Summary from Goodreads:

Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.

My Thoughts

Wow!  What a story!!  The only reason I didn’t give this book 4 out of 4 was because of the length.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love me a long book, but I just felt a tiny bit bored about halfway through the book.  That, however, is my only complaint!  For the most part I was tearing through the pages!  This has to be one of the most unique stories I have read in a while.  Lia Habel was able to combine zombies, steampunk, post-apocalyptic, romance, adventure, science fiction and make it work!  

Let’s start with the setting.  This was my first steampunk novel, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it was fabulous!!  (Wikipedia gives a great definition if you’re not sure what steampunk is all about)  The world building was skillfully done.   I loved picturing the “New Victorian” fashion and architecture.  It was so strange to know it was the year 2195, yet the social behavior and hierarchy was that of the mid 1800s.  Then you throw in the advanced technology and you have the most remarkable setting for a story.

Now with a superb setting, you need equally superb characters, which was most definitely the case here!  Nora was lovely!  She wasn’t whiny, she just rolled with the punches and adapted perfectly, while managing to grow as a person.  Her best friend Pam was so loyal and spunky!  There were, of course, plenty of living and dead that you loved to hate.  Then there is Bram… He should absolutely win sexiest zombie of the year!!  His only fault is that he is dead, but if he wasn’t,well, we wouldn’t have a very good story. 

Dearly, Departed’s plot is filled with so much action and adventure, but it also has a lot of heart!  Literally this book will make you laugh, cry, bite your nails, and dreamily sigh (thinking about how all the good zombies are always taken lol).  

The next book, Dearly, Beloved will be out on September 25th, 2012, so you still have time to read Dearly Departed 1st!!