Review: Bad Hair Day by Carrie Harris

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Publication Date:  November 13th, 2012

Senior year is positively hair-raising.

Kate Grable is geeked out to shadow the county medical examiner as part of her school’s pre-med program. Except when he’s arrested for murder, she’s left with the bodies. And when Kate’s brother Jonah stumbles upon a dead gamer girl, she realizes that the zombie epidemic she cured last fall was only the beginning of the weirdness taking over her town. Someone’s murdering kids—something really hairy. And strong. Possibly with claws.

Is it werewolf awesomeness like Jonah and his dorktastic friends think? Kate’s supposed to be a butt-kicking zombie killing genius...but if she can’t figure out who’s behind the freakish attacks, the victims—or what’s left of them—are going to keep piling up.

It’s scary. It’s twisted. It’s sick. It’s high school.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

This book is the second in Carrie Harris's Kate Grable series, and since I really loved the first book, Bad Taste In Boys (read my review HERE), it was a no-brainer that I would want to read this one.  I love that Carrie's heroine, Kate, is a total brainiac nerd, and yet still manages to be kind of hot, even if it is in an awkward sort of way.  (SO much hope for the cute nerds of the world!)  Not only is she not afraid to be smart, she is proud of her intelligence, and that is just awesome.  Also, Kate has a sharp, sarcastic wit that reminds me so much of me that I have no choice but to love her!  Anyway, I think ya'll get that I think brains are sexy and that I think the main character in this book series rocks, so...  Moving on.

Bad Hair Day starts off right where Bad Taste In Boys ends.  Kate has discovered a cure for the zombie sickness, now dubbed Grable's Disease, got her hot guy, and is pretty famous.  Now she is getting ready to embark on an exciting adventure as an intern at the hospital as part of a future doctors program at her high school.  She is assigned to work in the morgue with the medical examiner, which is something she is not crazy about until minutes in, he is arrested as the primary suspect in a gruesome murder.  Interest piqued, Kate decides to investigate and finds things do not add up at all.  Add to that the fact that murders and attacks are continuing, and Kate just can't resist.  There might be some genetic modification conspiracies and werewolves involved, and there might be a hysterical little brother showing up once again, but I don't want to spoil...  Of course, that's not all...  There's a love triangle of sorts, and ya'll, it DOESN'T suck!  It's funny, and I found myself laughing out loud more than a few times at Kate's observations of and reactions toward the girl trying to get between Kate and her man.  The story had a few issues, but I can't even bother with them because it just had so much awesomeness.  If you like humor and science and nerds and sarcasm and werewolves and mockery then you should really read this one, just maybe wear Depends when you do it because you might find yourself laughing hard enough to pee.  (Just sayin'!)

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★  

Grade Level Recommendation:  This book is pretty clean.  No sex, just a few make-out scenes.  Bad Hair Day was even more tame than its predecessor as far as content is concerned.  Perfectly fine for ages 10 and up (5th grade+).

Review: Bad Taste In Boys by Carrie Harris

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: July 12th, 2012

Someone's been a very bad zombie.
Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steriods are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate! She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town  . . . and stay hormonally human.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

Okay, so I am firmly Team Zombie (if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read the fantabulous Zombies Vs. Unicorns); they are probably near the top of  my list of favorite paranormal creatures.  When a new YA about zombies comes out, I am always eager to read it.  When I saw this book, I had a double urge to read it because of the cover.  It's awesome.  

Carrie Harris is a 2011 debut author, so I didn't have much by way of expectations, but I decided to give it a go because of the aforementioned reasons, plus the authors that blurbed this book are awesome!  You can't go wrong when the fabulous Andrea Cremer (Nightshade, Wolfsbane), Kiersten White (Paranormalcy, Supernaturally), and Jeri Smith-Ready (Shade, Shift) all give a book positive, gushing reviews like these:

"With this laughing, shrieking riot of a debut, Carrie Harris captured my heart...and my braaaaiins." -Andrea Cremer

"Kate Grable is my new hero. Thanks to Harris's darkly funny, twisted, and sexy tale of high school drama gone un-deadly wrong, I know who I'm calling during the next zombie apocalypse. Science nerds have never been so cool." -Kiersten White

"BAD TASTE IN BOYS is a nonstop romp, with more mayhem than a mall full of mocha-chugging monkeys. I loved watching Kate try to keep her sensible, scientific head amidst rampaging zombies and amorous football players (often the same people). Bring me my next dose of Carrie Harris NOW!" -Jeri Smith-Ready

So, I read it and I really, really liked it.  I liked Kate, the main character A LOT.  She was smart, nerdy, driven, angsty, and best of all, funny!  The supporting characters were great too.  Carrie did a great job with her descriptions, and I could totally picture her lame-ish/awesome brother with his foam sword, her swoon-worthy love interest, her troglodyte-ish football player/zombie ex, the takes-it-a-bit-too-seriously football coach, and her bubbly BFF.  

I laughed many times throughout this book, and am still kind of smirking as I write this review.  The book was an easy read; the plot moved quickly and there was lots of action to go with the laughs.  I loved that Kate is a normal teenage girl with teenagey things on her mind (boys, homework, fitting in), while still managing to be a little different from the norm.  There were a few holes, and a few parts felt a tiny bit rushed, but overall I thought it was really well done.  

Carrie's next book in this series, Bad Hair Day, comes out November 13th, 2012 and I will definitely be reading it for Shanyn over at Chick Loves Lit's Sophomore Reading Challenge.

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Grade Level Recommendation:  Pretty mild.  Standard zombie stuff (killing and eating of humans, appendages falling off, etc.).  A couple of make-outs mentioned.  Teen drinking.  Overall though, I think Kate is a great role-model, so I would say this book is fine for grades 7 and up (ages 12+).