Hearts Still Beating

by Brooke Archer Narrated by Kristen DiMercurio, Gail Shalan

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

At its core a heartrending love story that reminds us that humanity seeks comfort even in the most vicious of times, including a zombie apocalypse. With all the teen angst you could ever hope for, this YA zombie horror holds a mirror to the monsters around us, making for a rewarding read on multiple levels. If you loved The Last of Us or The Walking Dead, you've got more undead goodness right here.

Gripping, romantic, and impossible to put down, this dark and immersive post-apocalyptic debut novel is about two teen girls who loved each other before the end of the world - and before one of them became infected with the virus that turned her into a monster.

Perfect for fans of Krystal Sutherland, Adam Silvera, and the darkly human side of the HBOMax horror-drama, The Last of Us.

Seventeen-year-old Mara is dead-mostly. Infected with a virus that brought the dead back to life and the world to its knees, she wakes up in a facility to learn a treatment for the disease has been found. No longer a Tick, Mara is placed in an experimental resettlement program. But her recovery is complicated by her destination: she's sent to live with the best friend she hasn't seen since the world ended-and since their first and only kiss.

Seventeen-year-old Rory is alive-barely. With impaired mobility from an injury and a dead sister, Rory's nightmares are just as monstrous as the Ticks that turned her former best friend. Even after the Island-one of a handful of surviving communities-rebuilds itself, Rory is prepared for the Ticks to return at any time. She never expected them to come in the form of the only girl she's ever loved.

As the girls struggle with their pasts and the people they've become, and with the Island's fragile peace in the balance, Rory and Mara must lean on each other to survive-or risk losing the girl they love all over again.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

01/22/2024

A zombie apocalypse complicates two queer teens’ burgeoning romance in Archer’s affecting, adrenaline-fueled debut. Shortly after best friends Mara Knight and Rory Blake first kiss, the Letalis Tichnosis virus sweeps the globe, turning those it infects into mindless flesh-eating monsters dubbed Ticks. The girls get separated when their respective families flee San Diego, only to reconnect three years later, at 17, on the Island, a settlement off California’s coast. In exchange for much-needed antibiotics, the Island agrees to house 15 of the Altered—Letalis Tichnosis survivors whose homicidal urges are largely suppressed by an experimental drug. Rory’s family is still reeling from her sister’s death following a Tick attack, so Rory is deeply conflicted upon learning that an orphaned Mara is part of the Island’s new Altered population and will be living with the Blakes. Things get even murkier when the Island’s self-proclaimed, virulently anti-Tick leader starts targeting the Altered and their hosts. The resolution feels pat and some secondary characters lack depth, but escalating stakes, nuanced plotting, and a visceral first-person-present narrative that alternates between the emotionally complex protagonists’ POVs combine for a gratifying read. The boldly drawn cast is intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Penelope Burns, Gelfman Schneider. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

★ "The complexity of the worldbuilding combined with the depiction of the best and worst of humanity are on par with themes from The Last of Us show and games, proving that the post-apocalyptic YA genre is not dead—it’s just undead. " —BCCB (starred review)

"This stunning debut will rip your heart out... and eat it. A gut punch of a romance set in an immersive post-apocalyptic backdrop, Hearts Still Beating will sink its teeth into you and never let you go." —Jennifer Dugan, author of The Last Girls Standing

"The sapphic zombie story I’ve been salivating for! Infectious storytelling and riveting action with a tender and powerful love story at the beating heart. I absolutely devoured this book." —Leslie Vedder, bestselling author of The Bone Spindle trilogy

"At turns brutal and beautiful, Hearts Still Beating is a riveting exploration of love and what it means to be human in a crumbling, impossible world." —Jen St. Jude, author of If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come

"[An] affecting, adrenaline-filled debut…escalating stakes, nuanced plotting, and a visceral first-person-present narrative that alternates between the emotionally complex protagonists’ POVs combine for a gratifying read." —Publishers Weekly

"[An] original, adventure-filled love story…. A richly realized and distinctive queer zombie romance." —Kirkus Reviews

"[P]erfect for fans of The Last of Us looking for a queer take on the classic zombie story." —Booklist

"A riveting, unique, and delightfully queer adventure." –SLJ

School Library Journal

04/01/2024

Gr 7 Up—In this distinctive new take on the zombie apocalypse genre, best friends Mara and Aurora, who are in the middle of a budding romance, are separated when the Letalis Tichnosis virus ends the world as they know it. Their families take different paths. One leads Aurora, now hardened and going by Rory, to a relatively safe island community where the only monsters are political. The other leads Mara to become a "Tick." While controlled by the virus, she is forced to watch her body commit unspeakable acts of violence before ending up in an experimental government program that tries to bring Ticks back into consciousness. Deemed safe, former Ticks, now dubbed "Altered," are placed back with their families. In Mara's case, with her godparents, in Rory's home, reuniting them years after their first and only kiss. Rory, having suffered much loss at the hands of Ticks, is not at all happy to live with one, but her hate is complicated by the love they shared that was never fully realized, and when the island leadership starts targeting the Altered, she has to pick her side. VERDICT A riveting, unique, and delightfully queer adventure. Recommended for all libraries.—Kayla Fontaine

Kirkus Reviews

2024-01-19
For 17-year-old Mara Knight, the battle to become human again is just the beginning.

