Summary: This is book 6 in the Dead is series. I have not read any of the previous books, but it was not necessary. Jessica Walsh is the newest heroine in this series. She is starting her freshman year at Nightshade high. If you don't know much about Nightshade, it is a town that seems to be filled with paranormals. I understood that a lot of the people and town history were explained in previous books, but there is enough description throughout the book to never make me feel lost. Regardless, Jessica wants to have a normal high school experience. She was miss popular while she was younger, and she is hoping to continue life as normal with her best friend in high school. A new boy has become the singer of a local band that happens to be one of her favorites. Jessica hears how hot he is, and her best friend and her bum a ride from her best friend's sister to see the bands first concert. Everyone is right, the new singer is HOT!!! However, Jessica is stubborn enough to not be one of the lovesick girls that throw themselves at him. This helps because she also meets and becomes friends with his sister. At the same time, a new store is coming to town. A creepy boy hands Jessica and her friends a flyer introducing it, then hands out a few samples of free perfume to some of the girls at school, including Jessica's best friend. Jessica doesn't get all the fuss, but everyone else is dying to get their hands on a special bottle of perfume from the new stores. Tingling sensations on Jessica's arm demand attention, and through an unlikely twist, Jessica finds out that she is a virago, woman warrior. From there, new training begins, zombies run a muck, and love is in the air. How does Jessica become the new hero in Nightshade? What will all of the girls do about the new singer and Edgar? It's time to find out by reading through this quick book. Hurry up before book 7 pops up.
My thoughts: This is a fun beach/pool read. The 7th book is expected to come out in September, so laying out by the pool and reading through this is a pretty good idea. If you are like me, you will read it in a day and be satisfied with reading it. It's nothing to be jump up and down excited about, but it's fun and keeps you moving. My high school teenagers (juniors and seniors) weren't rushing me at the door to be the next to read this, but I handed it off to our librarian and she had several freshman that were "dying" to read it. Yes, that was a silly pun. I would say that younger teens and adolescents will be even more excited with the series because of how quickly the stories move. They are interesting, just not very deep. This is not a book that you are going to have to think about, it tells you exactly what is going on without a lot of hidden aspects. Even the overall zombie plot is out in the open. I was a little frustrated that Jessica took so long to figure it out. I'd hope that a younger reader would enjoy the mystery a little longer than I did.

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