I absolutely adore Edie and Max together; their banter is absolutely everything. I now, unfortunately, have Gaston's song (and all its variants) stuck in my head, so that's fun. My biggest issue with this is the world-building/lore. Some details are just a bit too confusing and messy.

Olivia Dade nails it again! Olivia’s books are always the best. I truly love and appreciate her representation of plus size bodies.

Edie our beloved fmc is a badass all her own. Trying to save a stoner neighbor or with a burrito! A+. Max our grumpy mmc, hating everyone but Edie. That’s always a good time.

This book had so many scenes where I was laughing out loud, and I just had a great time the whole time. Except for that cliffhanger!! This is a series so don’t expect a standalone.

No notes, just give me more! Olivia we need answers!

ZomRomCom by Olivia Dade is exactly what it sounds like: zombies, romance, and a whole lot of chaotic hilarity. It opens with our heroine, Edie, valiantly wielding a burrito as a weapon to save her himbo neighbor, Chad—who is very much not Chad and very much not a himbo. He’s actually Max, an ancient vampire who hates being called Gaston, which of course means Edie sings the Beauty and the Beast song every chance she gets.

What follows is a zombie-infested road trip featuring canned falafel, shady supernatural pit stops, and the kind of enemies-to-lovers banter that includes mild vampiric bloodletting and steamy couch sex in a cursed mall. Max is all grumpy brooding protector vibes. Edie is chaos incarnate with a death wish and a heart of gold. Together, they fight zombies, flirt through near-death experiences, and team up with a Girl Scout militia, a witch, a troll or two, and what I think might be supernatural arms dealers.

Is it ridiculous? Absolutely. Did I laugh-snort my coffee more than once? Also yes. Was I weirdly emotional over their sacrifices and HEA? Of course. There’s even the looming threat of an inter-species war, so Dade, I really hope this becomes a series because I need more of this unhinged paranormal madness.

If you like your romance with bite, heart, and a side of zombie guts, ZomRomCom deserves a spot on your shelf.

Thank you Berkley for the ARC of Zomromcom!

Rounded up from 4.75 stars!

I *really* enjoyed this one! This was my first Olivia Dade book, but I will definitely be picking up more.

I thought this was a really fun and delightful read. The world building was super interesting, and I loved that it was more than just vampires and zombies. I thought Edie's character was amazing - she was smart, snappy, strong, and hilarious. I was totally singing along with her Gaston songs. Max was fun too! I thought his character went back and forth between broody old vampire and frat boy Chad a little too much and too quickly sometimes, which is why it's not a 5 star read for me, but I still thought he was great.

I would actually love to play a video game of this story one day - I think it'd be really cool.

This ended in a way that seems like a book 2 is coming eventually, so I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Arc Review

I love romcoms and I love zombies so it should be no surprise that I found this book to be a fun read and I really enjoyed it. I love how body positive Olivia Dade's FMCs are, I feel like it's easy to see yourself as a character in one of her books. There were so many amusing/funny things throughout as well.(I'm looking at you macramé) Edie really is a funny gal and is the perfect sunshine to Max's grumpy. Max had so many shining(and hot) moments that really made me love him. Little things that add to a character's personality really get to me. There is a moment where he slings his arm across her chest while braking hard in the car. I eat ish like that UP.
This was almost a five star read for me but I wanted a bit more depth between the characters and their relationship, as well as a bit more world building on the paranormal/zombie side. Also- the nose wiping really bothered me 😂


Tropes/Things to expect
*Grumpy x Sunshine
*Vampires(and other paranormal creatures)
*Spice 🔥
*Banter
*Talks her through it (IYKYK)

The title of this book tells you pretty much everything you need to know. There are zombies, romance, and comedy. I loved the characters in this book: not just our main characters, Max and Edie, but all the supporting characters, too. I loved the idea of a vampire influencer and the descriptions of Max's videos made me laugh. I loved Edie's toughness and desire to help and protect. I do not read scary books. I don't even read thrillers at this stage of my reading life. However I still loved Zomromcom even though this isn't a cozy story. The threat from the zombies was real, and I was never sure how, or even if, everyone would survive. The romance and the humour kept me going even though zombies aren't my thing. This book reminded me how much I loved watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I absolutely gobbled this ARC up — no crumbs left!! ZOMROMCOM was everything I love in a story: hilarious, heartwarming, fast-paced, and totally unputdownable.

