Romance, Zombies, & Gore...I LOVED IT!
“Hearts Still Beating” by Brooke Archer is a post-apocalyptic story set on an island somewhere near LA in modern times. To say I devoured (no pun intended) this book is an understatement. I was turning pages so fast, my fingers got a workout!
Right away you’re thrown into the madness of a world taken over by “Ticks.” They are sort of like Zombies, but the Ticks never actually died. They are still alive though their hearts don’t beat, they don’t have to breathe or sleep, but they can still feel real feelings.
We meet our two main characters, Rory and Mara. Rory is now settled on an island with her parents, siblings, and other survivors. The island is ruled by Mal, who is a REAL TREAT…not.
“A man capable of manipulating the masses is a scary thing. A man capable of manipulating himself alongside them is more frightening. More dangerous.”
Rory is tough, she’s a badass, and you can tell she’s really seen some horrible things. Not to mention, she keeps thinking about someone. Someone she loved wholeheartedly, who was her best friend for as long as she can remember, the girl she kissed right before the end of the world, and the girl who is now a Tick…Mara. Rory has no idea whether she’s alive or dead…but she will soon find out. All she knows is that if Mara is alive and does come back, she wants to be the one to kill her. She doesn’t like that the Ticks, the things that took her life away, her world, her friends, her family, are being allowed out, to live, to prosper, she feels they need to be put down and fast.
“The Ticks ended the world, ate it away like termites, and now all their slates have been wiped clean. They’ve been given a second chance at life, and the rest of us are stuck with this fragment of one.”
Mara is a lucky Tick. She was found soon after she turned and taken into a facility that seems to have found medication to help the Ticks. It isn’t exactly a cure, but it controls them and takes away their need for human flesh. I’d say that’s better than nothing, no? Mara is internally tormented by the things she’s done while she was under the Tick’s control and the girl she left when she turned. She soon finds out that all the “Altered,” those being administered the medication, are being sent to other settlements around the state to get a second chance at a normal life. Mara doesn’t have her parents anymore, she has no idea if her sister is still alive, so she wonders who is taking her in. When Rory’s parents show up to take Mara in…everything quickly changes.
I seriously LOVED this novel so much. The writing was beautiful, the world-building was so incredible that I felt like I was right there; I felt the fear, the pain, the longing. The characters were fleshed out perfectly and I truly loved them both. I was really rooting for them. Right away you knew before the collapse of humanity, they had a special bond and when Mara returns, their relationship is still clearly fractured, but still the same in some ways. Their conversations made me cry, laugh, and both at the same time. While long, this was one of my favorite moments in the book. So awkward, but so teenaged. This is coming from Rory’s perspective.
“What?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing,” she says and shrugs. “You’re not as
different as I expected.”
My heart skips a beat. F****** traitor.
“Can’t say the same for you, Joker,” I say, gesturing to her face.
She makes a strangled noise I think might be a laugh.
“Really?”
“What?”
“Surely you can do better.”
I scoff, folding my arms across my chest. “I think the resemblance is
uncanny.”
She inclines her head, fixes those disconcerting silver eyes on me, and
deadpans, “See, I think Edward Scissorhands is more on the nose. Or
Freddy Kreuger.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit here and be lectured on pop culture by a
f****** zombie.”
READ THIS. Your heart will be racing, you will be screaming, and you will be asking WHY?!?! And I promise, you will be rooting for our two mains. Your heart may be ripped out, but it’ll be so worth it.
“You don’t get to do that,” she says, jaw set. “You don’t get to ask me to stay when you’ve been pushing me to go since the second I got here. If you hate me so much, Rory, why the f*** won’t you let me leave?”
Right away you’re thrown into the madness of a world taken over by “Ticks.” They are sort of like Zombies, but the Ticks never actually died. They are still alive though their hearts don’t beat, they don’t have to breathe or sleep, but they can still feel real feelings.
We meet our two main characters, Rory and Mara. Rory is now settled on an island with her parents, siblings, and other survivors. The island is ruled by Mal, who is a REAL TREAT…not.
“A man capable of manipulating the masses is a scary thing. A man capable of manipulating himself alongside them is more frightening. More dangerous.”
Rory is tough, she’s a badass, and you can tell she’s really seen some horrible things. Not to mention, she keeps thinking about someone. Someone she loved wholeheartedly, who was her best friend for as long as she can remember, the girl she kissed right before the end of the world, and the girl who is now a Tick…Mara. Rory has no idea whether she’s alive or dead…but she will soon find out. All she knows is that if Mara is alive and does come back, she wants to be the one to kill her. She doesn’t like that the Ticks, the things that took her life away, her world, her friends, her family, are being allowed out, to live, to prosper, she feels they need to be put down and fast.
“The Ticks ended the world, ate it away like termites, and now all their slates have been wiped clean. They’ve been given a second chance at life, and the rest of us are stuck with this fragment of one.”
Mara is a lucky Tick. She was found soon after she turned and taken into a facility that seems to have found medication to help the Ticks. It isn’t exactly a cure, but it controls them and takes away their need for human flesh. I’d say that’s better than nothing, no? Mara is internally tormented by the things she’s done while she was under the Tick’s control and the girl she left when she turned. She soon finds out that all the “Altered,” those being administered the medication, are being sent to other settlements around the state to get a second chance at a normal life. Mara doesn’t have her parents anymore, she has no idea if her sister is still alive, so she wonders who is taking her in. When Rory’s parents show up to take Mara in…everything quickly changes.
I seriously LOVED this novel so much. The writing was beautiful, the world-building was so incredible that I felt like I was right there; I felt the fear, the pain, the longing. The characters were fleshed out perfectly and I truly loved them both. I was really rooting for them. Right away you knew before the collapse of humanity, they had a special bond and when Mara returns, their relationship is still clearly fractured, but still the same in some ways. Their conversations made me cry, laugh, and both at the same time. While long, this was one of my favorite moments in the book. So awkward, but so teenaged. This is coming from Rory’s perspective.
“What?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing,” she says and shrugs. “You’re not as
different as I expected.”
My heart skips a beat. F****** traitor.
“Can’t say the same for you, Joker,” I say, gesturing to her face.
She makes a strangled noise I think might be a laugh.
“Really?”
“What?”
“Surely you can do better.”
I scoff, folding my arms across my chest. “I think the resemblance is
uncanny.”
She inclines her head, fixes those disconcerting silver eyes on me, and
deadpans, “See, I think Edward Scissorhands is more on the nose. Or
Freddy Kreuger.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit here and be lectured on pop culture by a
f****** zombie.”
READ THIS. Your heart will be racing, you will be screaming, and you will be asking WHY?!?! And I promise, you will be rooting for our two mains. Your heart may be ripped out, but it’ll be so worth it.
“You don’t get to do that,” she says, jaw set. “You don’t get to ask me to stay when you’ve been pushing me to go since the second I got here. If you hate me so much, Rory, why the f*** won’t you let me leave?”