Also by this author: Limerence, Odium II, Limerence 2, Thicker Than Blood, Beneath Blood and BoneA true friendship never dies.
Leisel and Evelyn lost everything. Husbands. Families. Friends. Lives that made sense. All they had left was each other, and a friendship that could withstand anything…
Even an apocalypse.
Until one fateful night, the marginal safety they’d come to rely on comes to a vicious and brutal end. With the help of Alex & Jami, both unlikely allies, Leisel and Evelyn are able to escape their shattered sanctuary only to find themselves face-to-face with a much altered, much crueler life where they have to find the way—and the will—to stay alive in a world they no longer recognize.
Traveling across a broken and infection-ridden country; the road-weary group are pitted against endless violence, improbable circumstances, and the ultimate loss.
Everything comes at a price—especially safety, the cost of which could very well strip them of the one thing they’ve tried so hard to cling to: their humanity.Yet along with all the trials they’re forced to endure, there’s also hope in the form of love. Having loved Leisel from afar, Alex attempts to put the pieces of her fractured heart back together.
But in such a savage world, is there room for love?
In a place of nightmares-made-reality, where the living should be feared far more than the dead, an unbreakable friendship and a love amongst all odds can mean the difference between life and death.
There are friends…
And then there are Leisel and Evelyn.
I received this book for free from Author Gifted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
So Melanie has already read and reviewed this book. If you wish to read her review it can be located HERE. It took me a little longer to get through it because I had a lot of editing to get done. So here is my review.
~~Andi’s Review~~
Okay so this book took me a while to read. Not only do I have a lot on my plate but the emotional toll that this book took really really hit me. I mean it tore out my heart and then nailed it together to tear it out again. But lets save that for later.
So the world has ended for the most part and Eve and Lei, best friends who lost their husbands right after the infected started to become well infected. After the loss of their loves they traveled together where live was not nice to them. Lei was married to the leader of one of the last remaining settlements which meant that he could get away with pretty much whatever he wanted. Eve was married to his friend, not a bad guy, but not a lover, and so Eve took a lover. Then Lei’s husband ended up dead, okay he didn’t end up dead, he was a bastard and Lei finally took him out. Well after that there was no staying around so Lei, Eve, Eve’s Lover, and Alex, who wanted to be Lei’s lover all hightailed it out of their little compound.
Since the rest of the story is full of sadness and spoilers I can not say any more than what I did before. However I will tell you that there are people who are bad, there are people who are good, and there is a really messed up religious cult. Oh and there is sadness, did I tell you about that? Heart breaking sadness and then a glimmer of hope and then heartbreaking sadness.
So I liked this book, I didn’t love love love it and therefore I didn’t give it a 4.5, but here is why I didn’t LLL it and so you can be a judge yourself because honestly it is a good book. I didn’t LLL it because I had to put it down. It was painful, and maybe that has to do with the emotions that the authors can invoke from the reader, but it was painful for me. There were points that I had to put it down because I was going to start crying and while I am being totally honest, I have cried with books before, this one wanted me to cry every other chapter. I just couldn’t do it. So I did it in small steps and the book I think was the better for it.
I really enjoyed the alternating chapters being different characters. Not only do I believe that each author kind of took a character and therefore it was not only the characters voice but the author’s it was fun. It really helped frame the story and really brought the reader into it (see above). There have been a lot of books that I have read lately that have done this and Madeline and Claire BY far are the best at it in my eyes. There isn’t the repetition that you see with other books, it is seamless and I really enjoyed it.
Truth be told, this is a great piece, probably one of the best zombie books that I have read in a long time, but be ready for your heart to break, then Madeline and Claire put it back together using carpenter nails, only to have them break it again.
About Claire C. Riley
Claire C. Riley is a USA Today and International bestselling author with almost twenty novels of various genres to her credit.
A lover of all things dark and dirty, she likes to write characters you love to hate but can’t help falling in-love with. She isn’t afraid to challenge herself, or her readers, to step outside of their comfort zones.
She also writes under the pen name of Cee Cee Riley, where she writes in the MC romance and post-apocalyptic romance genres.
Claire lives in the United Kingdom with her husband, three daughters and one naughty beagle, where she can be found whiling away her days playing board games with her kids and reading.
Author of:
Odium The Dead Saga Series
Odium Origins Series
Limerence (The Obsession Series)
Out of the Dark Series,
Twisted Magic,
Beautiful Victim
Blood Claim
Co-authored books with Madeline Sheehan:
Thicker than Blood,
Beneath Blood & Bone,
& Shut Up & Kiss me,
And by Cee Cee Riley:
The Ride or Die a Devil’s Highwaymen MC Novel Series
And coming in November – The Devil’s Highwaymen NOMAD series.
Author of:
Odium The Dead Saga Series
Odium Origins Series
Limerence (The Obsession Series)
Out of the Dark Series,
Twisted Magic,
Co-authored books with Madeline Sheehan:
Thicker than Blood,
Beneath Blood & Bone,
& Shut Up & Kiss me,
And soon to be released by Cee Cee Riley:
The Ride or Die Series
About Madeline Sheehan
Fantastical realm dweller Madeline Sheehan is the USA Today bestselling author of the Holy Trinity Trilogy and Undeniable Series. A Social Distortion enthusiast, lover of mud and anything deemed socially inappropriate, Madeline was homegrown in Buffalo, New York, where she can be found engaging in food fights and video game marathons with her husband and son.
