Contagious Reads: Review and Blog Tour: The Harvesting

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Harvesting (Book 1 of The Harvesting Series)

by Melanie Karsak

Expected pub: Sept 18, 2012

Buy this book:

“To label this a zombie book would be a false pretense . . . this is so much more than that. What you start out with and what you end up with are very different, and those twists and turns in the middle will make your heart beat faster over and over again.”– Colossal Pop
It’s all fun and games until someone ends up undead.
Though Layla reluctantly returns home to rural Hamletville after a desperate call from her psychic grandmother, she could never have anticipated the horror of what Grandma Petrovich has foreseen. The residents of Hamletville will need Layla’s help if they are to survive the zombie apocalypse that’s upon them. But that is not the only problem. With mankind silenced, it soon becomes apparent that we were never alone. As the beings living on the fringe seek to reclaim power, Layla must find a way to protect the ones she loves or all humanity may be lost.

Lori's Review:
Layla is living her life in Washington D.C. She's independent, she loves what she does and she has a hot date that night. Well, that is, until her Grandmother calls and insists that she return home. Layla knows to not second guess her Grandma. If Grandma says come it is for a very good reason. Once she gets home her Grandma has her running odd errands and preparing for something. What that is, her Grandma, doesn't say.
It doesn't take long for the world to unravel and for Grandma's visions to come true.

I kind of loved this book. Like a lot. I wasn't too sure when I finished it that I was in love with it. But now I know for sure that I am.
I should warn you....this isn't your average zombie book. Oh there are plenty of undead and action. But there is also other supernatural elements at play here. Like the psychic Grandmother. It's kind of a trip actually.

Layla is cool. She's obviously got the chops to survive the z-poc. She is a reluctant leader and we all know those make the best leaders. I love seeing women in charge. It makes a girl feel good. Girl power and all that.

I kind of want to claim this book is light on the gore factor but all these "bloody" scenes keep popping in my head. So yeah there is gore here. It's not like, in your face -makes-you-want-to-vomit- gore. The whole book is subtle in it's horror aspect. Listen, I read enough zombie books that sometimes the in your face-ness of the horror starts to not get to me. So when something sneaks around my back and taps me the shoulder, well, it's aces. F-yeah!

Great writers can scare the pants off of me, but it takes a true maestro to sneak up on me the way that this book did. It wasn't hitting me in the face while I was reading either. Sometimes books slap me with 'this is great'. This book kind of just is...man. <---token hippie voice in your head please.
So we all know that I LOVE romance in the apocolpyse, right? Ok so there is is romance in this book, but it's not in your face. I didn't get butterflies from Jamie. But that's ok. Sometimes a girl just likes to read about bad-ass heroines without all that mushy crap.
Overall a great read for any horror fan.
However, I caution: if you are looking for a straight forward zed book...well this isn't that. True enough there is zombies but there is also more....If you really want my full caution email or message me. Be warned it will contain spoilers.

Goodreads link:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16045246-the-harvesting

Author Bio:

Melanie Karsak, steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and caffeine junkie, resides in Florida with her husband and two children. Visit the author at her blog to learn more about upcoming projects, book signings, and other neato things. A Walking Dead fan, check out her blog for recaps!

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