Audio Review: Zomromcom by Olivia Dade

I received this book via the publisher Berkley, Penguin Audio. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Zomromcom by Olivia Dade
Narrator: Joy Nash
Series: Supernatural Entanglements #1
Published by Berkley, Penguin Audio on 2025-08-05
Length: 411 pages
Length: 12 hours and 13 minutes
Listening Speed: 2x
Reviewing Advanced Listening Copy, eARC from the publisher Berkley, Penguin Audio
Rating:
Reading Challenges: #NGEW2025, 2025 Audiobook Challenge, 2025 New Release Challenge

Teaming up with your neighbor during a zombie outbreak is a no-brainer, but if it turns out he’s a vampire . . . the stakes couldn’t be higher, in this infectious new paranormal romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Spoiler Alert.

When Edie Brandstrup attempts to save her sweet, seemingly harmless human neighbor from the first major zombie breach in two decades, she’s stunned to be saved by him—and his ridiculously large sword—instead. As it turns out, he's actually a super-old, super-surly vampire. But for all her neighbor's newly revealed cynicism and lethality, Gaston "Max" Boucher (yes, Gaston) is unexpectedly protective. He wants her to stay in his safety bunker until the breach is resolved. Edie can’t risk more innocent people getting killed, though—and Max won’t let her save them alone.

As they unravel a sinister conspiracy to set zombies loose on the world (again), the duo meet a host of lovable allies and discover they're not the only ones willing to fight for the future of humanity. Despite the awful timing, Edie finds herself falling for the vampire who’s helping her save the world . . . but all their dangerous plans could end their future before it even begins. As she and Max battle side by side, Edie must decide whether having a love worth living for also means having a love you'd die for—and, in a world that grows deadlier by the minute, whether that’s a risk she’s willing to take.

Spicy zombie read. Zomromcom by Olivia Dade is a paranormal dystopian romance about one woman’s fate when the zombies escape containment. We are dropped right into the middle of the action. Edie is returning to her home inside the containment zones when she notices a zombie bounding for her clueless neighbor Chad. She has two options: let Chad die as a sacrificial lamb giving her enough time to reach her safe area or attempt to save Chad. She chooses option two, and that choice will change her life forever.

I like Edie. She’s a 38 year-old, plus size woman, living alone in the home her parents died in. She refuses to leave, but has carved out a life for herself, selling soaps and stocking her attic with the necessary supplies and nonperishables should the unthinkable happen again. Well, it’s happening now and all that planning went out the window as Chad drags her to his underground bunker to keep her safe. Everything she thought she knew about him is turned on its head, not to mention the zombies are attacking outside and the barrier alarm isn’t going off….why isn’t it going off?!

Chad, who is not Chad but Max, has been playing Edie for the last three years. He’s convinced her he’s your typical dude-bro, too stoned to care what is happening to everyone else. In reality, not Chad is Gaston Maxime Boucher, Max for short, and a very old, very lethal vampire. While Edie knows she should be afraid of Max, she just can’t get over his dude-bro persona and his online personality to be afraid of the vampire who ripped the heart out of a zombie’s chest just hours earlier. It’s a lot to take in.

Together, Edie and Max set off on a mission to alert their neighbors and the authorities of the breach. What ensues is a hilarious, tension filled tromp across town where they encounter a counterfeiting gang, trolls, fae, witches, and an oracle, all while also fighting off random zombies and hoping to keep their brains intact.

While I enjoyed some aspects of this book, like the hilarious banter between Edie and Max that had me laughing out loud numerous times (see all the Gaston song references 🤣). There were other aspects that I found myself unable to connect with, mainly the supernatural component mixed with the modern world. A lot of the pop culture references, mainly to TikTok and social media in general, took me out of the story and slowed the pace of the action. The romance itself was believable, and I rooted for it from the lusty start.

Overall, I enjoyed Zomromcom as I have all of Dade’s books so far. If you are a fan of paranormal and dystopian zombie apocalypses or a fan of romantic comedy, I highly recommend it.

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