This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our list for order this year and will recommend it to students.

I enjoyed this book SO much! I can not wait for book 2. And if not a book 2, for sure whatever Britney decides to write!

Review Time 🧟‍♀️
Title: The Undead Truth of Us
Authors: Britney Lewis
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

”And that was the thing about love. It wasn’t a printed piece of the same thing. It was crooked and unfocused sometimes. It depleted us, consumed our brains, ripped our hearts from our chests, turned us into the undead.”

This book is the reason for this whole account. Britney gave me the opportunity to read her gorgeous book. Can I say I loved it from the first moment I seen the cover. Getting into this complex story of grief and how it portrayed life around someone dealing with it was everything. Zharie Young’s Character resonated with me so much. I loved how she slowly developed and how the side characters melded into her story. This is a book anyone who has dealt with grief or trauma should read. The way the author depicts not only grief but how to starting healing kept me immersed in the story. I also really enjoyed how the authors melded some of her own life experience into the story. It made the read more authentic and real.

Have you ever felt like you see things in a way others wouldn’t understand? Maybe that’s your overwhelmed with life at the moment but can’t speak about it without possible backlash? Well then, Zharie and her story are what you need.

The Undead truth of us will have you crying, and if your like me seeing yourself in the characters. Each complex emotion was written so well that you felt what the characters felt in the moment. I enjoyed the depiction of real life struggles for the teens as well as the adults of the story. It really made you think of how grief takes you away from the lives around you, and how you may interpret others in the wrong light. The story is about finding yourself after trauma, how grief is different for everyone, and that forgiveness / speaking up for injustice can be a form of healing.

This book will always hold a place in my heart as it spoke on the hard subjects and didn’t hold any punches. I highly recommend everyone read this book!

Thank you to for gifting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review. It was truly a pleasure 📚

I Implore you to Pre-Order The Undead Truth Of Us 🌻

I don't even know where to start when describing this book. The writing is incredible. The way it deals with grief and self-isolation but also the value of healing from both. The value of friends found through the internet. Having a passion for something. The color imagery. The references to van Gogh's life and paintings. The slow burn romance. Everything about this novel was beautiful and tugged at my heart strings. I was crying for the last 20% of the book and sporadically throughout. This is a new favorite, I cannot wait until it comes out and I can have a physical copy in my hands. So so so grateful I was able to receive an ARC for this book.

Britney S. Lewis’s voice and prose in this debut novel are evocative and surreal. The Undead Truth of Us blends healing, self-discovery, and body horror in a way that I will call delightfully disorienting. It coaxed big feelings from me as it explored how even our heroes are only human, and how humanity can be both monstrous and beautiful.

I scare easily, so my threshold for horror is generally pretty low. The Undead Truth of Us promised “zombies… but not what you’re thinking,” and it delivered - more psychological uncertainty than jump scares.

It took several chapters for me to get my bearings in Zharie’s headspace. Her thoughts are phantasmagorical, pseudo-synesthetic, and render her unreliable. The desire to understand how she experiences the world kept me engaged.

I found it difficult at times to read about Zharie’s compounding trauma: a lack of support on top of a devastating loss. She does eventually, precociously, seem to find her own path to healing. It was painful -- especially with a parent’s perspective -- that she had to do it without help. The moments of joy and connection she finds along the way, though, buoyed me through the hardest parts. And despite the grief that surrounds it, Zharie’s relationship with her mother shines.

This is a quick read that I will recommend to those who are in the mood for a little weirdness along with their emotional journey.

I received this through NetGalley as an arc.

This book is definitely a YA Fantasy Thriller. At first you have no clue if the main character, Zharie is suffering for some mental break or is truly seeing zombies and in all honesty by the end you kind of still don’t. I like the realism of the drama of being dumped on a different family member after death of a parent and also the teen drama with relationships. With dealing with a piece of crap of a father and dealing with her mother sudden death you wouldn’t be surprised if Zhaire was going crazy. Overall I really had a fun time reading this book and trying to figure out what was real and what was in her mind definitely recommend I give 4.5 stars

First, I’d like to send a huge THANK YOU to Britney Lewis and NetGalley for the Advanced E-Arc.

