When a first date between a doomsday prepper and a nerdy film professor goes horribly, zombie-apocalypse-level wrong, the mismatched pair team up on a road trip to safety in this delightfully feral rom-com.
With a new virus spreading and a lockdown on the horizon, Maisie Bennett is determined to check one item off her bucket list: Get laid. But that’s no easy feat for an anxious doomsday prepper who’s never made it past a first date. So when a handsome, stubbly-jawed professor swipes right and agrees to meet up, Maisie vows to act normal—and to leave her taser at home.
Dr. Everett Greer has lost all lust for life after a personal tragedy, but he doesn’t have the heart to stand up the poor woman his best friend catfished to force him back “out there.” Maisie turns out to be surprisingly lovely, but there’s something off about her, too, with her clinking cargo pockets, shy smile, and utility belt full of—are those weapons? Unfortunately, their awkward first date goes from bad to doomed when the GI virus that’s trapped half of America in the bathroom starts claiming its first casualties, then reanimates them into flesh-eating zombies. And this is precisely why Everett doesn’t date anymore.
As the country spins out of control, Maisie and Everett find themselves an unlikely team of two—well, three, if you count Everett’s cat, Chicken—as they travel north to hopeful safety. Along the way, Maisie and Everett make a deal: she’ll teach the soft, liberal arts professor how to survive, and he’ll teach her how to live—through movies, travel, and, to Maisie’s delight, sex lessons. But when their growing feelings are put to the test, they’re in danger of losing not only their brains to the zombies, but worse, their hearts to each other.
Buy links: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/808510/doomsdate-by-laura-piper-lee/
Review:
This book was such a ride!
I was in Maisie and Everett’s corner from the very first page–even though the concept of going on a blind date in the middle of a pandemic (before they/we knew it was actually a zombie apocalypse) seems utterly insane to me, it’s hard to argue with the results! These two complement each other so nicely–Maisie with her prepper survivalist skills and Everett with his (checks notes) encyclopedic knowledge of zombie films 😉 Seriously, it does come in handy a time or two…and he does pick up some survival skills along the way. Plus, his familiarity with how the outside world works definitely fills in a lot of the gaps in Maisie’s lack of the same.
It also didn’t hurt that his cat was essentially a zombie detector 🙂
I lost track of how many LOL lines I highlighted along the way–Ms Lee writes with exactly my kind of snark–and I’m going to have to check out her backlist as soon as I get a chance.
Though I was 100% on board with Maisie’s life goal of losing her v-card before being stuck inside during another pandemic (it wouldn’t be my priority, but I can appreciate her…ahem…desire) and the idea of sex lessons from her professor companion was entertaining, it did start to feel like they were taking a few too many opportunities to have s3x in highly questionable places with zombie audiences that probably weren’t going to get to them, but still…? I guess it could be a side effect of all the adrenaline, but it did get to be a bit much for this reader. I’m sure plenty of others won’t agree, though! Even so, it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the story 🙂
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Be First to Comment