Duo Reviewed by Cindy and Vicki

 

TITLE: Kick at the Darkness 

AUTHOR: Keira Andrews

PUBLISHER: KA Books

LENGTH: 265 pages

BLURB:

To live through the zombie apocalypse they have to survive each other first.

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?

CINDY’S REVIEW:

I read the blurb for this book and thought to myself “Zombies and werewolves? Well, that’s a new one on me,” so of course I had to read it. And I’m so glad I did!

I’ll be honest. I ventured into this novel hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. I wasn’t sure how the author was going to be able to pull these two genres together without ending up with something completely cheesy and stupid, but Keira Andrews managed to do and rather well I might add.

Parker starts out almost badly. I couldn’t decide if he was a jerk or just kind of pathetic. His freak out about a low but deserved grade comes across as a toddler throwing a tantrum and Adam, the TA who gave it to him seems to agree. When Parker demands he change the grade, Adam holds his ground and tell him where to get off and it’s a very inauspicious start to our couple.

However, Parker redeems himself beautifully throughout the story, learning to adapt to the strange and terrifying new world he’s found himself in. For me, the book is really about Parker and his journey and Adam who finds himself along for the ride, abet willingly.

Now, if I was stuck in the middle of the zombie apocalypse, Adam is definitely the guy I’d want to have on my side.

He’s hot, smart, brave and a werewolf. This comes in extremely handy when dealing with determined zombies who are far smarter and faster than modern pop culture has led us to believe. Every time he has the chance to get himself to safety he comes back for Parker, determined that they are both going to survive.

They start out with the simplest of intentions, heading for the east coast where Parker’s family is from to see if Parker can reunite with them. Adam has no family and the one friend he counted on is most likely dead. Along the way they meet new friends and lose some of them as well.

I loved everything about this book. I loved the flow, how the action starts right at the beginning and while it ebbs once in a while to let us get to know the two men better, it keeps rolling fast enough that as a reader, I was swept along to the inevitable end. I knew where this book was going but I really didn’t care. This is one story that really is all about the journey and it’s worth every step these two men take.

The writing is crisp and clean, and the author really does know how to paint a pretty picture with her words (and some really gory ones). Along the way she introduces us to some people who are almost more terrifying than the zombies as they let their fear and determination to find some way to win this unwinnable war overcome their humanity.

In some ways, I could have read another two or three books about Parker and Adam and their adventures, but the author leaves us with them in such a way that someone with and over-active imagination like mine will have no problem continuing the story in their dreams…and likely their nightmares as well.

RATING: 

VICKI’S REVIEW:

Holy crap! That was an awesome book!

I am a reluctant fan of The Walking Dead, my kid got me in to it a few years ago and we now watch it faithfully every week during its season. What I like about it, is that it isn’t about “zombies”, it’s about the survival of the remaining humans. It’s the interpersonal stories, the fight for survival, and the creating of a family that draws me to the show. It’s not about the gore, which I don’t like, it’s about the people. So when I saw the blurb for this book, I thought “What the hell? I like a zombie TV show, I like werewolves, and I like Keira Andrews, let’s give it a shot!”

This book could have gone two ways. cheesy or awesome. I mean, come on! Werewolves, zombies, college age kids? Wow. Could have been such a mess. But nope! Keira did it right! So very right!

Parker is having a Very Bad Day. He gets a C- on a crap paper for a crap class, goes to the TA to get it changed, is told to stuff it, hits on a cute boy and gets shot down, and to top it off he’s getting sick. Then there is the whole apocalypse issue. His college is being overrun by freaked out people with bulging eyes, clacking teeth, and grasping hands who want to eat poor Parker! Luckily he is rescued by his new frienemy, Adam, the hottie TA that told him to work harder. Adam has a motorcycle and a secret. He picks up Parker, and off they go on literally a life or death ride.

The world is fucked up, people are dying around them, they are on the run with very little, Parker is very sick, Adam is an asshole and weird, Parker is a spoiled brat… I think that about covers the first few chapters! But they work it out. They get some supplies and some weapons, in a very TWD way, and come up with a plan to go find Parker’s family, who were going to try to get to Cape Code. Unfortunately Parker and Adam are in California and have one hell of a long trip ahead of them. They meet some good people and some bad, and some REALLY bad people. Adam finally is forced to reveal his furry secret, and scares the shit out of Parker.

And they fall in love. Slowly but surely, first its comfort and companionship, they we have the “Hey! You are gay?” “Oh, I’m gay too!” conversation, then the lust kicks in. Wow. Does it kick in! Parker, who seems so innocent, is a naughty boy! Adam is totally cool with that! So yah, really hot sex.

I loved this book. I loved that in some ways it was very similar to TWD, and Zombieland as well, but it was different in all of the important ways. The werewolf aspect added total originality, and the hot sex. Pretty sure I haven’t seen that on TV! But it was familiar, I felt like I could accept it more having watched TWD so much. I wasn’t freaked out by the scary creepers, I was just totally invested in Adam and Parker. They are just fabulous characters. They are together pretty much from page one, so we get to see them fully develop as characters and as a couple. I loved the world, dark and scary as it is. And the ending. Just freaking perfect. I immediately wanted to go ask Kiera if we would get another book, but then I stopped and thought about it. I don’t think I want to know what happens next. This way I can assume they live happily every after, and I don’t know that it all goes to shit for them a month later. I think I’m good with where it ended.

This book is full of originality, creativity, great characters, hot sex, and a fantastic story. I was surprised how much I liked it, I’ve read several books by Keira, but they have been contemporary or historical, I had no idea she could pull off paranormal/horror like this. If you are a fan of her Amish books, this will be a very different read for you, but give it a try. It really was cool. If you are a fan of paranormal, really give it a try. If you are a fellow TWD fan, you HAVE to read this one! Seriously. Read it.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon