Thursday, May 1, 2014

Beach Blanket Bloodbath


Amanda Feral, shallow zombie socialite, is back with her entourage of snarky undead friends. They embark on a road trip. Amanda needs to get her tell all book on the supernatural underbelly of Seattle, Happy Hour of the Undead, off the ground with a book tour. Wendy is a budding dealer of Cloud, basically zombie breath in a cream that is an aphrodisiac to vampires. Her supply is stolen, so she goes along to get it back and make the thief pay. Gil is just along for the ride. They stop in a sleepy seaside town for Amanda's book tour and are immediately caught up in a murder mystery surrounding a beauty pageant. The ensuing adventure is hilarious with amorous weresharks, a vicious gang of gay male strippers, and our lovable gang of undead.

Amanda Feral is back! This is only the first in a series of three novellas, so it's like three small nibbles of Amanda instead of giant zombie bites. The story is self contained, so knowledge of the previous three full length books isn't necessary, but why wouldn't you read them? This novella is the perfect balance of supernatural horror and humor. Amanda's narrative reads true as an inner monologue complete with overshares and judgy thoughts that she would never say out loud. I like that Henry uses Amanda to show the realities of being a published author and throws some shade at the industry at the same time.The addition of the Golden Boys, a dangerous gang of gay male strippers, and the wereshark are inspired and fit well into this wacky world. I hope we see the wereshark in the other novellas as well. Amanda tackles the murder mystery with her usual flair and it ends with hilarious, yet disgusting results.

Although I greatly enjoyed the novella, I miss the footnotes that were a staple in the previous books. The asides are still there, but not as obvious anymore. They gave Amanda a deranged and irreverant Jane Austen vibe. I also wish the other novellas were out already because I want to know what happens! Definitely recommend for Amanda fans and newbies to the series.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

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