Jessica Walsh has more on her plate than the average girl. After witnessing the supernatural recently and not being able to tell anyone about it, she's already stressed out. So when she finds out she's a Virago, a woman warrior who fights evil, she isn't happy about it. A new store has opened, though, so at least there are still some things in life to look forward to... at least until everyone who has bought the store's perfume develops a hunger for brains. Jessica will need to accept her new supernatural identity in order to save her best friend - and the rest of the town - from becoming mindless zombies. But can she do it? It's especially hard when her new crush seems to be under the love spell of another girl. No one ever said life in Nightshade was easy. Although this book was aimed at a lower age group - I started this series in middle school - surprisingly, I very much enjoyed it. It was quite odd actually, since it wasn't the best book I've ever read, yet I kept wanting to pick it up and read. I also find zombies unrealistic and unenjoyable, but this changed with this book. I actually enjoyed the storyline; however, this doesn't mean I suddenly like zombie books. I suppose I preferred it because the zombies in this book were still alive and could be saved. I found this book very fast-paced. There was next to no elaboration on the setting or feelings. Although that could be beneficial when wanting to get to a certain part of the story quickly, when it was put into play throughout the entire book, it got to be a bit tiresome just to keep up. Sometimes, I was forced to go back and try to find what was being responded to, because it happened so quickly I completely missed it. If more details were added in - not a huge amount, just some elaborations - it would have improved this book even more. As I'd mentioned before, I'd read almost all of the other books in this series. What was interesting about this book is that although it was in the same series, the main character was different from that of the other books. This series is also written in first person, which makes the transition a little bit stranger, as opposed to changing in third person. Some of the minor characters were now main characters, but the new main character wasn't even mentioned (as far as I can remember) in half of the other books. The old main characters were put into the role of spectators; barely mentioned and not really participating. Although I was surprised by this switch, it will allow the series to go on for longer, so I suppose it's beneficial. I surprised myself by enjoying this novel to the extent that I did. I would definitely recommend it, although perhaps to a younger age group. I found this book to be riveting and enthralling, despite the fact that I was definitely older than the suggested reading level age. I would give this book a rating of four stars. I would suggest this story to anyone looking for some romance, zombies, and woman warriors. Without warning or preamble we have a different first person protagonist. This book is told from the perspective of Daisy's young neighbor Jessica, who is a Virago (demon fighter) and just starting high school. Daisy never even shows up in this book at all, although her sisters Rose and Poppy have small parts to play here. I can guess that our authoress wanted to keep the books "high school," and with Daisy off to college she decided to shift the protagonist. Unfortunately, Jessica is a much weaker character, and because the whole book is written in first person, it makes the whole book weaker. Frankly it was sloppy. Perez also seems so possessive of the idea of song titles revealing clues that with the exorcism of Lil the Jukebox in the last book, she forces on us a new character that goes into trances while singing in his band and sings songs that aren't on the playlist. That was just annoying (although in other ways Dominic's character shows promise). I was really enjoying this light and quirky series, but after this book, I'm not very tempted to keep going (although I do have the next book sitting by my bedside, so I'll probably read it anyway).
What do You think about Dead Is A Battlefield (2012)?
I miss Daisy, but like that the series could continue with a mix of old and new characters.
—ruchitripathi
Awesome book looking forward to reading the rest of the series
—Jess
