The Other Life [Review]

Stats: 
190 pages [ebook]
Published 1 February 2012
ISBN:  140954169X
[Amazon::Barnes&Noble]


Synopsis:
3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.

Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.

Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.


My Thoughts:
I'm on a zombie kick lately - and this book is the perfect mix of zombies and dystopia. It's magic to my eyeballs/brain/imagination!

The story begins in a bunker, where 15 year old Sherry, her father, mother, brother {Bobby}, sister {Mia}, and grandmother have resided for the last 3 years 1 month 1 week. A variation of rabies had caused an outbreak in the area and the military and CDC advised everyone to get in their bunkers until further notice when the disease was under control. They have run out of food, so Sherry and her father leave to go find rations for the family. At a Walmart, Sherry and her father are attacked by a human-like beast, someone infected by "rabies" - and she is saved by a boy named Joshua. However, the Weepers, as Joshua calls them, have taken her father away to one of their nests to save for a snack for later.

I read this book in 2 1/2 hours. I couldn't stop reading it. Winnacker writes beautifully. In just 190 pages, she creates a believable post-zombie outbreak Los Angeles and a complex cast of characters. Sherry is a kick ass heroine, who shoves her fear aside to do everything she can for her family. Joshua is a fantastic male lead. I cannot wait to read the next book and find out what happens next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Marshall Cavendish for letting me read this one :)


Previous Review:
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise {here}


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