The premise of this was interesting and I think it's great that was also an LGBTQ+ book. I feel like I haven't read a story with a similar premise from this stance before and it was refreshing

Hearts Still Beating is a gripping tale of love lost and found again, but with zombies. Mara and Rory experience their first kiss the night before the zombie apocalypse begins. They’re separated and eventually find each other again only one of them no longer has a beating heart. I thoroughly enjoyed this gripping love story with a splash of gore.

Thank you @prhaudio for early access to the audiobook, I love a good dual narration! And @penguinteen for an Advanced Reader Copy!

Post-Apocalyptic story where two teenage girls who loved each others but life has other plans.

Mara is half dead. She’s infected by a zombie like disease which brings the dead back to life. She becomes a subject of the cure and is sent to live her former best friend and first kiss/love. Rory lived in constant nightmares of the world that tore apart around her. She is shocked by Mara coming to stay with her and struggles with connecting her with her past self. They’re both struggling in their own ways.

This story isn’t really as romantic as one would think. Sure there’s that presence of a love they have but really it’s in the category of young horror gore. Humanity and corruption at its core, this story weaves a tale of what it takes to find yourself when all is lost.

All in all, I enjoyed the plot.. and of course zombies. Can’t go wrong with zombie stories.

Brooke Archer's debut was the post-apocalyptic sapphic opus I never knew I was missing. I've read this marvelous slice of horror and romance twice now. I'm on pace to read it three times before its even released. Mara and Rory's journey was everything I've ever wanted to see in a zombie wasteland full of haunting regrets and slivers of hope. I foresee purchasing multiple copies of this fantastic work of art. It'll become a genre classic for me and everyone who reads it.

Rating: Five of the biggest and brightest stars you've ever seen!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This is your next 5 ⭐ read!!

Thank you @penguinteen and @netgalley for this arc of @broookearcher debut book! (Quote posted is not of final copy and may change.)

I'm OBSESSED with this YA post apocalyptic book. If you loved the movie Warm Bodies, you'll devour this! (See what I did there 🤭) I loved how it doesn't just focus on the romance aspect but actually gives us the storyline with the 'altered' and those little flashbacks of how it came to be. I would've loved more of the development story of the altered and the family of one of the main characters but overall this was amazing!

I can't wait to see more from this author 🫶🏼

This was a great dystopian story about two girls in love, despite the end of the world. Alive but not, mostly still here yet gone, they risk it all for each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed this take on a "zombie" apocalypse. I really liked that out of the two main characters only one is a Tick. This was definitely a more unique approach to zombie apocalypses and I thought it was interesting how they were trying to re civilize those that have become affected. I could not stop turning the pages on this one to see what was going to happen next. If you need a sapphic zombie apocalypse book this is the one to get!!

Do you remember 5-10 years ago when books about zombie apocalypses were huge? I read any book about that I could get my hands on. So I thought I had exhausted all the unique zombie ideas a book could have. But then I picked up Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer and was blown away. The premise was completely original and something I’ve never read- half of the dual POV was from the (former) undead’s perspective.
First, the book is already slightly different because it starts towards the end of the apocalypse- a treatment to bring the undead back has been found. I wouldn’t go as far to say as bringing them back to life- because it’s debatable if they’re actually alive after, but at least they aren’t trying to eat people’s brains (or other organs) any longer. Mara Knight is one of the zombies (or “Ticks” as they’re referred to here) that is saved by a daily injection of a new drug, Dyebucetin, which quells their urges to kill but isn’t necessarily bringing them back to life. She ends up getting sent back to the closest thing she has to family, her godparents the Blakes, and their daughter Aurora “Rory” with whom she has a complicated history. But the island community in which they live doesn’t exactly welcome Mara with open arms. In fact they’re downright hostile, with Aurora and Mara’s sister Carter leading the charge.
I was outraged at the treatment of Mara by the island residents. I mean, how can you blame the victim here? Mara blames herself enough as it is. By the way, I pictured Selena Gomez’s character Mabel in Only Murders in the Building as Mara; she has the same dry humor as her. Anyway, I absolutely loved this book. The love story between Mara and Aurora/ “Rory” was so sweet, it had some fun thrills, was written so well, and had a fresh, new concept. If you love YA, dystopian / zombie apocalypse novels, and LGBTQ+ representation, you’ll love this book!

Thanks Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

I love apocalyptic stories in almost any capacity. The thing I liked so much about this story was it still felt fresh, despite the large media pool of Zombie stories. It was action packed and gory. Strong female main characters, Sapphic romance, a resonating "life after" story, make for a perfect fit, if like me, you have a post Last of Us sized hole.

I thought the treatment and reintegration of once zombies into society was an amazing and unique take on a saturated genre. It's like if you took the comedy out of Warm Bodies, and switched traditional zombies with the Cordyceps zombies from Last of us, and blended it together seamlessly, while still adding something new.

