This book was so delightful that I fear it’s made me sick, to all other stories forever. This book was a laugh-out-loud, kicking my feet while reading, good time. 🥹

Humor, romance, mystery, action? What does this book not have?! 🤩

It’s a gripping story of surviving a zombie apocalypse with a VAMPIRE!! Yes the story is as fun as it sounds, and yes Max is everything I needed and more! 🧛🏻

The FMC is someone that I need in my life immediately, and the MMC was down bad. 💜💜💜💜
(it’s so obvious to everyone except Edie that he’s obsessed with her)

Their love is so central to the story that it made me root for them from the very first couple of pages. They’re also hilarious, not only individually but as a duo. 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

And that wasn’t all, the other characters were built so well, they were all interesting. There wasn’t a single character that I didn’t care about or felt they were unnecessary. 🫶🏽

The action was gripping; you were always on your toes, wanting to turn the page as fast as you could while trying to stay as long as you could. 🧟

Olivia Dade has long time ago cemented herself as a powerhouse of romance, and this just solidifies it. 💜

ALSO, SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME THERE’S GOING TO BE ANOTHER BOOK. ASAP. I need more of this world!!!! 🌏

The concept of this book is so cute. People meeting in an apocalyptic world trying to stay alive and defeat Zombies. Unfortunately, I had a tough time getting through this. I thought the guy was funny, with the way his outfits were described and his alter ego, but I was kind of bored through some parts of the book. Maybe I am not the target audience for Zombie books. Anyways, loved the plus size girl rep and the mall counterfeiters, they were my favorite part.

3.75 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Zomromcom gave "I'm not here for a long time, but I'm here for a good time" vibes. It was a quick, easy read and I had a lot of fun. Is the world building robust? No, not at all. To be honest, I had A LOT of questions about the world around the containment zone and how it came to be. How did Supernatural and Enhanced humans come to be part of the greater common populace? What creature were the zombies originally?

Were motivations fully developed? Also no. Why did Max originally become so protective of Edie? Why is there distrust amongst so many of the Supernaturals? Why did Max create his following online?

Did the romance make sense? Again, no. Somehow it was strangers-to-lovers, instalove, and he falls first. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, yeah. Lots of questions and world-building weakness. However, I overlooked all of that in favor of having fun. Who doesn't like hearing about zombies' heads being lopped off followed immediately by spicy spice? Dade always does a great job with representation in all the ways - body, gender, orientation, etc. This felt like reading that guilty-pleasure movie you used to always catch on TNT in the good ol' days of cable TV.

Two neighbors fight a zombie outbreak with a sword and a burrito in this fun and ridiculous adventure. The grumpy/sunshine combo reluctantly tries to save humanity while breaking into song and discovering a potential conspiracy behind the zombie outbreak. Full of slapstick and quirky characters, this book is for those who enjoy over-the-top scenarios and laughs with their romance.

I really wanted to like this one. I have read so many of Olivia's other books and loved them, but this one just didn't work for me.

This one had a lot of potential and ways that it COULD be good (and I think others could enjoy more than I did). It has a zombie/post-apocalyptic setting. It's paranormal and has a fun adventure-like setting to it all. I actually enjoyed the setting more than the characters. It felt like I was in a zombie video game or something with the action and that was what kept me reading for so long.

Unfortunately, I really struggled in connecting to the characters. They just didn't feel like they were developed or given personalities before we dove into the story and them hooking up. It is VERY instalust, which isn't unusual for Olivia's books, but it just didn't work for me this time. I found myself really not liking the FMC. She felt like one of the characters you roll your eyes at for continuously doing stupid things in a horror movie. It just made me cringe and not want to connect with her. His character was fine but not much to him while also having SO much to him that he can't really be defined. And again, the instalust and jumping into hooking up just didn't work for me when I barely knew these characters and had no reason to root for them.

The audio was also not my favorite. I didn't like her voice and the accent she gave for the MMC was not great.

Overall, not a win for me, but I hope others can connect to it more and enjoy the story!

