Blog Tour- Eat Your Heart Out, Kelly deVos

Eat Your Heart Out
Kelly deVos

Genre: Young Adult Horror

Publishing Date: June 29, 2021

About the Book

Content Warnings: Fatphobia (challenged), gore and blood

Shaun of the Dead meets Dumplin’ in this bitingly funny YA thriller about a kickass group of teens battling a ravenous group of zombies.

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.

A satirical blend of horror, body positivity, and humor, Kelly deVos’s witty, biting novel proves that everyone deserves to feel validated, and taking down the evil enterprise determined to dehumanize you is a good place to start.

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About the Author

Kelly deVos is from Gilbert, Arizona, where she lives with her high school sweetheart husband, amazing teen daughter and superhero dog, Cocoa. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. When not reading or writing, Kelly can typically be found with a mocha in hand, bingeing the latest TV shows and adding to her ever-growing sticker collection.

Kelly is represented by Chloe Seager of the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency in London. Her work on body positivity has been featured in the New York Times as well as on Vulture, Salon, Bustle and SheKnows. Her debut novel, Fat Girl on a Plane was named one of the “50 Best Summer Reads of All Time” by Reader’s Digest magazine. Her second book, Day Zero, is available now from Inkyard Press/HarperCollins.

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My Thoughts

I knew as soon as I saw the cover I needed to read this. Devos writes in the beginning that things in the book are purposefully and satirically extreme, and I think that’s a fair assessment. Because what reader wouldn’t cringe that fat camps are still a thing? Wow, it made me hate Coach even more.

The introduction of the characters was a tad tricky at first, but once you know who’s who, you quickly catch on that we have a fairly diverse cast of characters. Eat Your Heart Out is told in alternating viewpoints, so you get to see the situation unfold from varying narratives. If there was anything I didn’t love reading this, it’s that the ending felt rushed. I realized I was at 99%, feeling like there was still a bit to address, but then that was it. But the ride to get there was super fun.

This book is so much more than a group of teens battling zombies. Because there are significant core issues discussed. Vivian has some good insight about people, and I highlighted a lot of her text. When things begin unfolding, it feels like non-stop action because these zombies do not quit. They all work together well, and they are creative in the ways they fight to stay alive. Overall, this is a well-written, enjoyable read from start to finish.