Dearly Beloved - Lia Habel *Review*

Goodreads Synopsis
Can the living coexist with the living dead?

That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.

Lia Habel’s spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling.

Review
The Laz has mutated, those who were previous unaffected are now in danger, a war is beginning between the living and the dead and Nora is stuck right in the middle. The zombie with this new strain may have been caught but now people are out to riot and put their own stop to the strain. Like the last book this one has lots of action and adventure which keeps you on your toes. 

As you all know by now I love multiple points of view and this novel, like the last, is full of them. Bram, Nora and Pamela are are main re-occurring points of view but we have some new voices which I actually really enjoyed more than I expected. After the initial confusion of working out who they all are, it became very interesting. These points of view come from Michael (obsessed with Nora, also sympathetic villain) Vespertine (plans with Michael) and Laura ( Zombie which loves all things living - she plants plants in her body in order for it to be some use). The way in which all the POV blended at the end of the novel was truly genius and Habel deserves so much credit for that. 

A slow beginning comes from all the different points of view because they don't all blend together to start with. A lot of bloggers have noted this and I assure you it is well worth it. As with the last book I love Bram, he always is so reliable. I fell in love with one of the new characters in this book, this was Laura, she was so caring and wants to do the right thing for everyone around her. She is part of a zombie group who wants to live in peace and not retaliate to the riots. But, when the leader of the group gets murdered it is taken over by someone who wants to eradicate the humans. I won't give away who this is though...  

Nora is just as strong as in the previous book and somehow at times seems a lot more confident. She strives to keep the zombies safe as well as making sure her relationship with Bram stays strong. Bram keeps coming up trumps and who thought a zombie would be sexy? Although Michael is the villain of the story you can't help feeling a little bit sorry from him, he's clearly from a messed up family who invented the vaccine and we wish in some ways he could be happy. My feelings for this character are quite conflicted and in some ways I wish I could have known more about him. 

I was a huge fan of the last book and the new book is no different, I did prefer the first book but I would definitely read the next one! Habel consistently delivers high quality stories full of action which leaves you turning the pages just as quickly!

A great series, well worth a read.