Since I’m going to move eventually (yes!!), I’m going to go through some of my shelves and find my books new homes, and hopefully review a few.   Up first, Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris.

Kate Grable dreams of becoming a doctor and practices her med skills football players as the trainer for her high school. But bandaging sprained ankles and reading medical texts never prepared her for the illness that strikes the students of Bayview High.  This isn’t no ordinary cold… the players are becoming zombies thanks to some steroids the coach has been administering and it’s up to Kate to find a cure before the virus spreads.

Anybody remember the Buffy episode “Go Fish?” where Xander must go undercover as a swimmer because the swim team is turning into monsters?  (and bad season two hair..that’s a whole post itself).  If you liked that episode, you’ll like Bad Taste in Boys.  This was my first zombie read  and it’s one of those books you’ll finish in a day, the literary equivalent of schlock horror films like Return of the Living Dead.   Bodies pile up and the gore increases, even as the romance intensifies!

As for characters, I liked Kate and her brother, Jonah best.  I didn’t really get in the Aaron character.  Kate wants to be a doctor. I’m always behind a female character with a dream, and she didn’t let her crush stand in the way of that.  She’s all about science and medicine and she’s not going to give up that, even taking the job as trainer to stand out on her college apps. How can you not love intelligent and geeky Kate?  Truly a dash of Willow and Buffy.  Author Carrie Harris has a scientific background and I loved the geeky references I caught with two of the characters’ names: Katherine Curie (Madame Curie) and Jonah Salk (Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine).  I always like when there’s some geeky reference or homage in a book and will point it out without fail!

Now for the little bit of negative:  There were some points I couldn’t tell if the book was playing with cliche or just using another trope in YA, such as when Kate observes she used to be “100% geeky” until the help of an anti-frizz conditioner.  Judging by the fact this was a comedy and the next book is all about “hairy business,” I’m guessing it was playing with cliche.  Last, this is admittedly ALL ME, there were parts of the novel that made me squeamish, namely those with vomit and bugs.  What fun is a book though, if it can’t  stir some feelings?  Bad Taste in Boys is fun, fast, and freaky; perfect for the zombie lovers.

Bad Taste in Boys is the first book in the Kate Grable series, the second is entitled Bad Hair Day.

Copy for review: bought

Title:  Bad Taste in Boys
Author: Carrie Harris
Level:  YA
Date:  July 2011
Pages:  259
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format:  Paperback

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