Waiting on Wednesday: Dearly, Departed

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme held by Jill at Breaking the Spine to feature upcoming books that we can't wait to get our hands on. 

Title: Dearly, Departed

Author: Lia Habel
Publisher: Del Ray Books
Date of Release: October 18, 2011 

Goodreads Description: The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria - a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune, and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible - until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses. But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead - and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble ... and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.

Why am I waiting? When I hear about novels involving zombies, my usual reaction is meh. But I've pretty much been waiting a year for Dearly, Departed to come out and the wait is almost over! Dearly, Departed seems like it'll be full of adventure, and it has elements of steampunk - a genre I'm hoping more YA authors will venture into. I'm also curious to see whether Habel can make me forget that Bram is dead and root for the romance between him and Nora.