Dearly, Beloved (Gone with the Respiration #2) by Lia Habel

Can the living coexist with the living dead?

That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites. 

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . of the dead variety. 

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target. 

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the virus—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse. 

Lia Habel’s spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling.

The zombie love story continues in this second book of this series. The world has taken on a adjustment phase in where there are people trying to cope with what happened and those that want to change it back by any means necessary. Within this there is different factions of the living and the dead trying to run their own agenda. Some of which we will not fully find out who and what is behind the motivation. In fact, the end game is not completely clear, but we have a better idea than our heros of this story.

As with the other book, this was told in multiple POVs. In some ways it helped move the story along and in many others, I think it slowed the story quite a bit. And as with the other book, there were times I was confused as to who I was reading and what was going on because of the multi-POV. I would have loved it if the POVs were only given to our main characters. I think things would have moved much smoother and quicker which would have preserved some of the tension that was lost.

I also didn't have the same tension and fondness of feeling with Bram and Nora as I did in the first tale, however, I was still convinced of this romance which still blows my mind a bit. Rotting parts. I still can't quite get over that. :)

I give this book 3 stars. I was quite slow in some places and confusing in others. Still, despite that I did find myself wanting to know what happens next. The answers aren't all in this one and I hope they are answered in the next book. So, I'm not exactly saying it's a cliffie, but it's not complete either.

I received this eARC from the publisher and NetGalley an no compensation for my review was given.