This review originally posted at Christa's Hooked on Books 
 Dearly Departed was one of those books that completely blew me away and exceeded all my expectations. At first I read the plot synopsis and honest to god my first reaction was "oh...It's about zombies." The cover was nice and I liked the New Victorian idea but zombies? I've never been that into zombies. But then a couple bloggers I know and whom I trust completely when they recommend me a book, started raving about this book. I figured I'd give it a shot, started to read and much to my surprise I found myself more and more in love with the plot, the setting, the characters. Everything. 
 First of all, the zombies in this book aren't your average stumble around, brain eating, moaning beasts. They're real people who have had a really horrible thing happen to them. They still talk and feel and believe etc. The lead male - Bram, is potentially one of the sweetest guys ever. Before long you find yourself not caring that he's dead or a zombie. He's just Bram. I love that this book doesn't just use zombies, it makes them real characters you can connect with. 
 Beyond the well written zombies (never thought I'd say that!) Lia Habel has written this book with an incredible amount of detail. She's thought of everything! I've always wondered when reading Neo-Victorian novels why exactly people in the future would revert back to the Victorian age. Lia Habel has an answer for that. What about the environment and global warming? Yup that gets accounted for too. And the zombies themselves, why aren't they falling apart and rotting (they are dead after all)? Lia Habel has thought of all that too. Things make sense in this book. It didn't require me to make any leaps of faith or leave me wondering about some serious loose ends. 
 Last but not least I have to talk about the romance. There was no love triangle! I do like the occasional love triangle, but lately it seems like every book has one. I loved that this one only involved Bram and Nora. They also had to work at their relationship. They come from different worlds. Trust needed to built, and then friendship. They needed that foundation if they were ever going to become a believable couple and thankfully that's just what happened. You got to see the evolution of their relationship and I loved that about them. Finally, the love story didn't overwhelm the plot. Yes, it was wonderful and sweet but the main storyline still shone through and kept you on the edge of you seat, waiting to see what happened next. 
 All in all this was a great book. If you're not a fan of zombies don't let that deter you from reading it. I wasn't really a zombie person either and I loved this book. It's so well written and a lot of fun to read. You're going to fall in love with Bram, zombie or not, he's just that great of a guy. I can't wait to see where Lia Habel takes this series next and what adventures are still in store for the star crossed lovers.