Undead with Benefits

Any high school romance has drama, but Jake and Amanda’s is more dramatic than most. After becoming zombies and feasting on their fellow students, they barely escaped the Necrotic Control Division, the government’s zombie-containment force. Now, between popping hamsters to keep their hunger at bay and figuring out what to do with former NCD psychic Cass (who’s now along for the ride), they’re trying to get to Iowa in search of a possible cure. That is, if the government, their hunger, or the zombie warlord who lives there don’t get them first.

Undead with Benefits is Jeff Hart’s uproarious, sweethearted, gore-filled sequel to Eat, Brains, Love, capturing all the awkwardness and enthusiasm of teen love and melding it with his own intriguing take on both zombies and psychics. And not only has he proven there’s still life in the oversaturated zombie genre, but he’s provided a topnotch messy supernatural love triangle that puts Twilight to even greater shame.

Although the book lags at points, it does present three believable, flawed young people fumbling with big, familiar questions like love, loyalty, and self-sacrifice. Their specific circumstances might be different from ours, but that doesn’t make them any less empathetic or relatable.