Love and Decay Volume 3 (Episodes 1-4, Season 2) by Rachel Higginson

Finally onto season 2, and new stuff for me!  Obviously there may be minor spoilers if you haven’t read any of L&D, so please be warned.  As with the previous volumes, this post will include the volume review as well as each episode’s review.

Synopsis:
Zombies- as if that wasn’t enough to ruin any girl’s dream of a happily ever after.

After a cataclysmic battle with Kane several months ago, Reagan is trying to move on. She might wake up screaming in terror from his starring role in her ever present nightmares and Miller is definitely still trapped at the Colony, but Reagan’s life is free of Kane Allen.

Or so she thought.

A mysterious gift shows up on her bed one day and the anonymous sender is easy to figure out. She has a stalker, and this time he refuses to give up until one of them is dead.

Add that to the growing list of other problems- accidental injuries, the Colony’s continued attacks on the compound, intelligent Zombies that seem to get smarter every day and failed attempts to rescue Miller- and the Zombie Apocalypse has never been more frightening.

Can all of Reagan’s loved ones survive the end of the world? How about those she doesn’t love. Will she ever see the end of the evil side of the Allen family?

Love and Decay, Volume Three, is a compilation of the first four episodes in Season Two of Love and Decay. It is a Dystopian Romance Novella Series about Zombies, the end of the world and finding someone to share it with.

Find it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21531417-love-and-decay-vol-three
Order it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1MiTZHR

My Review:
4 stars — Season 2 definitely starts off with a bang. Lots of great twists and turns added in here and there to keep things fresh, and still such a great mix of humour and heart in each episode. Overall it falls off the 5 star mark b/c I had a few moments where I couldn’t suspend my disbelief….and I may have also wanted to slap the main character a time or two. But despite that, I’m still totally sucked into the storyline and the world and anxious to find out what’s going to happen next.

Episode 1:
4 stars — What just happened?? Seriously, sometimes I just want to slap Reagan so hard.

OK, this episode started off a little slower since it contained a bit of a recap — which is totally necessary if you hadn’t just finished reading the first season, but made me want to hurry it up a bit. But it really doesn’t last long at all and we’re right back into the thick of things. And it gave us a chance to see how things had been progressing since we last saw our pack of heros.

I can honestly say I didn’t see the developments of their raid coming. I mean, I should have. But wow. Just when you think that things can’t get much worse than the usual feeder attacks, Ms. Higginson throws in a wrench. Definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

But then we got to the end. And perhaps Lenore is going to reserve judgement until she reads the next episode, but she was not pleased with the way Reagan handled a certain something. Grrr…. (and yes, I did just refer to myself in the 3rd person).

Episode 2:
4 stars — I’m still having issues with Reagan….I’m not entirely convinced that she understood why keeping the secret was so wrong…or maybe it’s more that I don’t get her reasons for keeping the secret. At least she was appropriately chastised by the family, and Hendrix in particular. It was just so dangerous — and you would think she would have better street smarts than that. So maybe I’m just a really unsympathetic reader, but I just don’t get it.

And frankly, taking such a large group, and an injured Reagan on a scouting mission was kind of unbelievable too. I feel so cynical! I mean, it wouldn’t have been a very exciting episode if all she did was hang out at the compound while others went scouting, but I just… Suspension of disbelief Lenore, suspension of disbelief.

Regardless of all my bitching and moaning, it was still a solid episode. I absolutely ADORED the beginning between Reagan and Harrison, and Harrison’s fear of Hendrix’s wrath. I miss those young kids, they seriously crack me up. And I enjoyed learning a bit more about the school they were trying to set up, and the training that the boys are up to. I was even intrigued with Reagan’s encounter with Kane, though I don’t think I’ll ever be team Kane in any way…. So one part of me was solidly enthralled with this episode, while another part of me was internally raging through half of it. I don’t know if I’m going to survive this season.

Episode 3:
5 stars — Now that’s what I’m talking about!! I think I just personally needed this episode to not be mad and conflicted with the characters. There was so much heart in this episode — from Reagan’s talk with Vaughan, to Tyler’s plea for Miller. And oh dear lord the action…. Totally edge of your seat stuff, and creepy to see what the feeder’s are up to now. It definitely shook up the action scenes and brought some new life to them. I’m nervous for what’s to come, but at the same time excited to be back in Haley’s mind for the next episode…. Good stuff people, good stuff.

Episode 4:
4.5 stars — I just had to start reading it before bed….I couldn’t just hold my horses and wait until morning, nooooo…. So now it’s 1 am and I’m trying to recover and avoid starting the next episode.

HOLY CRAPBALLS!!! Loved being back in Haley’s head, she’s such a sarcastic and sassy character. The only thing that sucked was that there was so much going on, that I didn’t really get a chance to settle into her character as much as I wanted to. But I did love the moments that we did get, and some of the adorable loving between her and Nelson.

This was a crazy episode. Honestly, I was a little skeptical about how it was going to work out in their favour, since the odds were horrifically stacked against them. And in the end it loses half a star b/c we don’t really get an explanation of how Gage and Tyler get away, it’s just kind of miraculously done. Again with my suspension of disbelief problems. I’m a tough cookie to crack.

But despite that, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself and the momentum just has me clamouring for more…. So I call that success in my book.