Olivia Dade may have asked herself, what if The Walking Dead had a baby with True Blood and it came out a rom com? What if fat women had post-apocalypse adventures and got the hunky vampire too? She may have asked herself those questions and then written ZomRomCom. Dade opens with Edie going after a zombie with a burrito to protect her seemingly oblivious neighbor, Chad. Chad is not only not Chad, he is also not oblivious. He is a vampire named Max* and furious that Edie would try to protect him with a stuffed tortilla instead of saving herself.
ZomRomCom is different from Dade’s contemporary romances, and also it is not. It’s post apocalyptic/urban fantasy. It’s our world but vampires, shifters, witches, the fae, and other supernaturals are no longer hiding and zombies. Dade’s romances are always funny, and this one is on the funnier side, even in the face of a zombie apocalypse. While we don’t delve into depression the way we do with At First Spite, Edie and Max both have experienced trauma in the past that informs their behavior. Edie is unwilling to let others die to save her own life and Max is unwilling to let Edie die. They hole up together and then try to get to a place where they can notify the outside world that the zombies have escaped containment. They meet up with other pockets of survivors, including a terrifyingly competent Girl Scout troop, and make a plan to keep people safe. It becomes clear that there will be a multi-book arc to get to the bottom of what looks like a conspiracy.
I enjoyed this so much and so many of the things that I loved are spoilers. What I can say is that I did not struggle to read ZomRomCom the way I’ve struggled with other books this year. Dade has created a world that feels possible and familiar, yet different enough that I can sink into the book world’s problems without spiraling into real world anxieties. And I love that the book world’s problems can only be solved the same way our real world problems can be solved – cooperation and community.
* Max’s name is a source of great amusement for Edie, so I’m not going to ruin the surprise for you. Just know she gives Max endless grief. Endless! And he loves it.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Berkley and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.