Mini Reviews: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker and Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

From Goodreads: Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food. Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus. While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all.

My Rating: 3.5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker reminded me a little bit of Courtney Summers’ This is Not a Test – only it wasn’t as good because the characters were kind of flat. I also didn’t like the flashbacks to the ‘good old days’ at the end of each chapter because they distracted me from staying in the present moment and often didn’t relate to the chapter I’d just read. Nor did I enjoy Sherry’s penchant for listing how many days it had been since she last experienced something (e.g. eating an apple, using shampoo, etc.) because it made me question how she could remember everything so accurately. Overall though, The Other Life was a short, satisfactory read that featured smart zombies, some tense action sequences and an ending that suggests the series has the potential to get better.

The Other Life was released by Marshall Cavendish in May 2012.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Marshall Cavendish) for free via NetGalley.  

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From Goodreads: Callie LeRoux lives in Slow Run, Kansas, helping her mother run their small hotel and trying not to think about the father she’s never met. Lately all of her energy is spent battling the constant storms plaguing the Dust Bowl and their effects on her health. Callie is left alone when her mother goes missing in a dust storm. Her only hope comes from a mysterious man offering a few clues about her destiny and the path she must take to find her parents in "the golden hills of the west": California. Along the way she meets Jack, a young hobo boy who is happy to keep her company — there are dangerous, desperate people at every turn. And there’s also an otherworldly threat to Callie. Warring fae factions, attached to the creative communities of American society, are very much aware of the role this half-mortal, half-fae teenage girl plays in their fate.

My Rating: 1.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Pretty much the only redeeming thing about Sarah Zettel’s Dust Girl was the way Zettel managed to make the atmosphere of the Dust Bowl era come alive because the plot was just so slow-paced and confusing with things being mentioned or events occurring in an unpredictable manner. Besides the random plot, the ending was really weird and completely out of the blue. As well, the characters weren’t that interesting, and it was hard for me to picture Callie in my mind since her age was never mentioned. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, but Callie sometimes acted like a tween and at other times acted as if she was an older teenager. 

Dust Girl was released in June 2012 by Random House Children's Books.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Random House) for free via NetGalley.