I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book; it’s not often you see books for YA with the main characters being BIPOC. I went into this thinking it was a fantasy. It initially had fantasy vibes, but I personally feel it could be classified as a paranormal romance…maybe! It wasn’t the type of fantasy I’m used to, but I did enjoy it.

The message in this book was a great one! The concept of love and forgiveness really hit close. I really enjoyed the Christopher Poindexter quote: “And in the end, we were all just humans…drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokenness.”

What a great way to tie this book together!

I won’t spoil this read for anyone looking forward to it coming out August 9, 2022! I give it a solid 4 stars out of 5. It’s a great debut novel and I would definitely recommend it to others.

Definitely pick this up if you:
•like zombies
•love a good teenage romance
•enjoy self-discovery

Ms. Lewis…do I sense a sequel????

An absolutely incredible book by Lewis here. At first I believed that it was it was going to end up being a horror novel, with all the twists and turns of a YA romance, but really it is a story of grief and overcoming.

With a truly authentic set of characters, we follow Zharie, a girl who just lost her mother, who had become a zombie before her death. While there’s never any answers as to why this is happening (set up for a part 2?) you begin to gather throughout that the zombie virus is really manifestations of grief of a love unfulfilled. There are several nods to the Hanahaki disease, and though the lungs of our MC don’t fill with flowers, she does see flowers. Flowers, paint, swirls of color that Van Gogh would find intriguing. Like the zombies, we never get why these things are appearing to Zharie, and at the end, to her beau Bo. Their romance felt real and cutesy like a high school relationship, which is a nice direction — I feel like a lot of novels would have ended with an “I love you” but this one left the two room to grow. One thing I really loved about the “visions” (I’m almost not sure how else to refer to them!) is that it sets a tone where the reader is almost frightened for Zharie — even though Zharie never really seems frightened of the things she’s seeing herself — and sets us next to the scene, almost out of body.

I was glad for the cathartic ending between Z and her dad as well as for the forgiveness between Z and her aunt. There were times where I felt like Lewis was holding back on the truly effed up parts of disillusionment, but it was always there, almost as a threat of how truly frightening things could get for Z. I love reading about real people and these characters really felt like people I knew, went to school with, grew up with. Zharie’s relationship with her mother was truly the most devastating part of the whole story. How is it that you can have one person who you know will never leave you, and then they are torn away by something as unceremonious and immeasurable as a broken heart? Wonderful detail there.

I am proud of the work Lewis has created here and I will be adding it to my shelf for future reads!

As a teen, and twenty-something year old, there were innumerable instances where answers to questions birthed by the tales of worlds and characters that sprang from the mind of a writer kept me awake into the wee hours of night and granted me the fortune of watching the sun crest over the horizon to signal a new day. As the years went on, I succumbed to waking with my book on my face, or the audio book lightyears ahead of what I last remembered, and I accepted this sign of defeat. I was growing older and could not sustain the lifestyle I once led, but I grew wiser in many other areas, so it seemed a fair trade off. The last time I managed to pull off the beloved feat of an all-night reading session was in 2018.

That is, until I got hold of The Undead Truth of Us, by one Britney S. Lewis.

I began this journey with Zharie around 5:00 pm on a Saturday evening and ended it at 2:37 am on a Sunday morning. Finding but one, slight, fault, with the entire body of work, it was the most delightful and riveting ten hours I’ve spent with another writer’s characters in some time. A heart wrenching, funny — I’m still laughing about this one part weeks later— and inspiring book you don’t want to miss.

TUToU is an easy read, at no point was I rubbing my eyes and wondering “do I even care enough to keep going?”, that had me hooked at every point—even the “lulls” were so engaging I couldn’t find a point to take a real break. Like, I had snacks for dinner instead of actual food because I didn’t want to take the time out to prepare and make a meal. I. Needed. Answers.

