My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland Narrator: Allison McLemore
Series: White Trash Zombie #1
Published by Brilliance Audio, Del Ray on July 3, 2012
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 9 hours, 5 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Goodreads
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Angel Crawford is a loser.
Living with her alcoholic deadbeat dad in the swamps of southern Louisiana, she's a high school dropout with a pill habit and a criminal record who's been fired from more crap jobs than she can count. Now on probation for a felony, it seems that Angel will never pull herself out of the downward spiral her life has taken.
That is, until the day she wakes up in the ER after overdosing on painkillers. Angel remembers being in an horrible car crash, but she doesn't have a mark on her. To add to the weirdness, she receives an anonymous letter telling her there's a job waiting for her at the parish morgue—and that it's an offer she doesn't dare refuse.
Before she knows it she's dealing with a huge crush on a certain hunky deputy and a brand new addiction: an overpowering craving for brains. Plus, her morgue is filling up with the victims of a serial killer who decapitates his prey—just when she's hungriest!
Angel's going to have to grow up fast if she wants to keep this job and stay in one piece. Because if she doesn't, she's dead meat.
When Angel wakes in the hospital, she only has vague memories of the night before, including being severely injured in a car accident. Yet she doesn’t have a scratch on her, and she was brought into the hospital naked and nearly dead from a drug overdose. Someone leaves her clean clothes, a mysterious letter telling her she has a job at the morgue, and some “energy drinks” she’ll need over the next couple weeks. This mysterious person doesn’t explain what happened, but tells her that if she doesn’t keep her job, they will let the police know she had drugs in her system, which is a violation of her parole.
The title of the book, My Life as a White Trash Zombie, gives readers a heads up as to what’s going on with Angel, but poor Angel has no clue. I love how the author just tosses Angel in, and she has to piece it all together. Angel’s exaggerated responses to new discoveries, such as she likes to eat brains, is entertaining. With that said, I was STRESSED OUT for most of the book because I was so worried that someone would discover Angel’s truth. Rowland does an excellent job building suspense and tension by skillfully ramping up the danger and capping it off before things go too far.
Not only did I enjoy watching Angel discover what she’s become, but I loved seeing her learn who she is. Growing up, Angel’s home life wasn’t the best, and she’s not made much of herself, never believing she was worth the effort. But as Angel gets clean, she realizes her life has value, and in order to continue to live, she needs to work hard. And then she discovers she enjoys working and being a team member. Her new-found coworkers and friends give Angel a solid foundation to start building a new life. It’s positive and hopeful.
“I was a monster with a mushy heart.”
In the end, I enjoyed the somewhat disturbing world of Angel, the white trash zombie, and based on the way this one ended, I look forward to the next book.
My Ratings:
Story: B+
Narration: B+
Narration:
The story is shared via the first person POV of Angel. McLemore utilizes a lively, southern-accented female voice for Angel/the narrator. I found her voice well-suited for Angel and enjoyed it a lot. McLemore slightly alters her voice for the dialogue based on character gender, with slight variances between each character. Her male characters aren’t overly deep, but it’s clear they are male. She adds a lot of great emotion for Angel, helping me get caught up in Angel’s world.
Listen to a clip: HERE
Share your review/ thoughts on My Life as a White Trash Zombie:
I thought it might be fun to link up reviews so we can find them all easily. It can be a link to Goodreads or a blog, or wherever you have a review (short or long).
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The chat will be Sunday, January 21
COYER Challenge is adopting our Read-along. You can read about COYER and join that challenge or just the community chat HERE. On the Sunday after the review posts, they will host a Google meeting (like we do for COYER book club) at 12 PT, 2 CT, 3 ET and 9pm Europe, for a one hour chat. You do not have to join the COYER challenge to participate, only the COYER Facebook group.
Here’s your to-do list:
- Find your copies of these books, borrow them from a friend, get them at the library or buy them
- Read book 2 Even White Trash Zombies Get The Blues by February 16
- Look to the COYER event or the blog Facebook page for pacing schedules
- Make note of a favorite quote or two as you read the book.
- If you haven’t read the books before, make a list of questions you have for the discussion. If you have read them, please don’t spoil new readers.
- Enter questions you have for Diana Rowland in the Rafflecopter for the Q & A post in July.
- Enter the giveaways!
Interviews with Diana:
2011- October 24: The Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast interview
2018-Sep 4: Peter Likes Books Youtube review of My Life as A White Trash Zombie
Games:
Who said (enter the answer in the Rafflecopter, don’t put in the comments)
Who said “Hey, dickhead, you’re upsetting my girlfriend, … Cut it out. ”
There are other options in the rafflecopter for you to enter discussion questions and quotes to share.