Edie is SO funny and sweet, and as a fellow late-30s gremlin with a similar sense of humor, I felt deeply, spiritually connected to her. Max? Max is 100% my new book boyfriend. I am in LOVE. Like, swooning, giggling, kicking my feet in love.

This book serves:
🧟‍♀️ Found family that made me cry
🧠 Banter that made me wheeze
💘 Romance that made me believe again

It had me laughing one minute, teary-eyed the next, and fully obsessed the entire time. I already know this is going to be one of my top reads of the year. Cannot WAIT to get my hands on a print copy when it releases later this year!!

Zombies, vampires, and burritos, oh my! Zomromcom was a fun, spicy, paranormal romp, and I had a lot of fun reading it!

This book kicks off with Edie, regular human woman, attempting to save her neighbor, Chad, a total frat bro, from zombies using a burrito. Yes, you read that correctly, a burrito was used as a bat and beat the crap out of some gross zombies. Turns out, Edie can't fight off zombies on her own and is saved by the neighbor she was saving, and guess what, Chad, is actually an ancient vampire named Gaston, cue Beauty and the Beast's "no one fights like Gaston." This is a recurring reference and Max (ie Gaston the vampire, Chad the frat bro) hates it, which makes Edie sing it more. Max has a cool bunker under his house that would probably keep him and Edie safe from a zombie apocalypse, but Edie is determined to warn other humans and supernaturals about the zombies escaping their containment and Max refuses to let her go alone. The two set off on a road trip to warn people and alert the authorities because the cell and wifi are down and no one else seems to know about the zombie hoard wreaking havoc in the near vicinity. We meet a multitude of characters during Edie and Max's road trip and discover a bit more about why Edie is so set on risking life and limb to alert others, and why Max was so hellbent on going with her. There are lots of weird (hopefully, fictional) foods eaten, like falafel in a can and pizza jerky, and some blood is taken from a vein or two (hot). Edie and Max spend a steamy night together on a Pottery Barn couch in a not-so-abandoned mall, run into some intense Girl Scouts with a warning from a witch, get accidentally slashed to pieces (but not death) by zombies, have some more spicy times in Max's bunker, and then team up with the Girl Scouts, a witch, troll cousins, an oracle, and counterfeiters (and possible arms dealers?) to defeat the zombies. Edie makes a great sacrifice and is totally at peace with it. Max makes a great sacrifice and then is super smug about it. And he also yells at Edie about her sacrifice. Cue the HEA... but wait... there's still a possible inter-species war threat and one of our side characters def has a story to tell that is probably very relevant to said war threat and a zombie apocalypse! I'm looking forward to Dade's next book in what I'm hoping is a new paranormal series!

Dade has a distinct voice and that came through loud and clear even in a new genre. If you're a paranormal fan and/or a fan of Dade's, you need this on your radar!

I received an arc copy via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This was fun! I always know with Olivia Dade it's going to be a fast paced romp with a hot MMC and a gorgeous plus size FMC and this was exactly that. I liked the addition of all the supernatural characters, in particular the Girl Guides. I didn't love the latter section of the book with the lead up to the battle, it just felt a little disjointed and I wanted more character development to make that payoff worth it.

Like most of Olivia Dade's works, the protagonist is plucky and heartfelt, the male love interest hulking and broody. The addition of zombies is a very new twist, but is otherwise a cozy if predictable jaunt. A fast paced read, I would recommend for a fun weekend read. Highlights include burrito inclusion, queer witches, craft organization, and interesting world building.

