Angel hunts for the killer, she uncovers a scheme that would expose zombies to the public and destroy the life she's built, and she's determined not to rest until she finds out who's behind it.

Soon she's neck-deep in lies, redneck intrigue, zombie hunters, and rot-sniffing cadaver dogs. It's up to her to unravel the truth and snuff out the conspiracy before the existence of zombies makes headline news and she's outed as a monster.

But Angel hasn't quite escaped the pill-popping ghosts of her past--not with an illicit zombie pharmaceutical at her fingertips. Good thing she's absolutely sure she can handle the drug's unpredictable side effects and still take down the bad guys...or maybe she's only one bad choice away from being dead meat--for real this time.

Angel knows a thing or two about kicking ass, but now the ass she needs to kick might be her own

At the end of last book I was really worried about Angel as she found a new way to get high now as a zombie. And we are dealing with that a big part of this book. But I admit I really enjoy that we are not getting the “prefect” character with this series and especially this book. Angel not only has to deal with her new addiction but also gets outed. So she has plenty of stuff thrown at her in this book. She gains some unlikely and new allies in this book. Which I really enjoyed. I also liked that we got less of the whole SaberTech stuff and more of Angle and her daily life or more of her chaos would be more fitting. I absolutely love this series because Angel is one of my all-time favorite character arcs. It is slow and gradually, has its up and downs and overall is very realistic and easy to relate to . The same goes with any and all relationships in this series. Friendships and romantic. Which by the way we don’t get much in this book. But I think something has been brewing in that department for a while and we will get to … hopefully soon. Anyway. I love the way they build up relationships and works through issues. Like her and her dad, I used to hate her dad and he has done some pretty nasty things but I really think, he is next to Angel a rising star of the series. I absolutely loved him in this book. Thinking back to book one I would have never thought that happening. We have some nice surprises and twist in this book that I honestly didn’t see coming. Some spots of the book were a little slow but overall I really loved this book and Angle’s adventurers and I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series.

I rate it 4 ★

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Diana Rowland has lived her entire life below the Mason-Dixon line, uses "y'all" for second-person-plural, and otherwise has no southern accent (in her opinion.) She attended college at Georgia Tech where she earned a BS in Applied Mathematics, and after graduation forgot everything about higher math as quickly as possible.

She has worked as a bartender, a blackjack dealer, a pit boss, a street cop, a detective, a computer forensics specialist, a crime scene investigator, and a morgue assistant, which means that she's seen plenty of weird crap. She won the marksmanship award in her Police Academy class, has a black belt in Hapkido, has handled numerous dead bodies in various states of decomposition, and can't rollerblade to save her life.

She presently lives in south Louisiana where she's deeply grateful for the existence of air conditioning.

Links

Website *** Facebook *** Twitter *** Goodreads

And, finally, I am all caught up on this amazingly fun series. It took me longer to get to the fifth book only because life got in the way. Otherwise, I would have gotten to this one much sooner. Still, I am really glad I did get to this one because this installment fixed all of the problems I felt the last book had.

At first, it still had the same tone and feel as the previous book and I thought I was not going to enjoy this at all. However, about a quarter of the way through, Angel's "stupidity" is questioned and she fixes what became a problem in the last book. From that moment on, I felt myself enjoying this book so much more! It carried the same tone as the first two books in the series did for me, which are my favorite books in the White Trash Zombie series, and I loved going through all the new mayhem and shenanigans that presented themselves.

Diana Rowland was able to bring her series around and make it fun again whereas the last book was mostly annoying. She has a way of just writing gruesome death and gore scenes as light and fun. Props to her for that! Angel Crawford is such a fun character to read about. I love seeing her grow from her mistakes. I love seeing her form these amazing relationships with equally amazing people in her life. This particular book showcased more of Dr. Nikas and I am 100% okay with that. He's a sweet, gentle, loving character and seeing more of him made this reader happy! I definitely love this series and cannot wait to read the next book in the series.