Thank you Berkley and PRH Audio for the free copies.

Olivia Dade writes a paranormal romance, with a curvy heroine on the cover, and all I can say is yes, please. This is silly, ridiculous and fun. The opening scene has Edie Brandstrup trying to save her reclusive neighbor Chad from a zombie attack. When he in turn rescues her she learns that he is in fact Gaston “Max” Boucher. He is a smart, capable, supernatural vampire and is centuries old. The joy the author has in coming up with lyrics to Gaston tickled me every time. The pair are trying to figure out why the containment field has been breached by zombies and to warn others. Along the way they meet others who have strong holds against the zombies.

Edie and Max carry most of the book. Their banter is fun but with each giving and getting zings. Some bits are cringe or a little over the top but I don’t think this book needs to be taken too seriously. I thought there was enough world building that I knew understood what was going on. Fantasy or paranormal stories are not my usual books to read. But I enjoyed this and look for more in the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC and I am leaving an honest review.

I had such high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it really didn't meet those expectations.

I've had really good luck in the past with Olivia Dade's books, and I was so excited to read her first foray into paranormal romance. And I will say, this book was fun at times. I think maybe if another author had written it, or I hadn't had high expectations, it probably would have been fine. The zombie situation is creatively presented and there are definitely some story moments that I actually enjoyed. Plus, the chaotic cast of secondary characters (the Girl Explorers! Doug!!!) were a delight.

But ultimately, this book was just sort of frustrating. The first half is overloaded with exposition, probably a consequence of such a complicated world. There are zombies! Here's how that happened! Here's what resulted from that! But wait! There's also supernaturals and enhanced humans and fae. And also fated mates, just because! The info-dumping gets a little overwhelming, but I was more interested in the world than I was in the characters or the romance. Edie and Max are just... boring. Which is sad, because Olivia Dade's characters are usually complex and layered. But because the characters were flat, the romance was even flatter, with a hint of insta-love. Sure, we find out that Max has been slowly falling for Edie since he moved in next door, but she really seems to fall in love with him in about two days, after not even knowing who or what he was before that. I could never quite figure out what she actually liked about him, other than that he was hot and wanted to protect her. Admirable qualities, to be sure, but probably not a solid foundation for love on their own.

This was definitely a book that I could tell the author had a ton of fun writing, because it was silly and at times joyful, even when it wasn't entirely working. I just wish I'd enjoyed it as much as Olivia Dade clearly enjoyed writing it!

3/5

Zomromcom
Genre - Paranormal romance
Rating - 3.5⭐️/enjoyed

Thanks @berkleypub and @prhaudio for the #gifted advanced copies and having me on tour. This releases August 5!

Don't let this cute cover fool you - this book had plenty of gorey zombie bits (literally). Fans of the show True Blood will love this - major vibes. While some romance and steamy bits, the focus of this story was the dystopian world and the beings that exist - both humans and nonhumans. There was lots of supernatural action that made this feel almost cinematic. With quirky characters, plenty of humor, body acceptance, and strong world building, this found family was fun to read.

I alternated between my ebook and audiobook - both were great. The audiobook was SO well performed by one narrator who made this unlikely crew feel so distinct.

Ultimately, I ended up not quite loving this as much as I'd hoped. The story was a bit too long, and, while I loved Edie's character, Max was a little difficult to get a read on and I just didn’t always quite get his personality. Still, this was my first book from this author, but won't be my last.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Zomromcom by Olivia Dade is a third person-POV paranormal romcom with vampires, zombies, fae, elves, and more. Edie lives in the Containment Zone, a zone that is meant to be a safe space from the zombie outbreak. Her neighbor is a total Chad, but Edie can’t resist helping him when a breach happens and a zombie comes for Chad’s yard. Only Chad is not a Chad, he’s Max and he’s a vampire. And the zombies are not nearly as braindead as the variety we’re used to.