With the Tick—the ancient Letalis Tichnosis virus—wreaking havoc on the world, Mara gets bitten by someone who’s been infected, and she turns into one of the mindless, brain-eating creatures who aren’t dead but certainly aren’t alive, either. When Mara gains consciousness some time later (after being given Dyebucetin, an experimental drug), she’s deemed safe to be around and is resettled on the Island to live with her godparents. While Samantha and Isaac Blake and their two young children are pleased to see her, Rory, their older daughter, who used to be a close friend and crush, treats Mara with anger and suspicion. While Mara struggles to come to terms with the horrific time she spent as a murderous monster, traumatized Rory grapples to rediscover her trust and her own humanity. This original, adventure-filled love story unfolds in chapters that alternate between the two girls’ points of view. Their voices are at times difficult to differentiate, but the will-they-won’t-they tension between them is delicious. Readers will delight in this well-built near-future dystopian world, and they’ll root for Rory and Mara, who are cued white, on their journeys to find themselves and express their love for each other. A fascinating political subplot adds a rich extra dimension to this accomplished post-apocalyptic debut.

A richly realized and distinctive queer zombie romance. (Dystopian romance. 14-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940159855121
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

1
Mara
When the doctors ask what I remember, the answer they want to hear is “Nothing.” If only that were true.
Dr. Benitez clears her throat, drawing my attention away from a poster of a lion with the word resilience typed beneath it. The doctor’s hair is slicked back today, and she’s wearing eyeshadow, an odd eggplant color pressed into her lids. I wonder if she has a big date tonight.
I’m not sure if people date anymore. Not that it matters, not to someone like me. My romantic prospects died when I did.
“How much do you remember of your time under the virus’s influence, Mara?” She stands two feet from where I’m propped up on the rusting exam table, her brow creased in concern. I used to think her puckered expression meant something, but in my six months at the facility, I’ve come to understand Dr. Benitez defaults to anxiety the way I default to indifference.
We all had to find our own coping methods when the world ended. Some of us hardened. Some cracked. Some shattered.
I haven’t figured out which applies to me yet. I didn’t think I’d have to. I thought my time was up the moment the infected man closed his teeth around my wrist.
How much do you remember?
I shake my head. Speech was a mountain to climb in the beginning, the phrases and definitions unearthing themselves and clawing back to my tongue, so I slid into silence for my first month. It’s become another default.
Dr. Benitez purses her lips, but she doesn’t question me. I can’t imagine I’m the first person between these walls to lie. Every single room in this building harbors monsters. Monsters with stories and secrets. Three hundred of us relearning humanity.
My heart beats on a semiregular basis and my lungs are teaching themselves to take in consistent breaths, but none of it matters.
A nasty scar traces down the doctor’s neck from an old wound. The outline of a tranquilizer gun, tucked against her hip, is visible underneath her faded lab coat. I don’t blame her for taking precautions. I don’t trust myself, either, tossed back into this bright, loud, overwhelming world.
She jots something onto her cerulean plastic clipboard. “Dyebucetin varies in its effectiveness in the reparation of cells in the cerebral cortex. It’ll take time.”
Dr. Benitez isn’t sure if the treatment will bring me back to life. For all the doctors know, the Altered might drop dead—really dead—one day, or grow third arms, or lose all our extremities. The last two are more my illogical fear than the doctors’, but I used to think the living dead were illogical, and then I became one.
“And what about the nightmares?” she asks.
I grind my teeth. Admitting to the night terrors that have plagued me since I woke to my third life was an early day’s mistake. Memories of the creature I was when the virus hijacked my body and the girl I was before.
What do I remember?
Jeans rolled up to asphalt-­torn knees and four legs distorted by the pool water. The image pulses with the kick of her feet. She complains her eyes are muddy and boring, and if I were braver, I’d tell her how the sun pulls out flecks of gold and auburn in her irises; I’d tell her looking into them is like drowning. But I am not brave.
“Stopped,” I lie. “Sweet dreams on this end.”
“Please,” the man says, and I know the word used to mean something, but I’ve long stopped caring. His garbled screams are a quiet hum behind his heartbeat and the blood pumping in his veins, warm and alive.
I take his skull between my hands, slamming down, down, down, until he stops screaming.

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