Dating After the End of the World
by Jeneva Rose
Growing up in Wisconsin with a doomsday prepper father, Casey partially credits her dad for her miserable childhood. The rest of it goes to Blake Morrison, a bully who leads the charge of torment through middle and high school.
Now an engaged adult living in Chicago and completing her residency, Casey actively avoids involving her dad in her life. When a mysterious outbreak leads to a zombie apocalypse and Casey’s fiance abandons her in the middle of an assault, she realizes that her dad’s compound is probably the safest place.
Holing up at the compound are various family members and friends, and of course, Casey’s former bully. As far as bully romances go, this is tame for bully-content. There’s no abuse, dub-con, or illegal activity like stalking. The bullying is standard high school name calling. Just a PSA if the bully trope is something you avoid or seek out.
Casey’s dad isn’t about to throw Blake out, so the two of them will have to make do in close quarters.
There’s a lovely sense of community between everyone in the compound. I liked the cast of characters; they all felt like people who cared about and looked out for one another. Those warm and fuzzy moments were often offset by intense action and I think it was a smart way to lure me into a false sense of security. This was a surprisingly tense read, and not the dystopian rom-com I assumed it would be. Dread hangs over the sweet moments; this book will give you a lot of anxiety. These are things I like or don’t typically mind in my books, but I know plenty of readers DO NOT WANT THIS.
There is a lot of emotional inconsistency that bothered me. Casey had no problem holding grudges against her dad and Blake for the better part of a decade, but I think the time and physical distance between them had done enough to warrant adult discussions and soften a bit of the edges of those conflicts. However, she easily forgives her shitty fiance’s reasoning for leaving her to be sexually assaulted and/or die. Girl, let’s be consistent.
In a larger sense, the BIG FEELINGS in this book have poor and/or weak foundations, like Blake’s reasoning for being mean to Casey for most of school. Or the side romance plot between Casey’s cousin Greg and the one night stand he admittedly feels stuck with. I’m trying to avoid spoilers where I can help it!
There’s also a vastly unnecessary cliffhanger and I can’t find any indication if there will be a book two. Like unless Casey is going to find a cure for the zombie outbreak, I didn’t think there was much left to resolve and I would have been happy to live in the fantasy that people on the compound will have an HEA to the best of their abilities.
And if you’re wondering whether Casey’s dad dies because that was my biggest source of reading anxiety…
Dating After the End of the World is fine. It has moments that work really well to remind me that you have to take the wins and bask in the small joys where you can in a bleak environment. And the romance…well it was technically there. Readers who are sensitive to violence or who would prefer a less fraught reading experience should pass.
– Amanda
There’s nothing like the undead to bring the living together in an action-packed and apocalyptically romantic genre-shattering novel by a #1 New York Times bestselling author.
Casey Pearson grew up with a doomsday-prepping father. At eighteen, tired of living an unconventional life, she left home, vowing never to return.
More than a decade later, a mysterious viral outbreak changes everything, including the people it infects, turning them into zombielike creatures. It’s the end of the world, and no one saw it coming—well, except for Casey’s father. With no place left to run and danger lurking around every corner, Casey is forced to return home.
Upon arrival, she’s surprised to find that her dad has hunkered down with a group of survivors, including her archnemesis, Blake Morrison, the high school bully who made Casey’s teenage years a living hell.
While struggling to live on the compound, face outside threats, and survive alongside her handsome enemy, Casey will learn that although the world has ended, hers is just beginning.
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