Doomsdate — Laura Piper Lee
Title: Doomsdate
Author: Laura Piper Lee
Genre: Zombie Romance | Horror Comedy | Paranormal Romance | Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ — 4.5/5
Synopsis
Maisie Bennett has spent most of her life preparing for disaster.
So when another virus begins spreading and lockdowns appear increasingly likely, Maisie has one very important item she wants to cross off her bucket list before her upcoming birthday: lose her virginity.
After meeting someone online, she finally works up the courage to go on a date.
There's just one problem.
Everett Greer isn't actually the man she's been talking to.
Still grieving a devastating loss and having withdrawn from life, Everett has absolutely no interest in dating. His best friend, however, has other ideas and secretly arranges the date for him.
Their awkward evening doesn't exactly go according to plan, but that soon becomes the least of their problems.
Because the virus is changing.
People are dying.
And then they're getting back up.
Suddenly, Maisie's lifetime of survival preparation is extremely useful, and she and the considerably less apocalypse-ready Everett find themselves trying to survive together; with Everett's cat, Chicken, along for the ride.
My Thoughts
Some people prepare for a first date by choosing a cute outfit.
Maisie prepares by making the difficult decision to leave her taser at home.
You know.
Normal first-date preparations.
The world is already dealing with another nasty virus, people are getting sick, and things aren't exactly looking fantastic.
Maisie, however, has something considerably more personal on her mind: she wants to lose her virginity before her upcoming birthday.
She's been talking to a guy online, they've finally agreed to meet, and she has A PLAN.
Except the man she's been talking to isn't exactly the man who shows up.
Everett has spent the last few years pretty much shutting himself away from life after suffering a devastating loss, and dating is absolutely NOT on his agenda.
Unfortunately for him, his best friend has decided otherwise and secretly sets him up.
So yup.
Our Maisie has basically been catfished into a blind date.
And their date is awkward.
Like...
Painfully awkward.
Somehow they still make it back to Maisie's house, where things continue to be spectacularly awkward. Eventually, it's pretty clear that Maisie's carefully constructed plan is NOT happening, and they go their separate ways.
Goodbye.
Have a nice life.
We shall never speak of this evening again.
Except...
You know...
ZOMBIES.
Resident Evil Has Entered the Chat
At the same time Maisie and Everett are suffering through their dating disaster, the mysterious illness is getting considerably worse.
The sick people start dying.
And then...
They don't exactly stay dead.
Well.
Resident Evil has entered the chat.
Which was particularly funny for me because I also happened to watch Resident Evil at the cinema around the same time.
Right on schedule, apparently...
Suddenly Maisie goes from slightly unusual woman with a suspicious amount of survival equipment to possibly the BEST person you could have beside you during the apocalypse.
She was raised by an extremely paranoid prepper mother and spent most of her life preparing to survive basically every catastrophe imaginable.
It was only after losing her mom that Maisie really started trying to live instead of simply survive.
Everett, meanwhile...
Cough.
After their date, Maisie rescues Everett from a tree.
Sir!
The apocalypse has barely started.
Zombies, Road Trips & Romance
From there, Doomsdate turns into a wonderfully chaotic zombie road trip.
There are plenty of zombie encounters, escapes and ridiculous situations, but what I really enjoyed was the relationship developing underneath all of that.
Maisie and Everett talk.
They learn about each other.
They slowly open up about their losses and the lives they've been living, and both bring their own heartbreak and baggage into the relationship.
And THANK YOU for not immediately going:
Attraction!
Pew pew!
Zombies!
Sex!
OMG WE'RE SOULMATES!
There's attraction, obviously, and the circumstances throw them together very quickly, but their emotional connection still gets room to grow.
Maisie may be teaching Everett how to survive, but in his own way, Everett is re-learning and also helping Maisie learn how to actually live.
I really liked that balance between them.
Underneath all the ridiculousness, they're also both grieving.
Their experiences are different, but they've both responded to loss by withdrawing from life in their own ways. That gave what could easily have been purely a goofy zombie rom-com a surprisingly sweet emotional core.
And it made their growing relationship feel more meaningful to me.
Most Important Character: Chicken
Obviously, we need to discuss the most important character.
Chicken.
The cat.
NOT POULTRY!!!
Chicken is adorable.
Chicken must be protected at all costs.
Nothing bad is allowed to happen to Chicken.
Those are the rules.
Unfortunately, however, the name immediately made my brain go:
"Chicken wings, chicken wings, hot dog and baloney, chicken and macaroni..."
So THAT was periodically playing in my head while these people were desperately trying not to be eaten by zombies.
You're welcome.
Now it can live in your head too.
Final Thoughts
I had such a good time with Doomsdate.
It's ridiculous and chaotic when it needs to be, but there's also a genuinely sweet story underneath all the zombie mayhem.
Maisie and Everett are two emotionally bruised people who have both spent a long time existing without really living. Throwing them together during a zombie apocalypse might be a slightly extreme method of getting them out of their respective shells...
But apparently it works.
We have zombies, survivalist chaos, a disastrous first date, road-trip adventures, romance, grief, two people slowly learning how to live again AND one extremely important cat.
What else do you need?
Well...
Maybe a movie.
Pair this book with Resident Evil and you're all set.
4.5⭐
ARC Disclaimer
Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.
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