Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter

Author: Gena Showalter
Title: Through The Zombie Glass
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #2
Publication: September 24, 2013
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Genre: Paranormal
Pages: 480 pp.
Source: Around the World Arc Tours

Inspired by the childhood classic Alice in Wonderland, this harrowing and romantic story features teen zombie slayer Alice Bell who has lost so much—family, friends, her home. After a strange new zombie attack, Alice fears she may be losing her mind as well. A terrible darkness blooms inside her, urging her to do wicked things. The whispers of the dead assault her ears and mirrors seem to come frighteningly to life. She’s never needed her team of zombie slayers more—including her boyfriend, Cole—than she does now. But as Cole strangely withdraws and the zombies gain new strength, Ali knows one false step may doom them all.

Alice is once again under watch after her injury in the last book, everyone is wary about her getting back into the fight too soon. The slayers can't afford to lose a person and Alice isn't going to sit back to let harm come to those she cares for. Cole tries his best to keep her out of the fight but her persistence wears him down and just when she feels she's strong enough but she realizes she might be wrong. It only takes one attack to change things, and something is happening to Alice. The zombies are acting weird and Alice is in the center of it all. 

Alice's relationship with Cole has become strained in this book. He closing himself off from her and she doesn't understand why he can't have as much faith in her as she does him. I wasn't too thrilled with how Cole acts in this book. He's hot and cold the entire book, at one point he gets so worked up that he upsets Alice and risks jeopardizing their relationship over some foolishness. Alice is more vulnerable as her emotions get tugged all over the place. She also has a mysterious problem that she trying to figure out to fix without cause the others to worry but as things spin out of control, she will have to trust them and hope that they won't abandon her once they know the truth. 

Alice is a walking zombie-killing machine and I love the scenes when she's on fire, literally. I could feel her emotional turmoil when she and Cole were having issues to the point I wanted to smack him and few other people. Although, this book is slightly longer than the first book, the flow of the story is steady along with the action-packed sequences. Overall, the zombies are creepy but the plot is fascinating and I look forward to what happens next for Alice. 

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gene Showalter

Author: Gene Showalter
Title: Alice in Zombieland
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles #1
Publication: September 25, 2012
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Genre: Paranormal
Pages: 416 pp
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Publisher

Synopsis
She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

Thoughts: Alice is so sick of being confined to the house, so much that she promises her sister, Emma, that she will convince their parents to let her see Emma dance as her birthday present. Though, reluctant to go out at night, her parents agree to go but things take a turn for the worse. Alice finds herself alone in the hospital and that she can see them, the monsters that her father was afraid of. She feels guilty that she survives and that she's to blame for the accident that killed her family. Now, living with her grandparents and trying to adjust to her new life, she can't shake the feeling that something lurks in the shadows, just waiting for her to make a mistake. 

I like Alice, she an intriguing character that just so happens to kick butt. The chemistry between her and Cole oozes with electricity and magnetic charm. He comes off as the bad boy that all the students at the school are terrified of but really he has a different emotional level that seems endearing. I like the idea of the two of them possibly being a pair. I'm curious as to why, when they gaze daze one another they have visions and what is it about Alice that attracts the monsters to her. 

The characters are well developed and I like the dynamics between them. The fact that they aren't one dimensional makes this more interesting to read and leaves room for them to surprise the reader. The writing moves along beautifully, I didn't feel like the pace was too slow or too fast. Overall, I am fascinated by the twist the author has placed on the zombies and look forward to see how this will pane out in the rest of the series.