Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly deVos

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Eat Your Heart Out

Author: Kelly deVos

Book Series: Standalone for now

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For…: horror, young adults, zombies

Genre: YA Horror

Publication Date: June 29, 2021

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 352

Recommended Age: 14+ (Fat phobia and fat remarks, Language, Teen pregnancy, Weight discussed, Violence, Gore, Death)

Explanation of CWs: Fatphobic remarks made by a main character to another main character and remarks remembered by a stepfather. Some cursing. A main character experiences teen pregnancy and birth. Weight is discussed, so please be safe if that’s a trigger.

Synopsis: 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: I really loved this book! I felt very connected with Vivian because we’re both fat females and I loved how badass she was and how well developed she became. I loved the horror inspo of this book and I loved the writing. I also loved the way the book used multiple POVs.

However, I do feel like that the book left a lot of room for a second book and I BETTER GET ONE BECAUSE I REFUSE TO BELIEVE that two characters who I can’t name ARE DEAD. RULE NUMBER 3 OF THE HORROR FILMS: IF THEY DO NOT APPEAR DEAD AND DISMEMBERED IN ONE SHOT THEN THEY AIN’T DEAD. NOT DEAD! Need book 2. On a serious note I also thought the world building could have been better and the multiple povs, while great, was confusing a lot of the time. There also was some body positive messages in the beginning and a little at the end, but for the most part it was non-existent in the middle.

Verdict: It was great!