Hearts Still Beating

Hearts Still Beating is set in an apocalyptic world in which a zombie virus has ravaged the population, turning the infected into cannibalistic killing machines called Ticks. Scientists have developed a medication which can reverse the zombie changes and restore an affected person's humanity. Mara, who did horrendous things as a Tick, is one of these patients, called the Altered. Her treatment is successful and she going to live with her godparents and her former best friend and crush Rory. Rory has been traumatized by loss (as has all of humanity) and is resistant to Mara's arrival, worried that she will start killing again. The story is tense, compelling, beautiful, emotional, violent and tragic. The world building was excellent. This book makes the reader think about what makes a person human vs. a monster. Hearts Still Beating is a story about the triumph and survival of love after trauma and change. I could not put it down.

This book is everything you could want in a post apocalyptic zombie story. There’s romance, comedy, action, drama. It’s dark and gritty with flashes of light. It’s exactly what you think it is and not at all. I had a hard time putting it down when I needed to. It is 300ish pages of a beautifully written tale of two young women surviving the end of the modern world and finding their way back to each other and a life worth living. It’s The Walking Dead meets iZombie meets Warm Bodies. The attention to detail was amazing. Visuals clear and easy to picture. A wonderful read for long time zombie fans and a perfect story to introduce newer fans to the genre. I absolutely loved everything about this book. Each chapter was marked as from the point of view of Mara or Rory and it kept the read from becoming stale or too one-sided. I can not recommend this book enough.