Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer

4.0 AVERAGE

residual_sizzle's review

5.0
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. ❤

moriah764's review against another edition

5.0
I wish I could bottle up the warmth this book gave me, truly.

energeticreader's review against another edition

3.5
adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
smutfully_yours's profile picture

smutfully_yours's review against another edition

4.5
💦
allisonbartelt8's profile picture

allisonbartelt8's review against another edition

5.0
I went into this book completely blind and it was AMAZING!
wordscubed's profile picture

wordscubed's review against another edition

3.0
YA sapphic zombie post apocalypse story - super original, I’ll give it that! Was a good, easy read but the YA genre weighed it down a little bit, made certain elements too simplistic when I feel like they could and should have been darker and more detailed out. That being said, was worth the read, and I liked it.

random_book_fan's review

3.0
adventurous dark medium-paced

mak13579's review

3.75
adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

brianamatarrese's review against another edition

3.75
adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
the_fuzzy_bookdragon's profile picture

the_fuzzy_bookdragon's review against another edition

4.0
emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated