zomromcom is about edie, a school librarian turned accidental zombie slayer, who teams up with her weirdly hot but socially inept neighbor to survive the undead apocalypse. turns out, he’s also a vampire who’s been hiding out for centuries in sweatpants and obliviousness. the book leans hard into ridiculous humor, and at times, it absolutely works. one moment you’re getting emotional over a found family, the next you’re laughing at lines like, “these aren’t granny panties. they’re fashion.”

but the tone is kind of all over the place. one minute it’s quirky banter, and the next someone’s getting their insides artistically rearranged on the page. i’m not big on horror, so the gore-to-romance ratio felt a little skewed for me. fun concept, clever jokes, but the story didn’t fully click… still, it’s probably the most chaotic zombie romcom i’ve ever read. thank you net galley for the e-arc!

Thank you NetGalley, Olivia Dade, and Berkley Publishing for gifting me this eARC!

This was exactly what you would expect from the title, a romcom that happens to include zombies (and a whole slew of supernatural creatures, enhanced humans, and completely normal humans like our FMC)! It was a silly story with perfect banter and sarcasm while also having an underlining very serious plot that I thought Olivia has written beautifully. As much as the characters were fun and cheesy it didn’t take away or ruin the plot! I’m actually extremely excited to see what the next book has in store for us.

This had so much potential
Hilarious banter
HOT chemistry
MMC vampire...
Cozy zombie Romcom
But overall it was missing a lot for me. We are dropped in a zombie, fae, witch, troll world with no world building. We don't know how it because zombie infested or much of what's going on. We learn a bit more as the story moves on and we go through villages but not enough for me.
The humor is very genz with TikTok jokes and more. I loved our hot vampire and think it could have helped the book to have more on his thoughts.

Thank you Berkeley for this earc.

Olivia Dade has been on my TBR list for so long, and I am glad I finally picked up one of her books!

Zomromcom is an apt name. It truly mixes the supernatural/zombies with romantic comedy moments, and it all came together into one story that I didn't want to put down. Edie and Max were characters that had their humourous moments and great banter, but they weren't strictly comic relief. They were interesting to read about and I was curious about how their relationship would develop in the middle of the situation they've been thrown into.

This was a fast paced read and I can't wait to try another Olivia Dade book!

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC for an honest review.

I wanted to love this, but so much of the characters and lack of world building didn’t work for me. I felt like once pieces of the world started to get explained that I would get a better picture for how this whole zombie thing came about, but then we would just segue into something else.

I could have probably overlooked some of the world building if I really loved the characters, but again, so much was left to be desired. Edie and Gaston/Max just didn’t have chemistry or really make me want to keep reading. They were all over the place and everything just felt disjointed and rushed.

This will definitely be a good book for some readers wanting a lighter read during spooky season, but it didn’t work for me

Zomromcom is an ambitious attempt to combine a lot of different types of stories and unfortunately, it wasn't very successful to me. The idea of this world that we are thrown into is interesting, but there are so many complicated rules and history leading up to the zombie apocalypse we find ourselves in, that it didn't really work and I mostly felt confused. Like I'm fine with a book being absolutely insane and bonkers if I'm at least having a god times, but sadly I was not. I enjoyed the banter between Edie & Max but the relationship didn't feel earned, it felt a little too rushed.

Many thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the ARC.

Zomromcom by Olivia Dade is a combination of paranormal romance, dad jokes, quirky characters, grumpy x sunshine, and unexpected macrame. I never thought I'd write out that last part. It's a quick and fun read and I enjoyed how all the various paranormal beings are a part of normal life and the story isn't about their discovery. Instead, we meet Edie (human) and Max (vampire) who must navigate a suspicious break in zombie defenses that causes them to join forces. Hello, forced proximity. The story does not take itself too seriously and I will remember the ongoing Gaston song jokes for a while!

Thanks to @berkleypub for the egalley! I've also discovered that the physical cover glows in the dark?! How cool is that?!

I’m a huge Olivia Dade fan and will read anything she writes. Zomromcom was definitely unlike any of her other romances, but still had all of the swoony romance and plus-size representation you would come to expect from her novels.

Edie has lived on her own since the zombies first attacked 20 years ago. When she finds her clueless himbo neighbor Chad about to be attacked by a zombie she doesn’t even think twice before launching an attack (burrito) and trying to save Chad’s life. Only Chad ends up being Max, a super old vampire who is more than capable of taking care of himself. Zombie breaches like this are rare and when the alarm sirens don’t sound, Edie knows it’s up to her to save their containment zone.

I was pleasantly surprised by just how funny this book ended up being! Edie was a delight and even though there are zombies (ah!!) the banter between Edie and Max still managed to be light and cute. The Gaston references alone had me smiling every time Edie came up with a new song and I loved Max’s influencer background. Setting this romance during a zombie attack was a great choice because it forced our main characters to work together for survival and really bonded them in a way that made the romance more believable. I loved all of the secondary characters and just how many different creatures there were in this world. I hope we get to revisit them again in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for a review copy.

This is a very cute, standard romantic comedy x zombies. I love the banter between the MCs. There was definitely a lot of chaos but what else can you expect from a zombie apocalypse? This isn’t your typical rom com but it is a great twist on it! I love the inclusivity and cannot recommend this book enough!

DNF around 25%. For such a kitschy book, it did not catch and hold my attention at all. It took me two and half weeks to read a quarter of the book, and I had no interest in picking it back up, unfortunately. The plot was not engaging to me, and the characters lacked chemistry. I hope it will appeal to me more later, but for now, it didn’t work.

Unbelievably silly, sexy, and soothing: these are the hallmarks of an Olivia Dade romance, and Zomromcom delivers in spades! Get ready to laugh, cry, swoon, and hack some zombies into bits.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Zomromcom
Author: Olivia Dade

Thank you so much NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for my copy of this read! This was the most unhinged yet surprisingly sweet fantasy mixed with cheesy romance that I’ve ever read. It felt like Olivia threw a bunch of our favorite spooky creatures into a bowl and conjured up the ultimate romcom. Amidst a zombie outbreak, Edie tries to save her neighbor from being eaten alive, only to discover he’s actually a vampire. Together they set out to uncover what triggered this terrifying second wave of the zombie apocalypse. Along the way they encounter witches, fae, and plenty of quirky supernatural characters that keep the story wild and hilarious. The romance between Edie and Max is heartwarming, tender, and the perfect balance to the book’s chaotic humor. I also laughed out loud so many times at the sheer absurdity of situations, yet somehow it never stopped being a swoony romance either. Goodreads says this is book one of Supernatural Entanglements? That means we’re getting more! I absolutely love Olivia Dade and cannot wait for the next installment.

Olivia Dade should have been writing PNR forever ago because this was a BLAST. Older FMC, younger vampire MMC, zombie apocalypse, fat rep that’s positive. Winner winner, chicken dinner. I don’t know how to explain it but seeing a fat body in an apocalypse situation and having it be powerful and strong and not in need of saving or an object of mockery was so lovely. I mean Dade has always done fantastic fat rep, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen fatness shown in a main character in an apocalypse setting and that alone was so well done, this book deserved five stars.

Add in the romance (Max and Edie were reluctantly smooshed together and that’s always a hit for me) and some zombie slaughtering, and I had a great time. I do think this plot was a bit more messy than it had to be, but it was fun and that was all I really cared about anyway!

wait this was so funny and campy??? i didn’t know i was missing so much whimsy in my life until i read this supernatural romance and i absolutely adore it

I know I complain a lot about books not having enough plot. You should be happy to know that I can ALSO complain about not enough character development!⁠
⁠
Max and Edie are on the move from beginning to end in this zombie apocalypse romance. There was plenty of plot to go around, as we follow them from home/lair to car to abandoned mall etc., etc. As for character development, both Max and Edie were quirky dialed up to 11. Max is a vampire who also has a fashion/beauty influencer alter ego; Edie makes homemade soap and wears lots of coveralls; they both willingly choose to live in the area that will be soonest infested by zombies if they ever escape... I wonder if they will escape?⁠
⁠
Here's the thing: Olivia Dade is really good at writing funny situations, and leavening tough situations with humor. But here, all we have is a madcap apocalyptic zombie run and two quirky characters who somehow fall in love with each other despite all of the weird bodily fluids they run into. Why did they fall in love over the course of about 3 days of constant zombie pursuit? I have no clue. (They're not even fated mates, which would have explained a little - and the fact that I, who kind of hate the fated mates trope because it takes the place of relationship development 9 times out of 10, think that it would have improved the character development should tell you a little something about the book.)⁠
⁠
The absurd humor and hot sex wasn't quite enough for me, alas. I'll still be devouring Dade's next contemporary, but I don't know if her PNR is for me.⁠
⁠
This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

✨ZOMROMCOM✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️
This was such a fun book! What happens when a human and a vampire face a zombie apocalypse together? They band with a witch, an oracle, some trolls and half fae Girl Scouts to battle the zombies of course!
The characters are in a dystopian world where zombies have taken over most of the world and they are forced to live in a fortress which gets breached!
The FMC Edie is a plus sized bad ass who taunts our vampire MMC Max by eating an array of highly processed foods to disgust them. She also makes references to the song Gaston from beauty and the beast because the MMCs name is actually Gaston but he goes by his middle name Max instead which is hilarious.
I truly enjoyed reading this book it was a wild ride from start to finish and I cannot wait to see where the rest of this series goes. If you love a plus sized FMC, fae creatures, forced proximity or a dystopian world you’re going to enjoy ZomRomCom which is now available for purchase! “Thanks so much to @berkleypub @berkleyromance or @acebookspub for the free book!” #BerkleyPartner #AceBooksPartner #bookrec #bookreview #bookswithzombies #zombieapocalypse

**Many thanks to Berkley and Olivia Dade for an ARC of this book provided via NetGalley!**

As Veruca Salt would say, that was absolutely BONKERS....but NOT in a good way.