This story follows Edie who attempts to save her neighbor Chad from a zombie breach. She soon finds out that he didn't need to be saved because he is not human, like she thought, rather a vampire. And his name is Gaston "Max" not Chad. They team up to fight for the future of humanity together while also falling for each other.

This book had many hilarious moments that had me laughing out loud. The banter between Edie and Max was perfect for this RomCom and gave a lighthearted feel to a zombie invasion! I will say I felt like the story was a little jumbled, we start with zombies and before we know it there are vampires, witches, fae and so much more. A lot of supernatural beings and that took away from what I was hoping this story would be focused on. It seemed all over the place at times like the author just really wanted to throw in all her favorite supernatural beings in one book. I did feel let down with the expectations and high hopes I had for this book. I would have loved more of a backstory on how Edie and Max got to where they are now. We jump in after zombies being present for so long in their world and briefly touch on how they got there but I would have liked more of that.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔: ❤️❤️❤️/5
𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔: Instalust/Instalove, Sunshine FMC x Grumpy MMC, Zombie Apocalypse, Plus Sized Heroine, Vampire Hero, Human x Vampire
𝒮𝓅𝒾𝒸ℯ ℒℯ𝓋ℯ𝓁: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/10
𝓣𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓦𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼: Violence, foul language, lots and lots and LOTS of blood and gore, etc

╚══ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══╝

First of all, thank you so much to NetGalley and Olivia Dade for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for this review! This is a voluntary review that I'm leaving for <b>ZOMROMCOM</b> and I hope that my words are taken with a grain of salt! These are all my opinions and don't have to reflect your personal view of this novel.

Zomromcom has an interesting premise, one that immediately swept me away. We have Edie (Eden), a feisty, sharp-tongued, late thirties heroine who isn't afraid to sacrifice herself to save others. Then, we have Chad (or Gaston/Max), a broody Vampire who doubles as a social media influencer with little-to-no social life but a strong affinity toward Edie. The story progresses to show how Edie and Max fight through the zombie apocalypse to warn others of mysterious government experiments and save those who could potentially be harmed.

CHARACTERS

EDIE: Edie (or Eden) is the protagonist of the story that is told from her POV. She's a quick-witted, sarcastic soap maker who's been living in one of the 'zone's' in Virginia for nearly two decades. Edie is classified, at least to me, as a sunshine character, but at times, I felt like her personality was just optimistic for optimism's sake, which is good, but the circumstances in which she was optimistic didn't make sense. Her humor was amusing sometimes, but fell flat and gave an immature vibe most of the time. There is a LOT of telling in this book, and a lot of it is through Edie's slapstick humor where she inevitably dissolves into a joke that doesn't even match the descriptions she was giving the reader. With Edie, you don't know much about her, but at the same time, you do. Her reasons for behaving the way she does is vague, and her self-sacrificing character trait wasn't inspirational. Despite that, I loved her wit and her resilience. She wasn't afraid to be vulnerable and give Max a piece of her mind when he deserved it. What fell the most, for me, was that her self-sacrificing behavior was never really addressed. The PUSH for her to sacrifice herself just wasn't there. I get that she promised to help others to her Mom, but I don't feel like that's enough of a push to help someone else, especially when she first meets Max, a neighbor she hardly speaks to and who quite openly expresses his displeasure with her.

MAX: Max is Edie's love interest and a Vampire who was set to join a secret supernatural society meant to protect supernatural's, but he didn't, for a reason that's still kind of vague to me. Max values his privacy and isolation, so him being a social media influencer was a bit confusing. If he had a desire to express himself without fear of being hunted (like vampires are in this story) then I think it would have made sense, but his grumpy character coupled with his social media gig in a zombie apocalypse just didn't make sense. Despite that, I loved Max's character! His dry humor caught onto me more than Edie's sarcasm, and his character maintained its personality and developed more than Edie. I looked forward to reading his scenes because I felt like, despite also having vague ideas of his past, I knew more about Max than I did about Edie.

