I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked Itby Adam Selzer
Eighteen-year-old Algonquin "Alley" Rhodes lives in a town where post-humans have officially "come out of the coffin" and are now participating in normal society. Alley isn't into the whole post-human thing, thinking all vampires are just brooding, self-absorbed jerks, until the night she goes to the Cage to review a local band and falls for the "real goth" guest vocalist. For the first time ever, pale skin and black clothing are exactly what Alley finds hot!
When she and Doug start dating, Alley falls so hard she misses some key signs that there may be more going on with Doug than just an emo trend. He doesn't seem to change clothes, he smells a little funny, and he can't hold lengthy conversations. Finally, she gets clued in...Doug is the real deal...not just goth, he's a ZOMBIE!!
Alley knows that she needs to break up with Doug, but just can't seem to do it. Even with his "quirks," Doug is the most interesting guy Alley's been with...ever. Unfortunately, the vampire counselor at Alley's school thinks that if she's going to date Doug she's gonna have to go all the way and convert. Is Alley willing to die for her date?
This is a funny little gem of a book! It is full of snarky human, societal commentary, romance, teenage horomones, and yes, even zombie horror. What I loved most about this book was the realism amidst the paranormal horror. Alley is told she'll have to "convert" (a.k.a. die!) to continue seeing Doug and she goes online to do research. Finding sites and chat rooms devoted to people in human/post-human relationships, Alley uses first hand accounts and plans for their futures to help her decide what she should do. It was eerie how close Selzer was able to make some of those conversations sound like ones that teens have about other topics...I don't want to ruin anything because I want people to read this book!! It's only 177 pages, so it took me about 2 hours to read, and I laughed A LOT! I think it ends very realistically...Selzer did a great job.