TUToU is beautiful. A young-girl-coming-to-grips-with-her-new-reality love story; not only as it applies to her love interest, but— in my opinion— the love she has for herself, also. It’s really poignant.

I appreciate this book for its raw honesty as far as grieving and learning to live with that grief. It’s beautifully done. And I say that as someone who was a young girl and lost her mother. Lewis does a remarkable job of having Zharie explore her feelings and her existence in a world that is missing the one person she has always turned to for everything, of showing Zharie’s attempts to make sense of her life after such a devastating loss and force herself to care about staying present.

Not gonna hold you up, there are moments where I cried. Not just at the palpable grief, but at the palpable kernels of joy that pop and explode in Zharie’s world. There is this particular moment during the road trip— DON’T TRIP, I’m not about to spoil anything. I swear a blood oath to that fact— where I low key WEPT. I was so proud of Zharie for choosing to be present and in the moment. The world is hard enough and she lost her mama and everything is topsy turvy and yet, she keeps trying. She doesn’t forgo hope. It was just a darling moment and I loved everything about it.

It’s really refreshing, also, that TUToU’s assembled band of characters is so relatable. I identify with Zharie, for reasons previously explained, but I also couldn’t stop seeing people I know and love reflected in the solid supporting cast. And that applies to physical attributes, the way the characters speak or dress, their interests, their mannerisms and conflicts. Representation matters in more ways than one and the author really nailed showcasing that fact in a way, I believe, many who try to do so fail at.

I was also super thankful not only for Lewis’ general pacing of the story, but the character development. Everything is allowed time to bloom in ways that are organic and earned, nothing is rushed, and things are genuine to specific aspects of working through grief. There were times where I found myself asking “why don’t one of y’all just TALK to one another!?” and it took me a moment to realize that:

1) I’m reading this from my big age of nearly 35 when this child is in her teens, and
2) the poor communication was super intentional.

That was the point, lol. Poor communication, and at times lack of to no communication, with children— or I guess people of any age, depending— through grief is all too often the rule. Suck it up, don’t feel your feels. Just push through and carry on. Get on with life and never examine what happened and how it affects you, or, if necessary, do so under the cover of darkness with absolute privacy. It’s what’s been ingrained in American society and usually makes for more problems than one has the time and space for. Kudos to Lewis for weaving that into the character’s truth.

Now, for the one thing that sorta bummed me about this book: this book is marketed as horror when it reads more like a thriller with a supernatural bent, TO ME, PERSONALLY.

I felt a little cheated that we weren’t running from zombies à la World War Z. Not gonna lie, it starts off a little grizzly, but it doesn’t stay grizzly. I feel like horror was a somewhat hyberbolic word choice. Don’t get me wrong, the zombies are there, for fucking sure…just not in the ways I expect when something is marketed with tags such as “zombie” and “horror”.

And, please don’t misunderstand me. Lewis will get your heart racing with anticipation! Like, I told myself I’d accepted it was more of a beautiful love story, that it wasn’t gonna go wonky wild like the sci-fi-supernatural horror story I’d worked myself up for, BUT WAS STILL WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP (I’m talking my leg is keeping time with my accelerated heart rate and I’m biting my lip, tapping thumb) because she will take a scene that’s giving one vibe and build it up with the crumbs of tension and suspense until it reaches the point where some dastardly monster OUGHT to be jumping out of the darkness to maul a character’s face. But that never happens. And it’s fine because, as I’ve said, the book is beautiful and engaging and so thoughtfully and sincerely done that even without that viciousness I didn’t feel robbed or like I’d wasted my time or the zombie trope was unnecessary or woefully used. All of this to say, the zombies featured in TUToU are definitely more of a Warm Bodies feel (and even then, Warm Bodies-lite) vs The Walking Dead.

And it completely works. I’ve got the release date marked one my calendar and highly encourage you all to preorder Britney S. Lewis’ debut novel, The Undead Truth of Us, at your preferred retailer.

xoxo— Dia

“It was the part about the labyrinth and it reminded me of how there’s still so much life left to live. But it reminded me of you because I feel like you’re holding back on life. And that you’re stuck. And because you’re stuck, you stop yourself from leaving your bubble of safety. You stop yourself from seeking “the great perhaps.”