Be sure to enter the giveaways!!!
Giveaway:
For US Amazon Digital copy of Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues ,and for Intl a $6 gift card from Amazon.
Grand-Prize Giveaway:
For a US winner, this will be a full set of paperbacks offered by DAW Books.
For an Intl winner, it will be $50 certificate from Better World Books. The giveaway is international, as long as Better World Books ships there free of charge (find that out here!)
Join in the 2024 Read-along of the White Trash Zombies by Diana Rowland! Time to start reading Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues #giveaways #giveaway @BooksofMyHeart Share on X
Schedule:
We are doing one book every 4-5 weeks, posting on Fridays. We will have a review for most of the books with the team here at Books of My Heart plus some of our friends.
Jan 19: My Life As a White Trash Zombie – Jen @ That’s What I’m Talking About
Feb 16: Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues – Carole @ Carole’s Random Life
Mar 15: White Trash Zombie Apocalypse – Brandee @Unconventional Bookworms
Apr 19: How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back – Rachel @ Waves of Fiction
May 17: White Trash Zombie Gone Wild – Kimberly @Caffeinated Reviewer
Jun 21: White Trash Zombie Unchained – Kai @ Fiction State of Mind
Jul 6: Q & A with Diana Rowland
About Allison McLemore
Actress: The Fairies’ Child. Allison McLemore is known for The Fairies’ Child (2015), The Vacation (2005) and Recently, Long Ago (2014).
About Diana Rowland
Diana Rowland worked as a bartender, a blackjack dealer, a pit boss, a street cop, a detective, a computer forensics specialist, a crime scene investigator, and a morgue assistant, which means that she’s seen a lot of weird crap. She won the marksmanship award in her Police Academy class, has a black belt in Hapkido, has handled numerous dead bodies in various states of decomposition, and can’t rollerblade to save her life.
About Jen at That’s What I’m Talking About
Jen began her reading journey at a young age, when she would spend her spare change to buy books, just so she could have them on her shelf after she was done reading them. Now that she’s grown and her reading tastes matured, she finds that she’s still the same girl who likes to read and look at the pretty books on her shelf (or rather, shelves!). Although these days, she admits that she spends most of her time reading on her Kindle or listening to audiobooks than with her nose in a good ol’ book.
I founded That’s What I’m Talking About on January 28, 2010, as a place to discuss in better detail the books we were chatting about on Twitter. My blog is a project of love, and I’m so glad to share it with you.
I am a full-time mom, with a part-time job outside the home. I have two (mostly) wonderful teenage children: The Boy (a high-schooler) and Baby Girl (BG). My background is in engineering and urban planning, but now I work part-time for a small non-profit writing plans and managing grants. I would love to spend more time reading and blogging, but it doesn’t pay the bills! Joining me on my journey is also my husband and our 2 cats. We reside in the New England region of the United States.
I mostly review small-town, light contemporaries, romantic comedies, urban fantasy (UF), historical romances, steampunk, paranormal romances, and historical and cozy mysteries; but my tastes are diverse, and I do read/review in other genres. I also enjoy audiobooks, even more than my Kindle these days.
I love to talk about books and reading, so please drop me a line or find me on the web:
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
Friend or follow me at Goodreads.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 24-COYER
I have a copy of this and hope to read it some day. It sounds like fun but with some emotion too😁
It is really good. It’s not laugh out loud so much as fun and rather inspiring.
I hope you get time to enjoy it. I have wanted to read it for years, so I’m glad Anne is doing this read-along.
Jen, thanks for an outstanding review. You said many things I was thinking, only better.
Thanks Anne. I am so bummed I’m going to miss the discussion Sunday. Hopefully folks will be chatting about it after, too. I really like Angel and I want her to succeed.
I thought that it was fun the way the author had Angel figuring out what was going on, too. Oh yeah, a few times I thought she was going to get made, too.
yes Angel is just thrown into it and we learn as she does.
It was a great, albeit nerve-wracking, way to kick off the series.
SUCH a good read. I loved Angel! We really need more SFF books set in the South. It’s the perfect setting for horror, zombies, and dark fantasy!
My Review
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Hannah. Thank you for sharing your review. I loved it.
I complete love Angel, too! She’s just becoming so much “more.” And I love where this one ended up.
Ack! Forgot about this! I will start the audio as soon as I’m finished with The Heiress. I’ll try to listen in time for our chat on Sunday!
