Beneath Blood and Bone (Thicker Than Blood, #2) in Riley's Reads {REDHEADAPOCALYPSE SUPPORT GROUP}

Jan 18, 2015 Lo Bookfrantic rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-review-ng

5***Breathtaking Survivor Stars

*****SPOILERS*****

Type: Dystopia/Romance/Zombie Apocalypse
Series:Companion series Book 2 of 3
POV:Dual

”We are no more than skin, blood and bone. When you take that away, nothing is left…I believe that beneath the blood and the bone, there’s a soul.” Eagle

Adler aka Eagle short for “E”, a thirty-six years old man who was broken and alone; the zombie apocalypse happened and his life went to hell. Everyone’s life had changed since the zombie ...more

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Jan 16, 2015 Jennifer Kyle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: para-dystopian-sci-fi-fantasy, favorites, book-boyfriends

5 PLUS Stars!

”Welcome to Purgatory,”… “Last stop on the road to hell.”

description

Madeline Sheehan and Claire C. Riley KICKED ASS with this second book in the series! The story takes place in a world where the Val Fever has destroyed all humanity and left two races: the biters and those who hide from the biters. The story was so very realistic and that credit goes 100% to the TOP NOTCH WRITING because the story never seemed far-fetched and is hauntingly realistic.

In the first book of the series, the ch ...more

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May 06, 2015 Kim Bailey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 6-star-best-of-the-best, covergasm, boys-i-love, edge-of-my-seat, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it, scary-shit, 2015-best-reads, deep-thoughts

5++ Stars!

OMG! What an amazing book! I've been anticipating this release since finishing Thicker Than Blood in January. Thicker Than Blood was the first book of the year to hit my 6 star shelf & was also the first book on my Best of 2015 shelf. Beneath Blood and Bone had some very big shoes to fill ... I'm very happy to report that it totally lived up to my expectations.

There are just so many things that I want to say about this wonderful story ... but, I promise not to get carried away with th ...more

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Jan 16, 2015 San rated it it was amazing

Claire and Madeline have written another cracker of a book.

In Beneath Blood And Bone the story concentrates on E (Eagle) and Autumn. It's a story of love, pain, hope and letting go.

Both the main characters are seriously flawed by what has happened to them in the past, though they somehow find the strength in each other to stay alive in the hell hole that is Purgatory.

One of the standout things for me in this book was Liv. (It may sound strange but hear me out) She is probably one of the most vi ...more

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Jan 16, 2015 Toni FGMAMTC rated it it was amazing

Shelves: dystopian, life-lessons, apocalyptic, romance, alpha-male, zombie, dark-ish, painful-past, best-2015, age-gap

FGMAMTC Blog #TopReads2015 Author & Interview + Excerpt from There Will Be Blood

FGMAMTC Blog Review + Interview

There are so many things I like about this series. The reader never knows what to expect. The storylines follow no patterns, and the books thus far are very different. Even though it's fiction, it's real. The decay and stench of life at it lowest are in vivid technicolor and jumping off the page at the reader's senses. At the same time, sparks of humanity that can't be snu ...more

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Jan 16, 2015 Jessica Austin Gudmundson rated it it was amazing

This book. THIS BOOK! This book that I tore through, reading on pins and needles right up until the end. I loved it. It made me mad. It made me tear up. It made me quietly cheer in my seat. It made me think.

Someone asked me when I finished Beneath Blood and Bone if I had forgiven E for what he had done in Thicker Than Blood. I couldn't really answer. I have come to the conclusion that there is no forgiveness because there is nothing to forgive. This book that Claire Riley and Madeline Sheenan ha This book. THIS BOOK! This book that I tore through, reading on pins and needles right up until the end. I loved it. It made me mad. It made me tear up. It made me quietly cheer in my seat. It made me think.

Someone asked me when I finished Beneath Blood and Bone if I had forgiven E for what he had done in Thicker Than Blood. I couldn't really answer. I have come to the conclusion that there is no forgiveness because there is nothing to forgive. This book that Claire Riley and Madeline Sheenan have crafted is about a world that is truly Purgatory. Not one of the people in this place that E lives in and Autumn is dragged into is without sin. No one appears to be good because you have to do what is needed to survive. Show no weakness. Ever. I also think that PTSD has made all these people a little nuts. Imagine for a moment that you have had to end the (non) life of your children. Your wife. Your father. I don't think anyone comes out of this unharmed. That also means developing your own coping skills. And sometimes you do what works, even if it’s horrible, until it doesn't anymore.

I don't really know what I was expecting when I started this book. Was it a redemption piece for E? Was I getting a love story? I think what I ended up getting out of this book, aside from some absolutely fascinating character studies (Ugh. Liv. Amirite?!), is you are your own strength. There are no knights in shining armour, because they are just as messed up as the rest of us. So you have only you in the end.

