Perfectly Perplexing Zombie: Wendall's Story

Perfect Pixie Series, Book 4

By: MJ May

Narrated by: Tor Thom, Cooper North

Blessed with eternal fire, Hellfire Rayburn is Fairy Queen Silvidia's most trusted and feared warrior.

In a world living under fairy rule, Ray's accustomed to serving his queen by upholding the law. Now, Queen Silvidia wants more.

Wendall Galen never expected to wake up reanimated as a zombie. Then again, he never expected to be murdered either. Wendall's second life is far better than his past human life. Unfortunately, the diluted bit of fairy DNA he didn't know existed interferes with his reanimation. With his body deteriorating, Wendall's second life is destined to be a short one.

Queen Silvidia might have discovered Wendall's living life too late, but she won't let the last remaining descendant of her beloved, deceased brother perish. A fairy bond is needed to preserve Wendall, and Hellfire Rayburn still has his to give away. Wendall just needs to accept the eternal bond. Too bad he's a zombie with a conscience.

Wendall won't condemn Ray to an eternity bonded to someone Ray doesn't care for, let alone love. He would rather perish than do that. Despite Wendall's refusal, or perhaps because of it, Ray's smitten with the human-turned-zombie and can't imagine a life without him.

But Wendall's deteriorating body isn't the only threat. His murderer is still out there, and fearful Wendall will reveal his secret. Power breeds paranoia, and Wendall's murderer is oozing with one and being taken over by the other. Having awakened one of the most dangerous and feared creatures alive, Wendall's murderer is willing to wield that power no matter the cost.

Wendall's good nature calls to Ray, but that same sacrificial nature threatens to steal him away. Hellfire Rayburn never dreamed a day could come when his eternal fire failed him, his queen, and his love.

Perfectly Perplexing Zombie contains a zombie that didn't follow the rulebook for creation, a millennia-old fairy warrior, a human with delusions of grandeur, a powerful djinn that just wants to be left alone, a power-hungry alpha werewolf, witches, priestesses, warlocks, vampires, a faun, and good old fashioned interspecies teamwork. It is a slow-burn novel that focuses on finding and acknowledging love in unexpected places. It's the fourth book in the Perfect Pixie series, but it may be enjoyed as a standalone.

©2023 MJ May (P)2024 Podium Audio

Zombie! Wasn't sure about this one,..

I was least enthusiastic to listen to this book because I am not a fan of zombies as main characters or love interests, but I think this ended up being my favorate in the series so far. Who wouldn't love Wendle, he was handed such a raw deal, and was so kind hearted and most everyone around him was really good...people? HellFire Rayburn I always thought him such an interesting character too was glad to see him more in this story and even get served some "crow" when things didn't go quiet his way. I thought all the interactions were great, the story was a little sad, but the end was worth it. Narration as usual for this series was great too.

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.Two Cons:
1. Just as things turned wonderful for Wendle and Hellfire the story ends. I wish it was about an hour longer to give us more of a peek at what happens with them
2. Isn't Ari Belview dead yet! Ugh - that guy!

Hjärtvärmande

Detta är en mycket trevlig serie, jag reckommenderar. Serien är bra, trevlig lyssning när man prommenerarar eller tränar, bra uppläsare

I love this series

It’s so delightfully different.
Well written.
I love the characters and the world.
These don’t have the spice of others in the genre, but the stories and characters are so good, I don’t even miss it.
Wendell could be my favorite so far, though I said that about Parsnip in the previous book.

MJ May manages to write stories that are lighter without losing any of the depth.
Start at the beginning and listen to them all.

the story

the way the 2 voice actors portrayed the characters differently way distracting. I also thought that the actor with the deeper voice cut off words sometimes

Good book

I really like this series and this was a fun addition to the series. The narrators gave good performances

Sugary sweet zombie

This book was cute but it dragged a bit with all the repetitive saccharine ruminations of the characters. The mopey too sweet to be real zombie was overly focused on being all selfless and resigned to dying instead of being a burden to people who kept trying to help him. I will admit that my mind wandered multiple times and I didn’t care enough to rewind and find out what I missed, but when it got to the grand confrontation at the end it grabbed my full attention and I enjoyed that part of the story very much. The next book was set up in the epilogue and it sounds interesting, mostly because it is about characters who have a harder view of life instead of being sugary sweet.

Good story. Good narration.

I found this book to have a slightly more interesting plot than previous entries in the series. The story is focused more on the plot than on the romance, and that is the type of story that I have been interested in lately. I was a little grossed out by the zombie thing. I don't do zombie stories. It wasn't excessively graphic; I just don't like zombie stuff. That stated, I did like Wendall. He is sweet and charming, even if he is a zombie.

The narration was performed well. The voices didn't quite match my expectations of the characters, but that is a very subjective preference. It didn't prevent me from enjoying the story.

This was an entertaining listen if you are looking for a zombie/fairy romance with mild angst, a dash of action, and good narration.