I devoured this book and couldn't wait to continue reading when I had to stop. I loved both Rory and Mara's characters and understood both of them. I am a sucker for a found family, and I loved that not only did Rory's family take in Mara, but they took in other adopted siblings as well in the aftermath.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and will be watching for more from Brooke Archer in the future!

Thank you endlessly to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the gifted copy of this book, and the opportunity to read it! All of my opinions are my own. ❤

Thanks to Netgalley for a complimentary ebook in exchange for my honest opinion,

Heart Still Beating takes on a classic zombie apocalypse scenario but adds dimension to the topic by giving the perspective of a (now-former) zombie. It’s a fast paced, high stakes adventure, with a good dose of romance. There’s no shortage of peril or violence, which is to be expected given that it’s a kill or be killed post apocalyptic landscape.

Society has crumbled after a virus swept across the planet, turning humans into carnivorous zombies. Small enclaves of survivors have formed an alliance to help one another and pursue a cure for the virus. Rory Tate is living with her remaining family in one such enclave when she learns that 15 “altered” zombies will be resettled there, including Mara Knight the girl she loved before the fall.

Told from the perspectives of both young women, this story explores the enormity of loss and survivorship, the limits of love, and what it means to be a family.

Wow! I wasn't expecting my rating for this book to be as low as it is.

Hearts Still Beating just dragged on and on for me, it was putting me in a reading slump. I found it hard to connect with the characters and I found myself starting to skim towards the end.

I love the premise and the sapphic representation, though the execution was not my favorite.

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for providing this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Perfect for fans of THE LAST OF US, Archer weaves a beautiful story of survival, love, grief, and humanity told from the POVs of a girl undead and a girl in mourning

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read Hearts Still Beating! Post apocalyptic romances aren't really within my wheelhouse, but I surprisingly really loved this!

The Last of Us meets a love story about two girls dealing with the aftermath of of a virus taking over the world and what happens when one of them is infected... and now is being let back out into the world. Mara and Rory were best friends, they've even thought about being more... until a virus known as "the Tick" happened turning people into flesh hungry zombies essentially and Mara gets infected... and that was two years ago... and now she has been rehabilitated and been put on a treatment program to treat her disease. Mara is put into an experimental resettlement program... and who better than to be her host family than her godparents... aka the same family with her old best friend and the girl she loved who she knows now hates her lives. Mara is still traumatized from what happened to her, she remembers everything she did as a Tick... everyone's she's killed including her parents. Rory is reeling from losing her younger sister, having sene her been killed, and she has impaired mobility from an injury. She is still plagued by nightmares and she's dreading facing Mara again. Rory has spent her time preparing to face off against Ticks, what she didn't expect was facing it in the form of the only girl she's ever loved. Both girls struggle with dealing with their pasts and the girls they have become since then, all the while the island's soldiers have gone wrong and are coming after the rehabilitated ticks and anyone who is harboring them... with the leader of the island's soldier particularly going after Rory and Mara, the girls will have to learn to lean on each other and grow past their differences in order to survive this new horror... and maybe fall for the new girls they are now. This was the perfect read for anyone who loved The Last of Us or loves a post-apocalyptic Romance!! The angst was real and the tension was so good. The world building in this one was fantastic and I loved how the book has you so interested in what was happening all the way to the end of the book. The romance was so well done and I loved that the girls were both healing and trying to get to know the new version of the person they loved. This is a fun read and I would absolutely recommend it!

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Thank you to netgalley and @penguinteen for the Arc. This is a debut book for author Brooke Archer. This book really surprised me. Post apocalyptic world, zombies (aka ticks), brutal battles with humanity, and a beautiful love story to go with it. There were a few confusing flashbacks that I had to reread, but once I reread it, I understood what was going on. Epic love story with action and suspense. I'd definitely recommend reading this when it comes out in April!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

4,5 stars, rounded up.

I freaking loved this book and my high school students are going to eat it up! It's a very strong debut, in my opinion.

This is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed, sort of zombie sapphic horror/romance. There is a lot going on, but all the elements really worked together. The dystopian elements are the central element of the story--can the world carry on with humans and the Altered coexisting? How will people deal with all the loss, grief, and horror they've experienced at the hands of people ravaged by a virus that turns people into zombies, kind of? I loved the dystopian elements and think this book will appeal to fans of The Last of Us. There are also interesting and heartwarming family-centric parts of the story, and a nice sprinkling of gore/horror for readers who enjoy that, but it's not too much. And of course, there are two girls madly in love just trying to figure out to explore that when one is not quite dead, but not quite alive.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

4.5 stars. I saw another review point out how cartoonish the villains were and I couldn’t help thinking about it the whole book. This was also another book where the antagonist is followed by people and I have no idea why. Why did they go along with his schemes when they knew he was covering something up? Who knows. Love it though.


This was such a sweet read. I haven’t read too many zombie romances but this was weirdly really cute. The idea of this world was terrifying and I would have gotten bitten first I’m sure. But the love between Mara and Rory was so adorable. I said awww probably 3 or 4 times. I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of blood and gore in this one. When Rory ripped that girls ear off I gasped. She was feral in the best way and Mara was feral in the worst way.