That's all I will say about this book. This being the fifth in the series, I can't say much without giving away major spoilers. But, if you've read the others, then definitely pick this one up. Especially if you had problems with the fourth book, this one improves after the first quarter of the book. I've been reading this series for a couple of weeks now and it saddens me that I have to now wait for the next book, but I am super excited for it and cannot wait until it is released! I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a fun, diverse, highly engaging read about zombies. I hope you like it just as much as I have loved reading it.

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

The end of the How The White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back, Angel was showing symptoms of her old self. As a matter of a fact, the final scene, she is hanging out with her ex-boyfriend Randy. Randy is not a good influence on Angel. I was not liking where this was going. I did reserve my judgement to see where this storyline was going before I started throwing too much of a fit. Let’s just say that Angel had a tough road in this book.

For most of the book, Angel is on her own to handle Zombiefest. Most of the major players in the Tribe have gone after Christie Cherish. Add all of this pressure on to the fact that Angel is having some addiction issues from the V-12 that she took in the previous book, and things get a little harried for Angel. But let’s get real, when are things not harried for Angel.

Angel makes some really bad decisions in this book. She puts herself on the line trying to protect people she shouldn’t be protecting. She doesn’t trust the people she should be trusting. There is lots of redneck drama. This book really put the “White Trash” in White Trash Zombie.

Son of a pissing hell bitch. This was a mess wrapped in a shitstorm and stuffed into a clusterfuck.

This kinda sums up poor Angel’s luck in this book. It seems like nothing seems to go her way. Some of it was because of poor choices that she made. There are other issues because, Angel being Angel, put others in front of herself.

Narration

Once again, Allison McLemore nails the narration of this series. She just has Angel’s voice down pat. This is an audio only series for me. Her ability to handle all the different different voices, and not just the hillbilly ones, really makes the difference in the story. I know the title suggests that all the characters are rednecks, but really, the majority of the characters are not. If you haven’t started this series yet, or even if you have, I highly recommend that you give this series a try on audio.

I've been living with my craving for more "White Trash Zombie" since May, so, when volume five finally arrived, I scarfed it down like a pre-rot zombie would a handful of fresh brains.

Was it good?

No.

It was Fan-Fuckn-Tasticly good.

What makes it work so well is that, after the Zombie-world-building adventures of "White Trash Zombie Apocalypse" and "How The White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back", Diana Rowland has narrowed her focus and concentrated on Angel again.

Angel isn't doing so well. "White Trash Zombie Gone Wild" picks up from the doom-laden ending of the last novel where ex-junkie Angel is craving a new drug - V12 - which might destroy the life she's built for herself since becoming a zombie.

The first part of the book gives a very plausible view of the lies we tell ourselves about our addictions and what they're doing to us. It was scarier than all the machete-wielding, baseball bat-swinging, gun-toting hunters. It made Angel more human than ever and made you love her more.

The plot is complicated, fits well with the overall story arc and yet remains character-driven, which is what makes it so good to read.

I loved the friendship between Angel and her loser ex-boyfriend. Just because they don't want to date anymore doesn't mean they don't care for each other. Angel knows that although he lacks ambition, will always take the easy road and will never be far away from trouble, he has a good heart and she wishes him well. Of course, that doesn't stop her shouting at him and threatening him when she thinks he's going off the rails. This is Angel Crawford we're talking about and channeling red-necked pissed-offedness  is one of her talents.

Throughout the book Angel finds herself having to reconsider what she thought she knew about people, including herself. This willingness to learn, combined with her determination to pull her skinny-assed weight even if that means putting herself in danger, is what makes her so likable.

A great deal of my pleasure in these books comes from the remarkable performance Allison McLemore gives. She IS angel. If you have the chance to listen to "White Trash Zombie Gone Wild", take it. Allison McLemore brings the whole thing alive.