REVIEW & GIVEAWAY CONTAGIOUS (BK#1 THE CONTAGIUM TRILOGY) BY EMILY GOODWIN

ASIN: B006Z0LP8A
Publisher: Self/Indie
Pages: 339
Formats Available: E-Book

BLURB from Goodreads
"I wasn’t afraid of death. If I died, it would be over. My worst fear wasn’t of dying, it was of living. Living, while everyone around me had their flesh savagely torn from their bodies to be shoved into the festering and ever-hungry mouths of zombies. It terrified me, right down to my very core, to be alive while the rest of the world was dead."

In the midst of the Second Great Depression, twenty-five year old Orissa Penwell doesn't think things can get any worse. She couldn't be more wrong. A virus breaks out across the country, leaving the infected crazed, aggressive and very hungry.

Orissa will do anything-no matter if it's right or wrong- to save the ones she loves. But when she discovers that most of the world is infected or dead, she must decided if those lives are worth saving at all.

MY REVIEW
I was given an e-copy of this book via Roxanne at Bewitching Blog Tours as this post is part of a Blog Tour.
I think the cover represents the book and it's plot quite well. Presumably the female on the front cover with the gun is representing Orissa, and she is surrounded by zombies. The cover is in dark subdued colours as the "reality" in the book is fairly dark and dismal too. 
The country has been in a depression, no one has money to spare. Orissa has given up on her education as she says whats the point when there are no jobs anyway. Orissa lives with her Aunt in a small flat.
A virus has taken many lives and turned them into "zombies" There are 3 stages of being a zombie S1 is the Crazy Person Stage, where you still look alive and human. S2 is next and in this stage you are a zombie and so dead. S3 is the "gummy" phase as Orissa calls it in the book where you are a zombie nearing falling apart, so obviously S3's are easier to kill.
Orissa is a brave young woman who recently had her appendix out at the hospital. Orissa is at the hospital for a check up, when the virus chaos hits. She ends up in a basement where there are the sick and dying who couldn't escape from the hospital. When food supplies are dwindling she and a group of others have to venture out to try and find more.......
I will not say a great deal as I don't wish to spoil the book for others.
Orissa and her group end up travelling round the country looking for a safe place, a quarantined place to live. They do find other survivors and have many near misses with the zombies of all stages of decay.
Most people have lost someone or have someone missing. They all kind of hope and pray that their loved ones some how made it to a quarantine.
So does Orissa's group find a "safe" place? Do they rescue others? You will have to read the book to find out!
I admit I didn't used to like Zombie themed books but this genre is seriously growing on me when it is mixed with a dystopian plot as this book is. Contagious is Bk #1 in a trilogy by Emily Goodwin. I enjoyed her descriptions, even when on occasion when describing the zombies it was a little too much information for me lol. I got attached to the characters easily and was really rooting for Orissa to get to a place of safety with her band of friends. At times in the book with some of the escapades Orissa gets up to you wonder is she brave or just crazy? The book has plenty of danger, and is really action packed too. There is always something happening, like there's the larger aim of getting to a place of safety, but there are also the smaller aims like new clothes to keep warm and food to eat etc.
I don't know if it was just me, but all through the book there seemed to be an air of mystery and perhaps conspiracy, could the government somehow be involved or some sort of military attack. Exactly what started this virus?Maybe it's just my imagination but I really don't trust the character called Fuller, I can't totally explain why, just a hunch. I suppose I will find out more in the next book, which I would like to read.
The only thing that really disappointed me was the ending. Yes it ended on a cliffhanger to keep you wondering until you can get your hands on Bk#2 but....I just didn't want that to have happened ...anyway..see what you think when you read it.
So did I enjoy the book? Yes, Do I want to read the next books in the series? Yes, please!
Would I recommend? Yes, just with a gore warning for those with sensitive stomachs.

Available from Amazon.co.uk 

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