Eat Your Heart Out is an entertaining satirical horror. I loved the premise and it’s been ages since I read a fun (is that the right word?) zombie book. While the skipping between POVs was hard to get into at first, I ended up enjoying Eat Your Heart Out. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
In the next few hours, one of three things will happen.
1–We’ll be rescued (unlikely)
2–We’ll freeze to death (maybe)
3–We’ll be eaten by thin and athletic zombies (odds: excellent)
Vivian Ellenshaw is fat, but she knows she doesn’t need to lose weight, so she’s none too happy to find herself forced into a weight-loss camp’s van with her ex-best friend, Allie, a meathead jock who can barely drive, and the camp owner’s snobby son. And when they arrive at Camp Featherlite at the start of the worst blizzard in the history of Flagstaff, Arizona, it’s clear that something isn’t right.
Vee barely has a chance to meet the other members of her pod, all who seem as unhappy to be at Featherlite as she does, when a camper goes missing down by the lake. Then she spots something horrifying outside in the snow. Something…that isn’t human. Plus, the camp’s supposed “miracle cure” for obesity just seems fishy, and Vee and her fellow campers know they don’t need to be cured. Of anything.
Even worse, it’s not long before Camp Featherlite’s luxurious bungalows are totally overrun with zombies. What starts out as a mission to unravel the camp’s secrets turns into a desperate fight for survival–and not all of the Featherlite campers will make it out alive.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Edelweiss. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: fatphobia
Eat Your Heart Out read as cinematic to me. With tons of action, it trult felt like watching a horror film unfold. And it had an almost self-aware quality to the writing. People are early on put into their roles – by a fellow camper – but deVos doesn’t hesitate to surprise us with twists. My favorite element of Eat Your Heart Out had to be this almost self-aware satirical horror quality. You can tell that deVos is having fun because there’s an almost wry twist to the action, the reveleations, and even the ending.
At the beginning I had trouble with the various POVs and shifting between them. There’s so many different angles – as see the world from the campers POV – but before you get to know them, it can be disconcerting. Not to mention the fact that Eat Your Heart Out seems, to me, to be firmly rooted in action. It was hard for me to get the feeling that I was rooting for anyone in particular because I had a hard time really sinking into their characters. It might be the fact that their POVs can be quite short sometimes.
Overall though, I enjoyed this action plot and it kept me thoroughly entertained. If you’re a fan of zombies, and want horror movies to add a thoughtful edge, then Eat Your Heart Out may be for you! I sincerely loved the vibes of self-awareness as well as the evolution of the story – even if some elements could have used a bit more development. It’s a fun, fast paced read, and would be great for the beach – bring the zombies to the water!
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Find Eat Your Heart Out on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.