Review – The Harvesting by Melanie Karsak


Title: The Harvesting
Author: Melanie Karsak
Series: The Harvesting #1
Genre: Paranormal/Zombies
Published: September 18th 2012

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Book Description

It's all fun and games until someone ends up undead.

Though Layla reluctantly returns home to rural Hamletville after a desperate call from her psychic grandmother, she could never have anticipated the horror of what Grandma Petrovich has foreseen. The residents of Hamletville will need Layla's help if they are to survive the zombie apocalypse that's upon them. But that is not the only problem. With mankind silenced, it soon becomes apparent that we were never alone. As the beings living on the fringe seek to reclaim power, Layla must find a way to protect the ones she loves or all humanity may be lost.

"To label this a zombie book would be a false pretense . . . this is so much more than that. What you start out with and what you end up with are very different, and those twists and turns in the middle will make your heart beat faster over and over again."-- Colossal Pop


 My Review

What can I say but WOW!! I haven’t read a lot of zombie books, but The Harvest was amazing!! From the very first line in the book I was captivated……

“If you ever need to slice someone’s head off, this is the blade you want,”

Seriously, you can tell that book is going to be action packed from that first statement!  And boy, was it ever!

Layla returns home after her Grandmother called her to come home immediately. When she arrives, her Grandmother doesn’t give her any answers, just sends her out to collect supplies to stock up the house she has been fortifying. Grandma makes sure that Layla knows where everything is and makes sure that she can use the firearms that she has stocked up on, before putting Layla into and induced sleep. When Layla awakens, she now has the Sight, and she finds out that the apocalypse has arrived. The people down the hill, in the small town need her help. She pushes everything else aside and dives straight into the battle to save the lives of the people that will rely on her guidance.

I liked Layla right from the start. You could tell she is a take charge kind of person and is great handling a weapon. She has been using a shashka from a young age but has also used any blade you can think of. She can certainly hold her own in a fight and is definitely a kick-ass heroine!! After 4 years of being away from home, she returns and like anyone who has a past, some feelings resurface. She may be a bad-ass, but she is a girl with feelings too.

Grandma is a hoot!! She just sends Layla off on errands and when Layla questions her, she just continues on as normal, like it is something she does every day. When Grandma was running through the guns and making sure she could shoot, she was cracking me up.

“Now, this is .44 Magnum, like the Dirty Harry movie. It has good stopping power. Lift up the safety and boom,” Grandma said pulling the trigger. The gun barrel let out a resounding noise, shattering Grandma’s old mantle-piece vase. “The man told Grandma this is a kill-shot gun, very powerful,”

We meet a lot of other characters from the small town as well, and two in particular are standouts – Ian and his brother Jamie. Ian was Layla’s high school sweetheart, but I thought he was a jerk. Jamie was a medic over in Iraq and is a nice guy. The three of them form a great team, along with other strong willed people in the town, they step up and take charge.

What I really enjoyed about the whole book was that there were plenty of twists to keep me guessing and asking myself questions. Now that the zombies are here, can other paranormal beings be out there too?? I was so intrigued I just had to keep reading until the end. Even though there weren’t any romance scenes in the book, there was the occasional sweet moment that made me go aww for Layla. There was plenty of sword action, gunfire, grenades and firepower to keep me glued to the pages. I loved it and after reading The Parallel at the end of the book, I was left wanting more!! The next book in the series, The Shadow Aspect, is due out soon……


About the Author
Melanie Karsak
Melanie Karsak, steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and caffeine junkie, resides in Florida with her husband and two children. Visit the author at her blog to learn more about upcoming projects, book signings, and other neato things. A Walking Dead fan, check out her blog for recaps!

You can find Melanie online at




4 comments:

  1. Oh this sounds like such a treat. I love action and characters I want to know and like and even occasionally thump on the head ;) I am super glad to see there is more to come, for some reason this makes me feel more invested in the characters. Thank you for sharing - I need this one an will be hopping over to load up the wishlist.

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  2. Thanks Denise!! It was definitely a fun read, i'd like to thump some characters too!! It was a great book, and I'm looking forward to more!!

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  3. This book rocked for me, and so agree about the twists..and the ending..eep!!!!!

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  4. I know!! The next book will be awesome!!

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