Bad Taste in Boys (Kate Grable #1)

Zombies. While I love them as much as the next prepubescent hormonal teenage boy, I just couldn't get into this at all. I tried to like it, I swear, but Kate was just so darn Immature for all her boasting about being smart. Like when Rockys boyfriend got shot she laughs and says "he got shot in the booty." And her teenage brother just seemed way too... I don't know. Fake. Like a medias depiction of a teenage boy who has acne and plays dungeons and dragons and LARPS the day away. And I think zombie land with micheal Cera had a better excuse for the zombie disease with bad gas station burgers because in this book there are zombies because of steroids? It just sounds weird. I tried to like Kate, but I found her voice too know it all and obnoxious. I admit, in the beginning I couldn't put it down, but as it went on, I practically slammed it on the floor.

Bad Taste in Boys is utterly hilarious. It sort of reminded me of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. Carrie Harris knows she’s writing about a book zombies infecting a high school and how silly (but awesome) it all sounds, and therefore, she didn’t write the book to be all serious and over your head. It’s funny, enjoyable, and even a little bit relatable.

Because, despite the fact that Kate is a super science genius, she’s also a bit geeky and unsure of herself when it comes to guys. I loved her voice and really enjoyed reading the story through her eyes.

Review originally posted on my blog http://hobbitsies.net/2011/07/bad-taste-in-boys-by-carrie-harris/

And despite Kate’s super science genius-ness, she’s actually really dense. And I don’t say this like she’s dumb. But I mean – if a finger comes off a guy right in front of you, you tell someone. Or scream. Or evacuate. You don’t go back to brain bowl like nothing happened. Or if a woman grills her own hand in front of you and squirts black gunk out of her mouth, you don’t politely ask her to move her hand. Panic, goddamnit! But, like I said – Bad Taste in Boys is not supposed to be a serious book. It’s partly ridiculous, but 100% fun.

I loved Kate and her developing relationship with the high school quarterback, Aaron. It added a completely different level of humor to the book, something that I understood a lot better than zombie drama, and I really enjoyed that added subplot. It was really cute, the way their relationship developed.

Overall, I loved Bad Taste in Boys. Despite the ridiculousness of the whole thing, I thought the cause of the infection and the cure actually really worked for the story (although I’m not a science genius) and I loved the characters. Carrie Harris really knows how to do humor without it seeming like she’s trying to hard and I’ll certainly be reading more books by her in the future. I definitely recommend Bad Taste in Boys if you’re looking for a fun, sort-of-freaky story with a bonus cute romance.

Bad Taste in Boys was so fun!

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into this. I’d heard good things back when it was published, but it didn’t make its way onto my TBR for quite a while. I don’t quite remember what exactly pushed me over the edge, but I’m extremely thankful for whatever it was!

This was a really quick read. I would have finished it all in one night were it not for my pesky bedtime. It is only 201 pages, but that’s not the only reason it’s such a quick read. It really pulls you in and doesn’t let you go. I’m surprised I was even able to put it down last night!

I suppose you want to know why it was so unputdownable now, don’t you? First, I completely fell in love with Kate. She was geeky and proud, but she also had a feminine side she was proud of. She wasn’t totally extreme one way or the other either trying to hide her love of science or hide herself behind medical books. I really enjoyed that she was a strong, well-rounded character. Surprisingly, I found the side characters to be well-written as well. I say “surprisingly” because you would almost think the book was too short for that, but Harris handles it well.

The Nutshell: This is a zombie book even zombie haters can appreciate. There are a few flesh-eating scenes, yes, but it’s really not all that bad. I actually found myself laughing out loud quite a few times. Bad Taste in Boys is a short, quick read that’ll both have you laughing and hanging off the edge of your seat. The characters and story are all executed fantastically and I highly recommend this book. I can’t wait to see what Harris has in store next!

I'm not much for zombie books but this mainly followed a geeky girl that wanted to become a dr. Kate realizes the shot that coach was giving the football players are not steriods as she thought but a virus thats turning the players into zombies! After one player takes a chunk out of her lip she realizes shes not changing into anything, could she already have a cure? This is a great short read for both non and zombie lovers. Carrie Harris throws in just enough vampire talk to leave you smiling and Kate goes from being the Geek Queen to Hero with the hot homecoming date.

Definitly worth reading.
BTW not sci-fi at all like other zombie books might be. It was well better than that.

Bad Taste in Boys was a random read for me, something I just picked up for something quick to read.

The characters weren’t as polished as some other novels I’ve read as of late. They seemed a little rushed, but still enjoyable. Kate Grable, the main heroine, was a very insecure girl, yet she didn’t get any sympathy from me for it. It seemed a tad bit overdone, with Kate constantly putting down herself as being a geek and generally not very pretty and also putting down her work, saying she wasn’t great enough to make it in medical school. This bothered me, because I didn’t feel that she needed to be insecure and it just wasn’t very believable for me.

The romance in Bad Taste in Boys wasn’t as plentiful as I would have liked, but what with all her running around trying to find a cure for the zombies – yeah, well she really didn’t have time for romance. What romance there was, however, was sweet and cute and made me go aww.

Now, the plot.. What can I say about the plot? The plot was like a teenage soap opera with zombies. It seemed overdramatic, yet it was still enjoyable and was more tongue in cheek, rather than serious.

Overall, Bad Taste in Boys is an entertaining read, despite some character flaws. It was light and fun and a great stepping stone to more heavier zombie novels.

I really liked the whole zombie aspect of this book. I’ll admit I was weary to read this because of the zombies ( I’m too squeamish to read about dead guys walking around and blood) , but I surprisingly enjoyed it! I loved that Kate is smart and independent and isn’t afraid to be who she is. The only problem I had with her character was that she put herself down, but other than that she was a very relate-able character. I especially loved that she had ambitions, such as wanting to be a doctor and was incredibly smart. This ambition led her to take charge instead of letting others do things for her, which we often see in YA lit.
Now to the romance!
Aaron seemed really cute. I say seemed because we didn’t really get to read that much about him. He was there in the beginning when Kate is crushing on him and just seems to disappear throughout the book. I also felt there wasn’t that much chemistry between he and Kate.
Overall the book was a quick and fun read. Kate is a funny and smart herione whom I’d love to read more about. Everyone should go out and pick up this book!