This. book. Is. Everything.
This is a book that cannot be on surfaces level. Dig deeper within the text.

Obsessed.

Britney Lewis's debut THE UNDEAD TRUTH OF US follows a teenage dancer named Zharie, who after her mother's sudden death, has been seeing zombies, but when she meets an undead boy, he helps her unravel the truth about how love can change someone—for good or for dead.

By far, this was one of my favorite books of 2022. Lewis's ability to write such engaging, real-life, entertaining, phenomenal scenes is astonishing to me. I was totally swept up in Zharie's story throughout the entire book. The Undead Truth of Us was fast-paced, heartbreaking, and suspenseful.

I would recommend this to Black teens everywhere!

Unfortunately, this read just wasn’t for me. The pacing felt quite slow and relative for my tastes. While this book is about the life of a girl who can see the undead, the story is more of a romance/contemporary YA. I recognize I am not the target audience, so I do this this could work for fans of Tiffany D Jackson or Echo Brown.

Lewis's storytelling is descriptive and imaginative. I love her writing style, it's so unique. The intrigue kept amping up throughout the novel, and had me changing my mind about what I thought was happening a dozen times. I can't wait for her sophomore novel. I ended up reading this, but I listened to a snippet of the audiobook and liked the narrator's voice, just had to speed up the playback a bit.

I don't like zombie books but I wanted to give this a try because it seems like it was more than that. While,m I did enjoy the story for the most part it just felt like something was missing. Still a really enjoyable book with lots of emotions.

Thank you so much to net galley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this audiobook. I really appreciated this story and the authors writing. It was extremely atmospheric!

I was not sure what to expect when I started this book. The narrator was good, but I just could not get into the story. I wanted it be a horror story, but it did not have any horror overtones. I would not recommend this to horror fans, but maybe to those who like magical realism. I got about a third of the way through before moving on to another book. The Undead Truth of Us deals with some heavy trauma, and readers/listeners need to be aware before starting. Although this book was not for me, I think it was well written and can think of a couple of patrons off the top of my that that would love this.

I enjoyed the narrator and wanted so much to get into this book but it was a wild trip that I never could quite grasp ahold of. A great premise, just not for me.

Gorgeously written and thoroughly engaging. A recommended purchase in all formats for YA and HS collections.

This took me a while to listen i didnt get into it. I kept getting distracted.it never held my interest

Loved the surrealist writing. It was artistic, yet approachable. So much of this story is about healing, and I love that Lewis trusted a younger audience to understand and engage in the nuance of learning from last trauma. Beautifully done.

This book gave me all the feels. It is probably the most descriptive book I have ever picked up. I really enjoyed the color associations with the scenes; it made me feel like I was actually experiencing what was going on. Being from Kansas City myself; I just had to pick this book up. I am so glad that I did because now I can't stop thinking about this book.

Morris' story of love, loss and the undead had me riveted. I was gripped by Zhari's poignant grief, her isolation from an aunt who seems to have detached and moved on from their loss to her instant connection to new neighbour Bo.

The narrator's voice is mellow and transmits the tale with a gentle flow that I appreciated. As we get to know Zhari, we also begin to question if what she sees is real or a manifestation of her inability to move through how her mother died. Morris's prose is also descriptive and colourful and pulls the reader right in. It is hard not to empathize with Zhari, to understand why she has pulled inward and finds it hard to move on from her mother's passing when she has so many memories and unanswered questions.

I love the use of zombies, how Morris uses them as the medium through which Zhari confronts and accepts her grief, anger, hurt, and her awareness of how they exist in Haitian culture.

The decision to link unrequited love and emotional hurt to zombie transformation speaks to the ways in which we change in reaction to devastating losses. It was uniquely brilliant for Morris to use a pop/horror icon to convey such a meaningful story.

Unfortunately despite trying twice with this audiobook, I just can't get into the story and I'm not enjoying the narration. I made it to about 1/3 of the way through but found it was a slog to continue and I didn't want to listen to it so it's a DNF

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Audiobooks for this Audio-Arc

I loved the concept. A story of how a young girl’s grief can manifest into something tangible.
You follow Zharie Young after the passing of her mother, living with an Aunt who doesn’t pay her any attention and now she’s seeing Zombies everywhere. One of those zombies being her neighbor- Skateboarded, goodlooking Bo.

