The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

Red was not some movie superhero any more than the man was a movie villain. She was just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that didn't look anything like the one she'd grown up in, the one that had been perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago....Red didn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she wasn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she was a woman alone in the woods....She had to get to her grandmother, and she still had a very long way to go.

I love this apocalyptic version of Little Red Riding Hood! Henry's writing is amazing, and I especially love Red (whose real name is Cordelia). And because so many people have already reviewed this book, I'm not going to try and summarize the plot; I'm just going to tell you a few of my favorite things about Red:

• She hates black licorice and wet socks (as do I!)
• When she was packing her evacuation bag, she included two books because "the apocalypse would be a lot more pleasant with Robin McKinley along." (I so agree!)
• She has her own set of Apocalypse Rules gleaned from a lifetime of watching and reading apocalyptic movies and books.
• She's cynical, practical, stubborn and tough. (And if she were a character in a horror movie, she'd be the girl who survives at the end.)
• She doesn't let the fact she has a prosthetic left leg stop her from doing anything.
• She always has a plan.
• She has an ax, and she's not afraid to use it.

Happy Reading!