I’ve had to scramble to finish books I had to review for certain dates.
I hope you get to it! Unfortunately, I am going to miss the chat, but I’m hoping there will be some text-based chat, too.
Jen-Bummer you couldn’t attend! We missed you! I also enjoyed the positive changes Angel made and the hopeful future ahead of her. I’m sure she has a bumpy road ahead, but I’m looking forward to the journey!
Anne- I was so happy I finished in time to attend! It was fun chatting!
Thanks Rachel. I left some thoughts in the chat and hope there will be some dialogue there. I have a lot going on this winter/spring on Sundays and am going to miss most of the chats, unfortunately.
I’d say it’s a quick listen Rachel and easy and fun. I hope you can join us.
Sounds like a pretty entertaining zombie book. 😀
Really good! You should try it.
Loved it so much and I’m so glad I decided to join in! Can’t believe you only gave it a B+. lol. Also, I think I clicked a wrong entry on the Rafflecopter, I thought it was for posting my review, but I think it was for your hosts, so just a heads up that I did that!
I’m glad you loved it too Lisa. Well a B+/A- is 4.5 hearts, which is pretty good. I’ll fix up the Rafflecopter if it needs it. I’m so happy you decided to read with us.
I’m sad I missed the chat, but enjoy being part of the read-along.
For me a B+ is pretty darn high. I rarely give books an A, and I tend to rate “down” for first books in a series since it’s a new world and new-to-me series. But if the series continue this way, I bet I’ll have an A-rated read soon!
I really enjoyed this book. Maybe not as much on the re-read and I did the first time around but it was still a lot of fun. I had hoped to join in on the discussion but it looks like I missed it. I thought that it was in the evening. I probably won’t ever be able to participate since it is the middle of the day on my only day to run errands. I had thought that it was in the evening for some reason which I could do. I was with you in spirit though.
I’m glad you really enjoyed the book. Overall everyone liked it a lot. yes the chat would be 2pm your time on Sundays. (Evening would be middle of the night in Europe. We’ve had Europeans, Australian and Phillipines citizens attend! I still hope you will be able to do one, maybe when it’s your review? We do have the after chat also. HERE: https://www.facebook.com/messages/t/7163020007075064/ This you can do anytime. It’s sometimes chatty sometimes not. I had not read them before. Kai had only read this first one. Berls read the whole series a long time ago. Michelle B. had read a few before. The rest of us (8) were all new to the series.
Oh, I understand why the timing is what it is. I only get one day off from both jobs and that is usually Sunday. We are never home at 2:00 so I doubt that I can make it to any of the chats. We have to squeeze all grocery shopping that day, plus I stop in on my mom’s every week and we try to keep up with projects and any repairs needed at her house. If it ever works out that I am home, then I will of course join in. I have read the whole series spread out between 2016-2018. I will check out the after chat once I am approved to the group.
It looks like you were approved last night. Also I have joined a chat on my phone from a car during a drive to my niece’s wedding in Indiana, We were somewhere in Kentucky I think. Anyway you don’t have to be home. lol (Of course I wasn’t driving at the time) But I understand your schedule is demanding.
This is my second time doing the read-alongs, and last year, I’d already read the series. This time, it’s all new to me, and I think I like that better – discovering it for the first time with everyone else. SO I get your point. I’m looking forward to reading the next one soon.
I really need to get myself to read book 1 someday.
If you read it fairly soon, it would be easy to catch up and read-along and even join the chats with us. We are only starting to read the second book.
This series might be a bit too disturbing for me with the whole zombie theme, but it sounds like a good one. I’ve read some of the author’s books in her other series years ago and enjoyed them.
Maybe? I don’t read horror, and have only read a little zombie stuff. This is not like those other zombie books. It is fun and sort of humorous. Everyone reading so far has really liked it. It’s my first read and I’m loving it.
I’m so excited to participate in this read-along and giveaway! I’ve been a fan of Diana Rowland’s work for years, and My Life as a White Trash Zombie is one of my favorites. I can’t wait to re-read it and share my thoughts with everyone. 😍
We’ve finished reading My Life as a White Trash Zombie and are now reading Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues. That book’s post will be next Friday Feb 16th. If you want to join either the online chats or the Facebook messenger chats, you will need to join the COYER Facebook group. You don’t have to do the COYER challenge only join the group. The messenger chat is there now for My Life as a White Trash Zombie and we would love your thoughts. The online chat (which we do in Google meets was lively, a good group. The next online chat for Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues is February 18th.