8 Reads for lovers of romance AND the zombie apocalypse

I think everyone knows that here at Romance Rehab, we're big fans of The Walking Dead. I mean, we even came up with our very own zombie apocalypse dream team list. But we also love romance novels. So, it stands to reason that we'd be up on all the best reads for lovers of romance and the zombie apocalypse, right? Lucky for all you likeminded readers out there, we DO happen to have some awesome reading suggestions. Here are our picks for the best reads that blend romance and the zombie apocalypse:  

(Note: a couple of the reads on this list are rather...spicy. Please read the author's warnings carefully so that you don't get any unwanted...surprises.)

---

Red Hill
Author: Jamie McGuire

Amazon blurb:
When the world ends, can love survive?

For Scarlet, raising her two daughters alone makes fighting for tomorrow an everyday battle. Nathan has a wife, but can’t remember what it’s like to be in love; only his young daughter Zoe makes coming home worthwhile. Miranda’s biggest concern is whether her new VW Bug is big enough to carry her sister and their boyfriends on a weekend escape from college finals.

When reports of a widespread, deadly “outbreak” begin to surface, these ordinary people face extraordinary circumstances and suddenly their fates are intertwined. Recognizing they can’t outrun the danger, Scarlet, Nathan, and Miranda desperately seek shelter at the same secluded ranch, Red Hill. 

Emotions run high while old and new relationships are tested in the face of a terrifying enemy—an enemy who no longer remembers what it’s like to be human.

Set against the backdrop of a brilliantly realized apocalyptic world, love somehow finds a way to survive. But what happens when the one you’d die for becomes the one who could destroy you?

---

Alice in Zombieland
Author: Gena Showalter

Amazon blurb:
SHE WON'T REST UNTIL SHE'S SENT EVERY WALKING CORPSE BACK TO ITS GRAVE. FOREVER.
​
Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real.
​
To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

---

Love in the Time of the Dead
Author: Tera Shanley

Amazon blurb:
Laney Landry has been fighting Deads alongside her brother and friends for three years. But she has a secret. She's immune to Dead bites and has to find the right people to trust with the information. Her team rallies around her to find a doctor who can extract a vaccine from Laney which could fight the virus that ended the world. Sean Daniels leads a colony that provides her team with much needed shelter and supplies. He is obviously interested in Laney. The question is whether he's only intrigued by her as a source for the possible vaccine, or for something more. Tests for the cure might push her body beyond what it can endure, and just as she faces a ghost from her past, her longtime teammate Derek Mitchell hints at an interest in more than just her Dead slaying abilities.
​

Two honorable and alluring men—one colossal decision to make. Despite historically bad taste in men, can she rise above the chaos of the apocalypse and choose the one who deserves her heart? The right choice could mean the difference between surviving...and just living.

---

Thicker Than Blood
Author: Madeline Sheehan and Claire C. Riley

Amazon blurb:
A true friendship never dies.

Leisel and Evelyn lost everything. Husbands. Families. Friends. Lives that made sense. All they had left was each other, and a friendship that could withstand anything… Even an apocalypse.

Until one fateful night, the marginal safety they’d come to rely on comes to a vicious and brutal end. With the help of Alex & Jami, both unlikely allies, Leisel and Evelyn are able to escape their shattered sanctuary only to find themselves face-to-face with a much altered, much crueler life where they have to find the way—and the will—to stay alive in a world they no longer recognize.

Traveling across a broken and infection-ridden country; the road-weary group are pitted against endless violence, improbable circumstances, and the ultimate loss.

Everything comes at a price—especially safety, the cost of which could very well strip them of the one thing they’ve tried so hard to cling to: their humanity.

Yet along with all the trials they’re forced to endure, there’s also hope in the form of love. Having loved Leisel from afar, Alex attempts to put the pieces of her fractured heart back together.

But in such a savage world, is there room for love?

In a place of nightmares-made-reality, where the living should be feared far more than the dead, an unbreakable friendship and a love amongst all odds can mean the difference between life and death.

There are friends…

And then there are Leisel and Evelyn.

---

Until the End of the World
Author: Sarah Lyons Fleming

Amazon blurb:
Cassie Forrest isn't surprised to learn that the day she’s decided to get her life together is also the day the world ends. After all, she’s been on a self-imposed losing streak since her survivalist parents died: she’s stopped painting, broken off her engagement to Adrian and dated a real jerk. Rectifying her mistakes has to wait, however, because Cassie and her friends have just enough time to escape Brooklyn for her parents’ cabin before Bornavirus LX turns them into zombies, too.

This is difficult enough, but Cassie’s tag along ex-boyfriend and her friend’s bratty sister have a knack for making everything, even the apocalypse, more unpleasant. When the two attract a threat as deadly as the undead to their safe haven, Cassie’s forced to see how far she’ll go to protect those she loves. 

And it’s a lot farther than she’d anticipated. This, coupled with Adrian’s distant voice on Safe Zone Radio and, of course, the living dead, threaten to put Cassie right back into the funk she just dragged herself out of. 

Survival’s great and all, especially when you have leather armor, good friends and home-brewed beer, but there’s something Cassie must do besides survive: tell Adrian she still loves him. And to do that, Cassie has to find faith that she’s stronger than she thinks, she’s still a crack shot and true love never dies

---

Hollowland
Author: Amanda Hocking

Amazon blurb:
"This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.

---

Bear Necessities
Author: Selena Kitt

Amazon blurb:
IVY
The world has moved on, but Ivy just can’t. Besides, she has everything she needs on her sustainable-living wooded homestead, and no desire to brave this grim new world.

Until the day a massive bear chases her into an isolated cabin and she discovers she’s not alone.

With a giant bear prowling outside and a gruff, bearded, half-naked savage inside, Ivy finds herself cornered. The man, who calls himself Caleb, says he’ll take her home, but she doesn’t trust him, his offer, or herself with this giant, bronzed, mountain of a man.

He might be able to protect her from the sinister enemies lurking outside—but who is going to protect her from Caleb?

CALEB
Shifter by nature, drifter by choice, Caleb is uniquely designed to survive in this dark, new hell-on-earth, where the rule of law has been replaced by brute strength. 

His scars may be deep but his secrets are deeper, and until he meets feisty, sinfully curvy Ivy one fateful afternoon, he’s not sure there’s much left worth surviving for. 

Finding himself unable to resist the tempting, scrumptious morsel who lands on his doorstep, he realizes she’s the one he’s been craving, and she’s more than worth fighting for. 

Caleb is determined to keep her safe from everything dark and dangerous outside. But can he save Ivy from herself?

---

Married with Zombies
Author: Jesse Peterson

Amazon blurb:
Meet Sarah and David.

Once upon a time they met and fell in love. But now they're on the verge of divorce and going to couples' counseling. On a routine trip to their counselor, they notice a few odd things - the lack of cars on the highway, the missing security guard, and the fact that their counselor, Dr. Kelly, is ripping out her previous client's throat.

Meet the Zombies.

Now, Sarah and David are fighting for survival in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. But, just because there are zombies, doesn't mean your other problems go away. If the zombies don't eat their brains, they might just kill each other.

---

What about y’all? Know of any great zombie apocalypse romances we should check out? Let us know. We’d love to hear from you.  ​