Time of Death Book 1 Induction and Book 2 Asylum by Shana Festa Book Reviews.

Time of Death Book 2 Asylum
By Shana Festa

I just discovered Shana Festa through her amazing site The Bookie Monster and she kindly sent me both her Time of Death books to read.

One of my all time favorite authors Mark Tufo also recommended this book and wrote a great forward to Book 1 Induction; Shana's very first book and of course he was absolutely right.

Blurb
When no one or nowhere is safe, where do you go to escape the monsters?

In a few short days, 37 year old Emma Rossi’s hard work will finally pay off. She will don her cap and gown and graduate with a degree in nursing, but not before she loses her first patient and is confronted with a new reality. In Cape Coral, Florida, a storm approaches. The dead are coming back to life.

And they’re hungry.

Infection ravages the Eastern Seaboard with alarming speed while attempts to contain the spread of infection fail. Within days, a small pocket of panicked survivors are all that remain of civilization. Fighting to survive the zombie apocalypse alongside her husband Jake and their dog Daphne, Emma comes face-to-face with her worst nightmare.
Relying on snarky wit and sheer determination, she is forced to commit atrocious acts to protect her family and avoid joining the ranks of the undead.

The difference with this read is you finally have a female main character that is a kick ass, dog loving student nurse after my own heart with a great sense of humor. Emma Rossi is a brilliant well defined character who is definitely the female version of Mike Talbot from Zombie Fallout (those of you that are zombie-aholics will not need anymore explanation). Like Mike in ZF I found myself laughing out loud with her witty wisecracks and fab sense of humor; but also feeling the fear and sorrow in others, its the sign of a great writer to make you feel so many emotions. You can tell Shana's own medical knowledge as she allows Emma to show her medical expertise throughout. Emma is so realistic and reminds me of me when I was nurse training with their jokes with certain patients.
Daphne the Yorkie is another fab character...yes a dog can have character...before you all yell at me...sheesh! Shana has named the dog after her own pet dog at home; which of course I love but I have been living in fear of her being eaten alive...every time I turn the page... Shana...what you doing to me eeep!
My only niggle was I found Jake to be the weaker, more annoying character so I hope we get to see him step up more in book 2.

So what starts as a familiar day as a student nurse; turns into a apocalyptic chaos with Emma and Jake her husband fighting for their survival. If zombies ar'nt enough they have a hurricane to worry about too.
We get to see them reunite with other members of the Rossi family and also have to act on horrific acts to stay alive which would have been unthinkable the day before. Its a fast paced convincing, realistic gory read you simply cannot put down to the end. They found sanctuary on Sanibel Island where they all finally found safety and could relax without fear; but it only takes 1 person to change everything!
I'm just about to start book 2 as I just cant stop reading, I need to know what happens next...right now!

Time of death Book 2 Asylum

Blurb
Surviving the journey is just the beginning.
The last two months have brought nothing but death and destruction for Emma Rossi. She survived the initial zombie outbreak with her husband, Jake, and their dog, Daphne, but the cost was steep: Sanibel has fallen.

In a world where the only constant is change, the group is pushed to their limits before reaching the gates of Asylum, a coastal stronghold in Sarasota, Florida.
Once again, Emma must navigate an apocalyptic wasteland filled with relentless hordes of the undead and other menacing horrors that threaten her survival.

Only thing is certain. No one is safe from what lurks on either side of Asylum's gates. Asylum may offer more than just safety.
Sanity will be tested; and many won't live to tell the tale.

The Rossi's have only just escaped Sanibel and find themselves back to life on a boat. More deaths more very close shaves as they continue to fight for their lives Daphne included...phewey....thank goodness.

We get to meet some new fab characters. Striker a tough cop who helps them get to safety or is it....? The Asylum is a large group of survivors who are living together, run by creepy Mack the self promoted president of US who Emma discovers has the basement off limits. Yeah it'd drive me nuts too but curiosity killed the cat an all...it maybe the best idea to leave it alone but....hey it wouldn't be an exciting, scary e-read if you weren't yelling at the screen....don't do it.
I love this book as Shana isn't scared to kill off popular characters...loving the shock value; she has alot of new characters that stand well by themselves making it so realistic as we are swept along on a compelling and intriguing read too. Why do only some parts of the Asylum have electric, why are the men separated to work during the day.
Those of you that love Walking dead will find this on a similar line to Woodbury or The terminus you know something is wrong but don't know what...yet...!
I'm also gutted Em and Jake are at loggerheads as he is working with the other guys; so hopefully book three brings them back together...I'm gagging for book 3 now with a brilliant cliffhanger; what have Em and Meg have stumbled across and have they been rumbled too; is Jasper friend or foe....so many questions...I cant wait!

I would highly recommend reading book 1 Induction first so you can appreciate Asylum so much better and you would get to know the characters more deeply too. Its so refreshing to have a female main character as most authors seems scared to go to there with horror and you've made it work beautifully with a great balance of toughness and femininity.

Keep up the fab writing Shana..Im hooked!

Author Bio

Shana Festa was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on October 17, 1976 and grew up in Northboro, Massachusetts. She currently lives in Cape Coral, Florida with her husband and two dogs, Daphne & Casey.
Shana is a registered nurse with clinical experience in mental health, geriatrics, HIV and substance abuse. In addition to her clinical background, Shana possesses over 15 years of experience with project management and data analytics.
She has been heavily involved in the collection and dissemination of the ICD-10 clinical and coding analytics across multiple projects including the NCHICA ICD-10 Pilot, the HIMSS WEDI ICD-10 Pilot and commercial testing programs.
Under her alter ego, The Bookie Monster, Shana reviews horror and paranormal books, with an emphasis on (but not limited to) zombie fiction. With a background in Psych Nursing, Shay brings her unique perspective to the online reading community.

All my thanks goes to the lovely Shana for sending these books for this review.

My views and opinions are my own.

Review coming soon.