Frightfall Read-A-Thon Wrap Up! and This Is Not A Test Review!!

These were the two books I challenged myself to read this past week for Frightfall read-a-thon. In order to complete my goal I only needed to finish one book. Thank Goodness! This past week has been very busy, but I was able to finish one of the books. Following is my review of This Is Not A Test.






I will start by saying that this book was very hard for me to get into. I kept waiting for all of the action and death and blood and gore. The beginning starts off quite slow. Sloane and some other adolescents are holed up in a school while the zombies are waiting outside the doors. This is so not your typical zombie story. This is more a novel about how we survive and what we choose to do when confronted with our past and our future. The story is gritty and the characters all have flaws, what teens don't? The zombies themselves are background characters. Most of the time they don't even figure into the story. The zombies don't enter the storyline itself until about half way through the book. They make a brief, very brief showing, and then we are back to the drama of adolescence.

The book is not bad, not by any means. The characters are easy to relate to and will stir your emotions. Some of them you want to hug, others you want to shoot. The zombies are not really even needed for the main part of the story. They are just a backdrop for these teens to confront their hidden fears. There is a very small smattering of zombie violence, but not enough to consider this an action novel. If you are looking for your typical zombie book, don't look here, because that is not this book. There is very little going on, except for in the hearts and minds of these teens. Their world is crumbling around them, while they worry about who will kiss who, and if they will ever leave the school.

What will happen when an adult enters their closed in world? Will they stay at the school or move on? Who will live and who will die? You will have to read the book to find out the answers to those questions. I did see that there will be a sequel to this book. So if you like this one then look for the next one in January 2015.



Sadly, I didn't even have time to start The Sleepwalkers. I am hoping to finish it this month and get some scares. I want to thank SeasonsReading for hosting this Read-A-Thon. I hope you find your horror fix in the month of October!!