Flashback Friday: Donners of the Dead by Karina Halle




Title: Donners of the Dead
Author: Karina Halle

Genre: Historical Suspense Romance
Publisher: Metal Blonde Books

Pub Date: February 2014
Rating: 4.5 Stars

Our thoughts...

This will make the perfect book to read when I have a book hangover. It will cleanse my bookworm palate and leave me satisfied all at the same time. I also do not foresee it getting old for me any time soon.

Donners of the Dead is thrilling, well-written, and riveting. 


The romance in this story is well-played out. It doesn't take precedence but still holds importance. There is a difference, to me, between a horror story with romance and a romance story with horror. It's like comparing and yellow-green Crayola crayon to a green-yellow. Similar yet different. Donners is a horror story with romance and I really enjoyed that balance. The relationship between Jake and Eve progresses at a comfortable pace all while refusing to take away from the dominate issue at hand: ZOMBIES! Because, let's face it, a strong evil zombie presence in the woods is a pretty big priority. 

I love how Karina Halle portrays her characters and the relationships between them. The characters are real, flawed, and emotional to a reasonable (and tolerable) extent. The banter is engaging and endearing which really causes me to fall for the characters even more. I like being able to read historical fiction and feeling like I can relate to the people I'm reading about in a realistic way. 


The zombies. Oh, the zombies. I was in high-anxiety mode while reading this at a Starbucks while the sun was shining. Once again, the horror and suspense was all about balance, which is part of why it got to me so much (as with Halle's EIT series). I would find myself distracted momentarily with the non-zombie parts and then end up blind-sided by the zombie parts. I'd be wrapped up in Jake and Eve one minute and then BOOM! zombie freak-out! It was great. I also really enjoyed the historical aspects incorporated into the story. Scary stories always feel more real when they are rooted in truth or things that could happen or have happened (to one extent or another). Donners of the Dead settled a little deeper into my bones and resonated a little louder than some other horror stories because I knew about the Donner party, knew that cannibalism has happened in this place around this time and made people crazy (just not zombies, thankfully!).


This was another great creation and read by a great author. Karina Halle continues to meet my exceedingly high expectations and leave me wanting more. 



Donners of the Dead on Goodreads
Donners of the Dead on Amazon




3 comments:

  1. I have to admit I have not read too many books on zombies exept for som Laurell K Hamilton books, but this one sounds really good so I just may have to break out of my comfort zone! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I have to admit I have not read too many books on zombies exept for som Laurell K Hamilton books, but this one sounds really good so I just may have to break out of my comfort zone! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't read zombie novels, either but this had me hooked! ~Jenny

    ReplyDelete