This is more of a maximalist approach to paranormal romcoms. There's the vampires, zombies, and witches and more and Edie and Max are also influencers who have seen each other's videos and Edie runs a soap-making business. It's all of the things you could expect for a cozy romcom plus most of the things you could expect from a paranormal romance all mashed into one book. Based on this, I would say that the worldbuilding is a bit more vibes-based rather than grounded and the reader does need to go along with a lot of it because there aren't a ton of questions answered nor is there much room to expand a lot of it out.

One of the things I liked is that Edie is in her late thirties and is fat but has a small butt and chest. It's very hard to find FMCs who are over the age of twenty-five (if they are not immortal) in paranormal romances sometimes and it's even harder to find an FMC who is fat who doesn't have a giant behind or bust. More body types and ages in romance, please and thank you. I also appreciated that while we didn't get Max’s POV in the way of chapters, we did get to hear from him what drew him to Edie and it was very romantic and cute and did not ping as fetishistic at all.

Where this is different from a lot of paranormal romances is that the horror vibes are replaced for a more comedic tone. Yes, the zombies are fast and scary and actually seem to be able to plan things and the fae are not pleasant, but the voice itself and the running banter between Edie and Max is comedic. This takes a very fun turn when Edie learns Max’s actual first name is Gaston and she makes a lot of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast jokes because of it.

I would recommend this to fans of paranormal romance looking for something lighter but still on the spicy side and readers of Romantasy hungry for leads who are in their late thirties and also bigger in size

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for giving me an opportunity to review an ARC for this book.
I would have never thought to use a burrito as a weapon and I will never think of the Gaston song in the same way again, from beginning to end this book kept me laughing. Edie, a soap maker, teams up with her seemingly harmless neighbor Max, turns out he’s a vampire, to solve the mystery behind how the zombies escaped containment after 20 years. The adventure was fun, the banter they had between each other was great and of course they fall in love. Just like I did with this book. The ending made me excited to see what happens next.

This was such a chaotic and fun adventure. I went into this with only one expectation, “let’s have a good time” and this book definitely delivered on that. The banter between Edie and Max continuously had me cackling out loud. This really was just a perfect blend between paranormal, romcom, and action.

ZOMCOM was everything I could’ve wanted and more. As a horror fanatic, zombie obsessed book girlie …..THIS WAS MADE FOR US!

What a face paced hilarious read! This was my first book by Olivia Dade and now I’m going to have to go back and read everything she’s ever written!

This was so great ! Will definitely be stocking in my store .

Olivia Dade continues to bring the funny. Humor is subjective, so I’m hesitant to call her the funniest author writing, but I have no reservations about saying her humor ALWAYS lands for me. The book club style questions at the end…chef’s kiss.

My like, but not love (hence the 4 star rating), of this book comes down to personal tastes and preferences in PNR/UF. I gravitate away from lighter PNR/UF and toward heavier stories. This one felt in-between. The tone skewed light, while the world-building headed towards heavier (yet somehow the scale didn’t quite get all the way there for me). This is something that will not bother some readers I know at all, but make this a skip for others.

While I would have preferred that it knocked it out the park, it was still so good that I’ll be picking up the next installment.

3.75 stars

I had fun, this book was wild. The zombies lore was incredibly interesting and I loved the MCs. There were genuinely terrifying scenes (the scene in the car on the bridge?? Legitimately scared me!) which speaks to Dade's writing. The FMC was funny and the MMC's care and love for her felt real.

But this was also a bit long. And it felt every time they made progress towards the outside, they ended back up at the starting point multiple times. I also wish we got to see more of the planning for the final fight. My biggest issue though was some of the word choices. There were some very big words used throughout this book and sure an ancient vampire's dialogue may contain some high-dollar vocab but it was even heavy in the non-dialogue. It felt more like it was written in a historical romance style but in.a contemporary paranormal romance it felt a bit overdone at times. I had to use my kindle dictionary A LOT which had I read it in paperback would have driven me crazy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

Zomromcom was such a fun zombie romp that some issues with pacing and an insta-lust romance that came out of nowhere didn't mar my enjoyment of the book at all. There are not only zombies, but also vampires, shifters, fae, trolls, demons, and supernaturally enhanced humans so it's a paranormal kitchen sink kind of world where you never know what's going to show up next.