I could sit and talk about this book until I am blue in the face and then combust into a million pieces scattered throughout the universe. And that is saying a lot. When you read the synopsis and see that it centers around the main character Zharie seeing zombies, know that it is so much more than that. We follow Zharie a sixteen year old who is navigating life after the death of her mother. The person she loved most in the world and was the closest to. They connected not only for their love of one another but also their love of dance. Some would say that Zharie seeing zombies was a product of her grief, that her imagination was strong to take her mind off of her grief. But to me, her mother’s death opened up Zharie’s ability to see love and the imprint of pain that it sometimes leaves on others.

Zharie meets Bo and I could talk about how mature Bo is for his age. But Bo is something to be experienced and all I will tell you is that he is special. He turns into a zombie right before Zharie’s eyes and this becomes Zharie’s way to try and find out why her mother turned into a zombie (the undead) before her passing. Zharie and Bo’s story unfold so beautifully throughout the story. They both are grieving one for the dead and one for the living. This story shows us how love can be the thing that breaks us, that makes us fragile or how it can transform pieces of ourselves that we’ve hidden. It reminds me of a poem I wrote called Sight and it goes “Even through the eyes of pain, there is still a vision of love.”

We all go through this journey in life of our “great perhaps” and sometimes the journey is to be taken alone, but sometimes its best taken when we have someone to reach out to when we need it the most….

Absolutely brilliant, atmospheric, and original. The themes of grief and grieving, mixed with the speculative zombie world was an interesting mix, beautifully handled by Lewis and lead by a somber but triumphant Zharie as the main character.

I just... don't think this book was for me. I couldn't connect to the main character, or any of the other characters for that matter. I was confused with the plot for the majority of the story, and I didn't particularly like the writing style either. Maybe this book will be perfect for somebody else, someone who has experienced grief and can connect with the main character on that level. I wanted to enjoy this, but it fell flat for me. I probably would not recommend this book.

If you're a fan of warm bodies, I think this is a good book for you! Zombie apocalypse, mc's love = zombie.

This book was a hard read for me because I'm really close to my own mother, and Zharie's emotions hit too close to home. I'd feel the exact same way if my own mother turned into a zombie.

Reading this book made me feel a thrall of emotions: wanted to cry, I grew angry (good kind), and wanted to give Zharie a hug. I love the prose, and would really read another book by Britney. I was absorbed into the atmosphere and drowned in the prose. Love, happiness, fighting to stay true to yourself is the key to my heart.

Overall, I was able to speed through this book easily. Read it all in one sitting. Hope the ending satisfies the next reader as it did for me. It was great learning how people became zombies. I was in for a big surprise!

I requested this arc as I'm a black reader (POC), and representation matters! I plan on purchasing this book when it releases. If you're a fan of warm bodies, I think this is a good book for you! Zombie apocalypse, mc's love = zombie.

This book was a hard read for me because I'm really close to my own mother, and Zharie's emotions hit too close to home. I'd feel the exact same way if my own mother turned into a zombie.

Reading this book made me feel a thrall of emotions: wanted to cry, I grew angry (good kind), and wanted to give Zharie a hug. I was absorbed into the atmosphere and drowned in the prose. Love, happiness, fighting to stay true to yourself is the key to my heart.

Overall, I was able to speed through this book easily. Read it all in one sitting. Hope the ending satisfies the next reader as it did for me. It was great learning how people became zombies. I was in for a big surprise!

I received this arc from net galley, and had initially requested in response to Britney's instagram post seeking black readers. I plan on purchasing this book when it releases if not for the writing, then that beautiful cover.

16-year-old Zharie James watched her mother turn into a zombie right before she died. She now lives with her aunt who doesn’t want her around, and is seeing zombies everywhere she goes. Zharie loves dancing and is ignoring her friends, but the new boy next door worms himself into her life. The only thing is, he’s a zombie too.