And unlike the character Veruca was referring to above, the devilishly charming yet IRREFUTABLY bizarre Willy Wonka, this book left me feeling a whole lot less than charmed...and more like I wanted to throw one of Veruca's signature tantrums instead!

For example, with a title like Zomromcom, you'd PROBABLY expect that the MC of this book would fall in love WITH a zombie.

Putting the overall weirdness of that sentence and concept aside (how exactly would that WORK, anyhow? Would you really be able to tell the difference between an "I want some brains" grunt and an "I love you with every fiber of my undead being" grunt?!), let me be the bearer of 'bad' news...the zombies in this book serve as a sort of bare-bones backdrop for this story...and frankly, until the final battle, little else.

No, the MCs in this one are Edie, a sweet but spunky soap maker with an acerbic tongue...and her 'oh so cute' neighbor Gaston (who goes by Max instead (?)....why he couldn't have just been NAMED Max is beyond me), who beside from being cute is apparently supernatural in a different way....yep, turns out he just so HAPPENS to be a vampire! (Again, why he NEEDED to be a vampire is beyond me...STILL!) These two basically form a sort of insta-love bond amidst the perils of their world, and along with a bunch of forgettable and interchangeable characters, band together to keep the zombie-pocalypse from continuing...I think. To be honest, if you're looking for world building and a cohesive, grounded plot...you'd better hang a Louie at the nearest zombie and keep on looking.

In this one (which incidentally clocks in at 400 PAGES...a bit heavy for the slightly silly paranormal romance it SHOULD have been), when I say all other characters felt irrelevant and interchangeable, it isn't an exaggeration. And yet, despite this INSANE page count, I don't feel like I knew much more than the following by the end:

*Gaston goes by Max because he hates being called Gaston....because of the Beauty and the Beast song (I guess...?) This 'bit' appears over and over ad nauseum and wasn't that funny the FIRST time. In fact, I love the musical, movie, etc. and felt a bit miffed that the author was trying to use something I enjoyed against me...back OFF of beloved book-loving Belle & Co.!

*Max likes to call Edie 'ma puce' as a term of endearment...and after looking it up, it was roughly translated online from French as "My Flea Color." (?) I have absolutely no idea how that's a cute pet name, but be prepared to read it...A LOT. He also calls her 'chatte' which can be taken two ways, much like a certain synonym for 'cat' can be, uh, taken two ways....IYKYK. (Think body parts....ick!)

*Edie waxes poetic about her love at one point by saying he is "Amazing and undeniably gifted in the dicking arts." Yep. She REALLY said that.

You also should skip this if, like me, you are a vampire aficionado...because I'll stand to wager you will find Max's 'vamp speak' not only weird, but not enticing at ALL. Vampires should ooze charm and sexiness and have that sort of intrinsic power over those around them...but TBH, Max just seemed like a bit of an odd, repressed nymphomaniac and I couldn't get why Edie was into him at all. This book reads more like a barely cohesive fan-fic, rather than a fully 'fleshed out' romance. (If you can pardon the zombie pun!) There is also plenty of gratuitous sex to boot, so if you don't like things spicy and more than a bit weird, you should run from this one as if a LITERAL zombie were chasing you. Seriously.

I'll leave you with one more tiny except set to give you a sense of the sort of descriptions you'll be treated to with this one...and please keep in mind this is in reference to a FURRY THONG:

"That hand-knotted underwear might not have tempted her to subscribe, but she wanted to salute his wedgie-inducing efforts - not to mention his ass - in some fashion."

Let's just say Gaston would NEVER....and the one saving grace is that I'll NEVER have to even read about them again either.

2.5 stars

I think this book was just not for me. I really struggled with it, and even with the help of an audiobook, it took me forever to get through it.
I thnk my main issue it wasn't hitting the romcom feel I was kind of expecting with the title. The banter was fun by moment, but often came a little cringey....
Honestly, it just didn't work for me, but I would still be curious to see what else Olivia Dade has written (since this is her firt more paranormal book).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

"𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣. 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖."

this was cheesy, a little silly, and a whole lot of fun (for me personally). i am rating this five stars purely based on the *vibes* because i had a lot of fun reading it and i finished it in one sitting.

the writing in this one is admittedly a little rough and the world building is non-existent for a book based on a world with zombies, but it makes up for that in the characters and the smut. there's so many pop-culture references that had me laughing so hard out loud. also, please be nice to me while i hold your hand and tell you this, but there is insta-love somewhat. (eek i know!).

read this one if you like:
▫️witty banter
▫️paranormal romance
▫️supernatural world with twists
▫️blood play

Thank you, NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

With a title like Zomromcom you have to know going in that this isn’t going to be the most romantic read of your life. This is going to be a fun time, and it was! Some of the dialogue was a bit cringey and then when the two main characters first got together it felt a bit rushed to me, like is this really the time!? There are threats all around! But the relationship between the two main characters did grow on me and I ended up loving them together.

I did not realize going in that this was the first book in a storyline, so I was a bit startled to be left on a bit of a cliffhanger. In the end I was invested in the outcome and characters and can’t wait to continue on to find out what happens next.