“None of them would help me; I knew that now…”
“I was more than this small, weak body. I was strong.”

I don’t even know if that’s right though. The relationship that develops between E and Autumn is based on need and support given. It also shines hope. Hope in a place where there shouldn’t be any.

I feel like I’ve written a review of my feelings rather than a review about the book. I am going to take that as a sign that this is a well written, carefully nuanced, slow burn of a book. I was on pins and needles while reading but now what I’m doing is thinking. This book has stayed with me and will for a while. I cannot wait for the next one.
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Aug 07, 2015 Stormy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: kick-ass-zombie-books

“Not many are branded, but they wish they were. And my man E, here, nobody fucks with him. You’re about to become the queen of Hell”

In true Riley and Sheehan form, they beautifully craft a world, that will grab you by the throat and throw you around in the dirt, and then somehow they pick you back up, and dust you off. And once you feel as if you’re pristine and clean again, they pick you back up and toss you around some more.

I want to first, start off saying, that if you have not read Thicker “Not many are branded, but they wish they were. And my man E, here, nobody fucks with him. You’re about to become the queen of Hell”

In true Riley and Sheehan form, they beautifully craft a world, that will grab you by the throat and throw you around in the dirt, and then somehow they pick you back up, and dust you off. And once you feel as if you’re pristine and clean again, they pick you back up and toss you around some more.

I want to first, start off saying, that if you have not read Thicker Than Blood, then STOP what you’re doing, and go get that book first. You need to read it before you read this little gem! These two books are about love, and survival. But they strip away everything you know about love, and then builds you back up. Thicker than Blood, speaks about love, but of a different variety. It’s about a friendship that can outlast, even the end of the world that surpasses most of the friendships we find here in the real world, and makes you wish you had that kind of love, that kind of beautiful friendship.

In walks, Beneath Blood and Bone, A book that is completely different than the other, and can stand on its own two feet. BB&B teaches us about love in a different form. It teaches us that even when we lose all of our hope, and humanity, that there is still someone out there…waiting to be found in all of the nastiness of the world. That beneath all of the blood and bones, there’s a soul there, waiting to be redeemed, waiting to be loved again.

Claire C. Riley and Madeline Sheehan made a ballsy move, in my opinion. They took one of the most hated characters they ever could have created, and then made a book about him!!! This could have gone one of two ways. And I think maybe, it wouldn’t have worked for other authors. But they did it in such a way. That you find yourself cursing the likes of this character, and then all of the sudden you feel it in your gut. It doesn’t happen quickly, but slowly. Like the slow burn of a cigarette. You begin feeling a love for this character out of all of the hatred you felt for him in Thicker than Blood. You begin to sympathize with Eagle. You begin to want him to find his happiness too. Even after, all of the horrible things he has done. It’s a feeling that leaves you reeling, and confused. You’re asking yourself, how the hell you developed these kinds of feelings for Eagle. It slaps in the face before you know what’s happening, and then when it does, you realize there’s no turning back!!

Beneath Blood and Bone is about two completely different people who have lost their humanity in this new world that is covered in disease, a world that has brought out the absolute worst in people, and made them do horrible things that they wouldn’t otherwise do in the old world.

Autumn has been living in the “wild” since the very beginning of the collapse of the world. And when she is found she is covered in dirt and shit. She has lost all of her humanity. Not having a clue how to live with other human beings, and not wanting anything to do with them. But as the story progresses, you begin to see her layers being stripped away. You begin to see a girl that has grown into women, with each layer of dirt wiped away, little by little her humanity begins to come to the surface.

Beneath Blood and Bone is well rounded, and thoroughly written. It’s about two people who had lost everything, only to find their essence within each other. And it teaches us that even when it feels as if we have lost everything, including our humanity, the very thing that makes us humans, that there will always be hope and love beneath all the blood and bone.

In my opinon, these books are the best horror books of 2015. The best books, I have read all year long. Yes! They’re THAT good. So buy this book! Just do yourself a favor and GET IT!!!!
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May 31, 2015 Gail rated it it was amazing

I am not sure that I have ever come around in a book the way this one has made me. The first book made me absolutely hate the character “E” who became one of the two main characters in this book. How did these two women make me turn that around and actually like him, maybe even crave him a little? Dammit, I do not know, but what a hell of a story.
Set in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies we find a tiny bit of civilization, a gated in city called purgatory. A place aptly named as it tur ...more

