Actual rating: 4.5Oh, how I love the zombies. The ravenous, mindless cannibalistic sort, that is. When I first read the blurb for Dearly, Departed I was eager to read it, despite the fact that the zombies are sexified. It sounded great and the cover captivated me. I’m pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed.One thing in particular that I enjoyed about Dearly, Departed was the zombies (of course). I was happy to see that there were not only sexy zombies (if you can call them sexy), but also the monster variety. The “Laz” diseased reacted differently in everyone, so some zombies are nearly human, while others do nothing but run around finding arms to chew off. This was a good thing because I don’t want zombies to be sexy. While I was actually a big fan of Bram, I wanted the zombies to be the last monster that was turned into a love interest. A little too late for that, but the fact that this story carried varying degrees of zombie definitely redeemed it for me.The characters were great as well. Bram had a sense of humor that made me laugh on numerous occasions, and Nora has a resilience that makes you root for her until the very end. Pamela was pretty kick-ass too! I even loved Nora and Bram’s budding relationship, despite the fact that zombies as a love interest have always, and mostly likely always will, gross me out.While I am a fan of multiple POV’s, I feel that there were too many in Dearly, Departed. I think we could have gone without Wolfe and Victor’s chapters. They really slowed down the reading momentum for me. I’d be heavily invested in the story until one of their chapters came up, and then it would feel like eternity before I was on to the characters I cared about. I don’t think we really needed their point of view, and the twists in the story may have held a bigger shock for me if they weren’t there at all. This is the only thing preventing this book from getting five stars from me.Dearly, Departed is wonderfully plotted with characters that you can’t help becoming attached to. I’ll be anxiously awaiting the sequel, and I’d encourage everyone to give Dearly, Departed a shot!