THE PLOT

The story starts off with a bang, which got me excited, but then it dragged on for a long time, and my excitement dwindled. While I loved the action and humor with Edie's burrito and Max's quick thinking and over consumerism (seriously, I would LOVE to have that man's bank account), I felt like not much happened in the story, and the conclusion (it's a cliffhanger, so if one can even call it a conclusion) just left me with more questions than a conclusion should leave. I think I would have liked seeing the story from Max's POV more, because while Edie was a humorous narrator, she just didn't click with me.

Throughout the story there are several extensive paragraphs that threw me off and I had to re-read them several times to understand a basic description that could have been done in a few lines. Dade utilizes a lot of unique words that I had to look up in the dictionary while reading, and I think that simplicity would have been the key when writing this novel. However, her euphemisms and descriptions of feelings were on point!

What confused me the most was the world building. We do get a map of the Zone, but it's not exactly explained well. Why are people going to Virginia if there are zombies? Are the zombies only contained in Virginia? Why aren't they trying to get people out of Virginia? What's going on with the rest of the world? How are people able to move about so freely? How are there still service lines?! These are a few of the many questions I had.

THE SPICE

There was a lot more spice than what I was expecting, and while I enjoyed Edie and Max's chemistry, I felt like their story was more of an 'instalust' than a slow-build. I was particularly excited to see Max slowly falling for Edie, but he seemed to always have an affinity for her, while Edie's attraction felt more realistic, especially considering her character. After a while, the sex scenes got repetitive, and I wish (call me strange LOL) we'd gotten to see Dade mix it up and utilize her surroundings to create a more intense, charged atmosphere.

THE TRIGGERS

There are mentions of loss of family, intense violence, blood, gore, and a lot of innuendos and foul language. For more triggers, please check the author/publisher's website! I don't mind violence very much, and Dade did an amazing job writing her fight scenes because they were quick, intense, and created just the right image!

Please keep yourselves safe and check the author's list of triggers before reading ❤️

╚══ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══╝

Overall, while there were parts of this book that had me scratching my head, I enjoyed reading Edie and Max's story. The idea of a vampire in a zombie apocalypse is something I haven't seen before, and I can't wait to see more of Edie and Max in the next book! Edie is a heroine I'd love to see develop more and having Max be like a puppy for Edie is just the kind of man I love!

I was really looking forward to Zomromcom since I've enjoyed Olivia Dade's novels in the past and I'm a big fan of paranormal romance. Unfortunately, this book didn't really wow me. It was ok, but I thought the pacing was off. Some parts were great and others really slow. The banter between Edie and Max got repetitive really quickly. Towards the end, a bunch of new characters were introduced and I think the novel would've benefited more from meeting them much earlier in the story. Overall I felt like the author couldn't decide what she wanted this novel to be so it came across to me as a lot of different stories smashed together rather than a cohesive narrative.

It’s quirky, comical, and full of urban fantasy wackiness. It introduces a modern world in which every supernatural creature ever seems to exist, plus humans with special abilities. It’s a lot, with the broad strokes of coexistence, amid cordoned off containment zones, vampire beauty influencers, dubious canned foods, and an interesting (ie cozy) take on government oversight. Basically, this zombie apocalypse may be filled with danger, blood and violence, but it’s also a lot of fun… and chock full of Disney song rewrites. Plus romance! It really is a ZomRomCom.

2.5/5 stars
3/5 spice

Super disappointed to say that it didn’t deliver on the Zom, the Rom, or the Com.

Zom - despite the plot centering around Zombies, there was not a lot of actual Zombie appearances throughout. We had a lot more interaction with every other type of supernatural being - Vampires, Trolls, Oracles, you name it. I would’ve preferred if it was just Zombies vs Humans and there was more Zombie interactions.

Rom - I did not like the romance at all. It would make much more sense to me if they’re just hooking up because there’s a zombie apocalypse and partners are slim pickings. But it was supposed to be an actual romance where they fell in love and I’m sorry but I wasn’t buying what they were selling. They went from 0 to 100 and it just didn’t make sense.