Edie is "just" human, although she keeps hoping some enhanced abilities will show up. She lost her parents in the first zombie breach, but in spite of that, she's managed to build a productive life as a specialty soap maker and maintain a kind, generous heart and a sunshiny though snarky attitude. Chad/Gaston/Max is all vampire and a pretty ancient one at that. His age is never given, but he's been around for at least 600 or so years. He's the grumpy one, who's seen and done almost everything and was close to giving up on his long existence until he happened to move in next door to Edie, and was promptly fascinated by her.

When the zombies breach their containment again, Edie and Max are forced to work together to warn the unsuspecting people outside of the walls and to uncover why the breach happened. They proceed to banter their way through zombie encounters, the recruitment of allies, wild chases, random zombie violence and some pretty spicy one-on-ones.

The book opens with Edie and Max encountering the zombies, but I think it would have benefited from a few scenes showing their prior interactions. Without that, their connection feels a bit inorganic. There was also a fair amount of worldbuilding that slowed down the pace a bit. Overall, though, a fun and entertaining read. My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

ZomRomCom by Olivia Dade is exactly what it promises to be, delightfully unhinged, laugh out loud ridiculous, and surprisingly sweet. This is not a book to take seriously, and honestly, that’s where all the fun lies. The plot is absurd (in the best way), the romance is both steamy and silly, and the zombie antics had me grinning the whole way through. If you're looking for a book that leans all the way into its chaos and makes no apologies for the ride, this one’s for you. I had a blast.

I wanted to love this so badly. I am so sorry Olivia Dade but I should have DNF this on chapter two. This felt like a crack fanfic au that is fun because you get all the little different little characters in fun circumstances. Except I have no attachment to most of these people? I am in the minority it seems since some people love the humor. I just felt exhausted by it. I went in expecting a fun ride and instead it was a fever dream.

The Good:
-Diverse characters
-REALLY COOL world building
-Great romance scenes
-Some fun humor

The Bad:
-The dialogue was really overdone in places. It was not balanced with the prose. everything can't be 150% humor and trying to be witty
-The moments that should have been heartfelt were shoved in amongst other things.
-Everything felt like a speed run?

Thank you NetGallley for this ARC. Please consider me for Dade's NEXT book because I'll continue singing her praise forever... just not this book.

I want to start off I love Olivia dade but I think this one was miss for me . The beginning was all over the place I had to reread it to make I wasn't having a fever dream . The whole beginning with the burrito threw me all the way off along with some other things . To be fair I think it supposed to be to be a comedy and I was expecting more of a romance.

The premise for this was really fun, and I was looking forward to a light, adventurous read with a touch of a horror. It is cute and action-packed, with lovable and diverse characters. At the same time this was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. The humor was cute and charming but just felt really heavy-handed at times, and the world building was paper thin, which was a shame because the elements that were briefly mentioned were interesting and had a lot of potential for exploration.

The insta-love element paired with the overly light tone took away any tension and it felt like our two protagonists were just bopping along from one situation to the next with no real obstacles.

While this didn’t really work for me however, I can see the appeal in a romantic, silly, stress-free read and think a lot of readers would enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy. This review was written voluntarily.

Zomromcom by Olivia Dade was such a fun and entertaining story! A bit of romantic comedy with a bit of seriousness. I personally love a bit of comedic relief, and this book has plenty.

Things I liked:
•The MMC’s nickname for the FMC. It sounds like an insult, but it kind of works.
•The fact that the author made me like the MMC after the way we first meet him…..that’s a superpower.
•The loveable side characters.
•The plus size representation and the “I’m not young anymore” idea

Things I didn’t like:
•The Gaston song. The idea was perfect, but I think it was played on too many times.
•The fact that this isn’t a standalone. I feel like it could have been wrapped up in one book.

Overall, this book was a perfect zombie/ comedy read. I immediately went and preordered a signed copy, and I was only 20% in at the time.