I want to stay that this story is one of grief, loss and love. This book was a journey and while I didn’t absolutely love the beginning, or writing style that might be more of a “me issues” I did love the themes and characters. I will admit I had higher expectations since I’ve seen reviews since February of 2022 but it wasn't a complete let down.
I look forward to reading more from this author and seeing what else she can create if this is only her debut.

4.5

I received and audio ARC from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

This was a love letter to love, grief, heartbreak and healing.

Zharie has just lost her mother. We join her as she navigates a new chapter without her number one, as she moves in with her aunt who is just beginning her adult life, as she finds herself crushing on her first crush, as she starts to see zombies everywhere.

This read like a dream. I was in a haze the entire time. Floating through the minutes and patiently waiting to see where this story took me. It will make you feel so much. Mostly, it made me want to hug her. Like most teenagers she felt like she had to figure things out on her own. I wish Zharie the best in her journey.

This surprised me! As an adult who reads both adult and YA supernatural fantasy, I figured I would totally be able to handle this one, but turns out I was wrong...!

The gorgeous softness of this book cover made me think this would be on the spookier side of magical realism, but really this book is true horror. I tend to have mixed feelings on that genre and don't always find horror titles that really work for me, so I thought the mix of elements here would make it an easier read. Oops! The first chapter had me stricken with... well, horror - extremely descriptive writing grossed me out and scandalized me with all of its freakiness, which is exactly what horror lovers are probably after. If you're a green softie like me, then this is probably not the one to try.

Even though I was not able to make it past the first chapter, I would still absolutely recommend this, since I think it's likely to be a great read for those who love this genre and who are looking for a new take on it. Three stars since I have to leave some and don't think it's fair to give a low rating when this book ended up just not being my thing.

NEW READ
The Undead Truth of Us by Britney S. Lewis

This is a stunning novel about grief and the impacts it has on your entire life. Zharie (Z) is 16 when her mom dies — and then becomes a zombie. After her mom’s death she moves in with her aunt, who doesn’t seem to want her and Z doesn’t seem to want anything at all anymore.

The zombies are everywhere since Mama died, but when Bo moves into her apartment complex (and she sees him go from human to zombie and back) she decides it’s time to learn more. He doesn’t act like a monster, but he can can certainly look (and smell) like one. What made Mama, him, and so many others zombies?

Z needs to learn to confront what is real and what isn’t in this novel on grief, change, and love.

CW/TW: death of parent, depression, anxiety, body horror (descriptions of zombies)

For me, this novel was full of beautiful analogies to human suffering and felt like a very therapeutic read. Even though I was not grieving what Z was, I was able to feel empathy for her as she goes through loss of a parent, not belonging, dating, depression, anxiety, etc. Britney S. Lewis created characters and a world that feel so real, because it is filled with truth on human experience. While the story is only told from the point of Z, there is depth and perspective on other characters that you get from Z trying to understand something outside her own grief.

4 ⭐️

Thanks to @netgalley, @britney, @disneyhyperion for this ARC and the opportunity to witness Z’s journey!

-J

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this audiobook for an honest review.



The story starts very slow. I really enjoyed this author's poetic writing style and thought that the story was unique. I didn't exactly know what to expect. This isn't a book about zombies but more. This story talks about Zharie's loss, grief, change and self discovery.



TW: Grief, Loss, 

My Rating: 3.5 ⭐️

4.25 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney Audiobooks for an ALC of this book.

Zharie is seeing zombies. Ever since a few weeks before her mom died, when her mother turned into a zombie herself. But now they are everywhere, but they aren't attacking anyone, just going about their (un)lives with bodies falling apart. Until Zharie meets a neighbor, Bo, who is sometimes a zombie and sometimes human. She decided to befriend Bo in order to find out what is wrong with her brain.

This is so raw and emotional. I think the zombie allegory is a little on the nose but in general this was a really good book raw with grief and heartache. Zharie is a great character to follow and I enjoyed watching her transformation as she learned more about her mother, birth-father, and herself. I also really liked Bo and the way he was portrayed as so sunshiney, but also hurt on the inside. I think Bo's character really showed the duality of people. Really good book!

Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Death, and Infidelity