Undeadly by Michele Vail

***

The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird…

Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper—and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she's shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite boarding school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath.

Life at Nekyia has its pluses. Molly has her own personal ghoul, for one. Rick follows her there out of the blue, for another…except, there's something a little off about him. When students at the academy start to die and Rath disappears, Molly starts to wonder if anything is as it seems. Only one thing is certain—Molly's got an undeadly knack for finding trouble….

The Bad:

I'm not a fan of zombies.  Vampires, wolves, shapeshifters - all these I get, but zombies just don't do it for me.  So when I realized that Undeadly was zombie-centric, I was disappointed.  (Here's the thing, I never read cover blurbs, reviews, etc when I choose books.  I don't want to know much of anything when I start a new book.  In fact, if I know things about books it generally makes me reluctant to pick them up.  Just ask Bel and Nat about trying to get me to read The Hunger Games or finish the Iron Fey and Mortal Instruments series').  The only other downside to Undeadly for me was that it is very similar to Jennifer Estep's Mythos Academy series, which I love, so for my money, Mythos Academy is better, but until Midnight Frost comes out, Undeadly will do.

The Good:

I love mythology.  Greek myths are my preference, but I do enjoy Egyptian mythology as well.  I thoroughly enjoyed Vail's portrayal of Anubis as a sarcastic, but caring god of the dead.  I also enjoyed Vail's (somewhat) realistic look at the vain, shallow teenage girl Molly was and admitted to being.  Undeadly was well written, well researched and a delightful way to spend a winter afternoon (and thankfully after the you get into the heart of the book, there aren't any zombies!).  I will definitely tune in for the next installment of the Reaper Diaries.  If you enjoy the Mythos Academy Series (Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost and Crimson Frost), then you should grab Undeadly.  

~Shel