Com - the first page was the only time I remember thinking that this book was silly/goofy. I was under the impression that this would fall into the sub-category of books that Kimberly Lemming puts out (quirky, wild, fun paranormal romance), but it certainly did not give that. I was ready for ridiculousness that was just fun. It did not deliver.

I really didn’t have very high expectations going into this, as I knew it was supposed to be silly, but it wasn’t even silly, it was just meh all around. I really wanted to love it but I rarely even found myself enjoying it.

It also set up that there could possibly be a continuation of the story, maybe in an interconnected standalone kind of way. At this point, I don’t see myself picking up any continuation of this story.

I liked and was slightly annoyed by this one. 🤣 The premise and characters were fun. The romance felt like it went from "I didn't really know my random frat guy neighbor" to "I can't live without him!" in almost no time. It just seemed very abrupt. I like the unique world, and the whole supporting cast was interesting. I will read the next one, because based on how this one ended, I feel like there has to be more. 3.5 ⭐

Thanks to … myself … for smashing the Read Now button on NetGalley so I could read this ARC early. (Someday Berkley will love me as much as I love their books!)

I’m not a zombie girl, but this book was a delight. Edie and Max sparkle (though NOT in a Twilight way): they have gorgeous grumpy/sunshine chemistry.

I was expecting romcom (probably obviously). I wasn’t expecting FEELINGS or the level of vampire/human spice, so I’m unexpectedly pleased with both.

I absolutely recommend this book; it's an easy 4.5 stars for me.

Another excellent Olivia Dade book. I am not a fan of the zombie genre but this was really fun. The romance happens really fast but is handled well and is believable. Lots of fun side characters.

I wanted to love this book so much! It has all of the ingredients for a 4 to 5 star, but it just didn't get there for me. I'll admit, I wanted to DNF so hard for the first 30%. I had all but given up and was just about to when suddenly here comes a spicy scene. The spice was so well written that it made me reconsider. So there I was, plugging along for the hope of another spicy scene. Honestly, it was the only thing that had me finishing this book. I felt so confused. The dialogue was cringe, the jokes and banter felt very juvenile and home schooled, it felt like 3 completely different novels hibachied into one. You have a plus sized middle aged FMC with 0 maturity, and a social media fashion icon influencer whom is literally Edward from Twilight and believed to be about 17 as well....so much so that the FMC was feeling like a cradle robbing cougar with her randomly impure thoughts. The MMC is "hiding out" under the radar from an organization yet somehow has collaborated with everyone they come across in social media posts? I'm confused. How can you be hiding out and antisocial and a hated vampire, yet plastering your face all over everything online and working with all of your frenemies? The jokes and banter between to MMC and FMC had me thinking they were way besties, not lovers. Yet the intimate scenes were beautifully written and sexy. It even had some emotional parts that were so deeply layered that I teared up... but when I cringed again a moment later, it just felt like some really good material was wasted on this plot line. It's a Twilight parody (Vampires Suck) meets Teen Titans. Not for me, but I bet there is the right tribe for this somewhere and it will be their 5 star read.

With Zomromcom, Olivia Dade sets up a supernatural world that takes familiar paranormal beings and gives them unique characteristics that keep things fresh. Edie and Max have a great dynamic, from annoying each other while trying to navigate the early stages of the outbreak to doing absolutely anything to protect each other as their relationship grows. This book is filled with great banter and spice with both main characters making it easy love them as individuals and a couple. The romantic aspects definitely drive the story, with Dade balancing the horror elements inherent to a zombie outbreak in a way that provides stakes for the characters without making it too scary for readers looking for a fun paranormal romance. This helps keep an overall lighter tone, even when characters are dealing with dark situations. While this is a romance, an essential part of Edie’s character is the care she has for her community. This allows us to meet a number of side characters that are each given opportunities to shine, providing more of an investment in the success of Edie’s mission to help save her neighbors. Both the world and the characters feel lived in (Doug is a shining star, more of him please!), in a way that left me excited to continue exploring this story. I’m looking forward to seeing where this series goes and will definitely be watching for the next book to be announced.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.