This was a solid debut and exactly what I want in an undead gay zombie romance.

An incredibly emotional, pulse pounding read that I just freaking ATE UP!

I read maybe an handful of dystopian a year, and I am so happy this one made it to me because not a single moment of this book was wasted! Not one second. From beginning to end, this one had me. I was gasping. I was crying. I was pacing, then stopping in my tracks…

This was such a fun twist on the zombie apocalypse theme. After the world turned into hoards of “Ticks” and some groups of people managed to make it out alive, the science was finally available to take some of the recently infected Ticks and stop the progression, turning them into the “Altered.” Mara is one of these Altered. She is forever changed due to being turned, but with this new medicine, she and a group of other “Altered” can finally be integrated back into society.

While Mara is a very different person, with obvious scars and wounds that will never heal due to her current stasis, one thing she has held onto was the thought of Aurora, her best friend, the girl she never told she lived before the world went crazy. Reuniting on the island the Altered were sent to, Rory’s welcome is anything but warm.

The dynamics in this book, both with the characters and the cause and effect of actions taken, were so off the charts. There is a redemption story in here, for multiple characters. There is an oppressive force that attempts to hold people under their thumb, creating danger and chaos. And at the heart, there is this really beautiful love story that had me sobbing a few times through the story.

I could not recommend this book more!

Mara has been bitten by someone infected by the virus. In an effort to find a vaccine for the virus, the world found a way instead to help bring back some semblance of humanity in these “zombies”. Mara is one of them who has now been released to the care of her godparents, who are also the parents of the girl she loved before she was bitten. Rory has aged three years since then, while Mara has not. Can these two find love again? Fascinating concept and a fairly quick read.

THOUGHTS

Whoever wrote the tagline on this cover should be fired. Because "The world ended. Love did not." doesn't in any way encapsulate this book. I loved this book. It's dark. It's complex. And it's not at all schmaltzy. This is a book about hard characters learning to be human again in a world of impossible choices, and I love that.


PROS
Disability: Nobody's getting out of the zombie apocalypse unscathed, and Brooke Archer isn't afraid of that. These characters bear the scars of their survival. Rory's leg was badly injured long ago, and she didn't just heal from that. She doesn't walk well. And Mara, our cured zombie, hasn't healed back up. She's missing pieces of herself--including several fingers--and the others like her aren't anymore "whole" than she is. This apocalypse has left scars, and people are still healing. And people are learning to live with their new reality, missing limbs and broken body parts included. It isn't an airbrushed apocalypse, and I appreciate that Brooke Archer isn't afraid to represent physical disability like so many YA authors are.

Splashes of Gore: It can be so hard to find a YA book that balances gore, but Archer has managed it here. A zombie apocalypse can't come without gore, and so blood splashes these pages... but in a way that isn't too much. Most readers will be able to handle this gore level, and I appreciate that. This book doesn't hold back, but it toes just the right line to be open to a lot of YA readers, even those on the younger end of the scale.

Slow Softening: These characters are all very hard. They've had to be, to survive this long into the apocalypse. So this isn't a book about soft characters becoming harder as they make hard decisions. It's a book about characters who have already made those hard decisions learning, slowly, to be human again--to let themselves feel things, to get invested, and to want more from life.


CONS
Underutilized: The one major disappointment for me was Carter, Mara's sister. Carter had so much potential to be an interesting, complex character, and that potential doesn't really materialize. Obviously, Brooke Archer had other priorities, and I don't think it is ultimately to the detriment of this book that Carter is an underutilized character. But I do think the book could have been much, much better if Carter had been utilized more.

Too Personal: I can get why it would be hard, hard, hard to forgive a "cured" zombie. It would be hard to trust anyone with a deadly (to you, personally) virus lurking inside them, after all. But the anger these populations harbor toward the zombies in general doesn't make sense, because that anger feels so, so personal. This felt like a personal vendetta instead of, you know, anger at the fact that people you know became zombies and tried to eat you. It's not like anyone in this world chose to become a zombie, so why did it all feel so vehement, so motivated, so personal?

Hello? Contagion?: I get keeping your distance from former zombies. This "cure" still feels very new and very experimental. How does contagion work, exactly? Well, people know... and they don't quite know. And I appreciate that. So the thing that gets me, then, is that some of these characters, once they get over their initial aversion to being in the same room as former zombies, aren't afraid to interact with zombies on a close, personal level. There's a whole large gap between "can't be in the same room with" and "willing to touch," and that gap isn't really addressed. In a world where I don't really know how contagious somebody might be, I feel like I'd be wary of holding hands (and doing more than holding hands), even if I'm not afraid of being in the same room as them. Some pretty smart characters were really out here throwing caution to the wind, and that doesn't feel quite right to me--at least not without weighing the risks first, right?


Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10
Fans of Kellie Sheridan's Mortality will appreciate this insider look at the zombie apocalypse. Those who loved Em Garner's Contaminated will like this new messy resettlement scheme.