Once Bitten, Twice Dead

E-book author D’Arc makes her print debut with an action-oriented, unpolished romance amid zombies. Police officer Sarah Petit finds herself in the middle of a zombie attack on a call she expects to be routine. After she fights off her attackers, Green Beret Capt. Xavier Beauvoir shows up at the hospital and tells her she’s one of the few people immune to a disease accidentally developed by the American military. Together they face the monstrosities being created by cookie-cutter villain Sellars, and also discover a dangerously distracting mutual attraction. The sex scenes are hot but undermined by corny dialogue (“I think there’s voodoo in the air when we touch like I’ve never felt before”) and repetitive descriptions of inner thought. The romance is refreshingly between humans, and the zombies are unambiguously monstrous, but the story never truly lives up to its promise. (Mar.)