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Mar 19, 2015 Kelli Mcelreath rated it it was amazing

this book. I loved this book. it was one of those that you read so fast and then want to slow down because you don't want it to end but at the same time need to know what happens. I started my crush on E in the first book thicker than blood. I knew even through his awfulness there was something there. so in comes beneath blood and bones. his story and character are addicting. I seriously could read an entire series just based on his character. I love how this story is not really about the zombie ...more

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May 31, 2015 Eli Constant rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-authors, covers-i-love

Another hit from Claire C Riley & Madeline Sheehan! This is their third book together and they're still melding amazingly well--to the point that it has become impossibly difficult to pinpoint Riley's styling from Sheehan's within the storyline and characters (Trust me, I tried to find where the different personalities shone through. Riley is a long-time favorite of mine and I've read everything she's ever written. Once in a while, I did read a line in BB&B that slapped me with "Yeah, definitely ...more

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May 26, 2015 Becky Stephens rated it it was amazing

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, horror

Riley and Sheehan wrote another fantastic book together, and it's magic!

While this novel could be read as a standalone, I recommend reading Thicker Than Blood first because that's where we first meet Eagle.

Beneath Blood and Bone revolves around Eagle and a newcomer, Autumn. We watch as Eagle transforms from a character we love to hate to a man we want - no, need - to see redeemed. His story is tragic and heartbreaking. There's a reason he's so incredibly angry with everyone, including himself, ...more

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Aug 02, 2015 Melanie Marsh rated it it was amazing

I’m not going to lie. I was afraid to read Beneath Blood and Bone (BBB). The first book in the series, Thicker than Blood (TTB), tore my heart apart and sold it on the black market as spare parts. It was an amazing book, but really did a number on my emotions. While I didn’t start out hating Eagle, by the end of TTB I hated him so much I wished he would get amoebic dysentery and crap himself to death. Or come down with a life threatening case of a cross between crabs and bullet ants that would e I’m not going to lie. I was afraid to read Beneath Blood and Bone (BBB). The first book in the series, Thicker than Blood (TTB), tore my heart apart and sold it on the black market as spare parts. It was an amazing book, but really did a number on my emotions. While I didn’t start out hating Eagle, by the end of TTB I hated him so much I wished he would get amoebic dysentery and crap himself to death. Or come down with a life threatening case of a cross between crabs and bullet ants that would eat his junk off. I honestly can’t think of another literary character that I have ever felt so much hatred. Liv isn’t far behind though. That bitch needs to die.

To me, Beneath Blood and Bone has a drastically different feel to it than TTB. TTB was about survival and the limitless love and friendship between two women, whereas BBB is more about strangers forced to depend on one another for their own survival. Each battling their own internal demons and accustomed to relying on only themselves, they grow and become more than what we initially see them to be. The characters show strength and weakness in places I would not have expected them to do so.

The reasoning behind Eagle’s pleasant personality is a bit predictable, it’s the zombie apocalypse after all, but that doesn’t make it any less easy to learn. I appreciate the authors telling BBB from both his and Autumn’s points of view. We get to see inside of Eagle’s head and learn to understand him so much more than we did in TBB. Autumn has been cut off from society for so long, some of her reactions can be expected as well.

Realistically, the way these characters react to one another is nothing short of magical. Almost like a wolf who has a pet mouse. A mouse who may be covered in shit and possibly crazy, but she’s survived on her own for this long somehow, right?

I have read all of Claire Riley’s other books and for the life of me cannot tell which parts she wrote and which were written by Madeline Sheehan. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know at this point. I love how seamlessly their writing has come together to create such a great series. This second book was just as good as the first and made me want to keep reading even though I had run out of pages.

In some series, the story is good, but sometimes it seems like it’s the same old story over and over. The same map of how a story goes: introduction and buildup, a dramatic event or conflict, and the thrilling conclusion. This series has that map, but it also has something more. It has EMOTION. It makes you FEEL. I had never cared for zombie books before reading Claire Riley’s Odium Series. It was the same old, same old. But Riley makes me actually feel something while reading her zombies. Maybe it’s because her books are more about the people and how they try to keep living, while the zombies are there but more in the background. I don’t know what it is, but her books are special.

I would recommend this series to anyone who likes great zombie apocalypse books filled with characters that will make you run an emotional gauntlet and leave you exhausted, and begging for mercy and more at the same time.
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Aug 10, 2015 K Dz rated it it was amazing

Beneath Blood and Bone
Madeline Sheehan and Claire C. Riley

I first have to say that these two women write amazingly together. This is the second in the series. The first, Thicker Than Blood, Eagle was introduced. Many won’t like him at first but he will grow fast on you.
In book two, Madeline and Claire bring to life what it means to survive in the cruel post zombie apocalyptic world called Purgatory.
They make you feel every emotion, scratch, pain, and heart ache that comes with this after life.
N ...more

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