The Undead Truth of Us is a beautiful story about a young black teenager as she navigates grief. The writing style flowed well, and it was nice to see Zharie as she explores her own healing process. Unfortunately, as a whole I did not connect with the characters and the zombies aspect didn’t work for me.

Thank you Net Galley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for the ARC!

britney s. lewis has trully outdone herself!! i loved everything about this book so much?? how it dealt with grief, love, and had surrealistic aspects made me really happy. zharie was a great character and i loved reading about her and her life, i also loved bo and his friends— who then became zharie's friends!! the pacing was a bit off sometimes and a few parts left me confused but nevertheless, it is a great debut and i'm sure everyone would love it !!

I really enjoyed this book it give me warm bodies vibes and I was here for it I love the main character I thought she was awesome and how the different take on zombies the world building was also great in that aspect I hope there is more to come

Whew! This book was an emotional rollercoaster full of tears & gut wrenching, heartbreaking moments. My students LOVE books that rip their heart into one million pieces, so I know they will absolutely adore this. Many of my students are struggling with grief, and this book feels like a recommendation that they could both see themselves in and find an escape from reality. The author's writing is stunning and full of depth, and the zombie piece of the novel will hook reluctant readers. I'm looking forward to getting this book into my students' hands!

In this story, the mc Zharie is going through it. Her mom just died, she has to move in with her aunt who doesn't seem to want her around, and she's seeing zombies. Oh and on top of that she goes through the awkward stages of trying to make new friends.

I do like that this isn't your typical haunted by ghosts story. The zombie thing is a nice change of pace. I also like that Zharie's interests include swing dancing, Pokemon go, and Van Gogh while Bo likes to skateboard and also play Pokemon. I always love seeing main characters portrayed with interests that we don't typically see Black people have. Bo is mixed, but that's beside the point.

For me, the zombie plot seemed pushed to the back burner at times. Early on it seemed to be a pressing plot point that didn't always get the page real estate I thought it should. [Minor spoiler...but the most exciting zombie scene ended up being a dream.] I would've preferred more of a zombie presence. In hindsight, I understand why dialing down the zombie factor was probably intentional due to the intended takeaway from the story.

So if you're expecting zombie-ness/horror on 10, that's not what this story is. It does end up being sort of a metaphor about love that's actually pretty clever

Britney Lewis comes in strong with a poignant horror-whimsy take on the heartbreak and healing that comes with grief. With descriptive flow that brings the reader into the story alongside our protagonist, Zharie, she builds the momentum of Zharie’s journey and the mystery of her visions of the undead around her.

This was absolutely breathtaking and has lingered in my mind long after I finished it. It will be kind of hard to do this book justice with just this review or any kind of category or genre and I also don't want to spoiler anyone BUT I would genuinely recommend "The Undead Truth of Us" to everyone.

I didn't know if this book would be for me at first, since it involved zombies, but when the authors described it as "zombies...but not what you're thinking" she was absolutely right! I loved everything about it: I loved the multi-layered characters that were all different yet fit together so well; the way Z, the main character, and all of her so different yet related problems were portrayed. There were just so many aspects that this book covered and I truly enjoyed the writing style- I kept wanting to read on. The ending was absolutely INSANE! I'm still thinking about it; there is just so much room for interpretation. As I said before, the book is its own category and only really fits into this specific one. Is this a book about a girl who is constantly growing as a person and actively trying to better understand her past, heal and forgive? Yes! Is it a love story? Again, yes. Is it a book that, with its magnificent and extraordinary writing style, explores almost philosophical questions? Yes, it is. And then there's the question of whether it is horror: and, well, depending on how you look at it, it could or could not be. That's what makes this book so unbelievably interesting: depending on how you interpret it, the story, the genre, everything changes. There is such a distinct atmosphere created by the author's descriptions: unlike anything I've ever read before. I really recommend reading this book. I thank the author for allowing me to read this book already and NetGalley for making this possible.