What happens when: A romance reader tackles the post-apocalypse?

’m an avid romance reader. I very rarely venture outside of my nice, comfy, and-they-lived-happily-ever-after comfort zone. But I’m also not one to say no to a dare. So when The Design Dude double-dog dared me to read his favorite genre, post-apocalypse dystopian, I said what the hell? I enjoy The Walking Dead. I’ll give it a go.

Here’s the results of our little social experiment:

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The assigned read:

The Purge of Babylon by Sam Sisavath

Blurb from Amazon:
Creatures that once lived in the shadows, hidden from humankind, have risen, spreading like a plague across the globe over the course of a single night. Their numbers growing exponentially through infection, these seemingly unkillable creatures have swallowed up whole cities and collapsed unprepared governments.

Survivors call it The Purge.

Against all odds, a disparate group of survivors has emerged from that blood-soaked night that devastated the planet and reduced humanity to an endangered species. Among the survivors are two ex-Army Rangers, a businesswoman, and a third-year medical student. But surviving The Purge was one thing - staying alive is another matter entirely.

Hope exists in the countryside, in the form of a self-sustaining underground facility designed to withstand any calamity. But in order to reach its safety, the survivors must travel hundreds of treacherous miles, with the night—and the creatures that dwell within it—always at their backs.

The rules are simple: stay out of the dark, load up on silver bullets, and whatever you do, stay alive.

The road to salvation has begun …

What I liked

• Sam Sisavath is an amazing author. This book blends interesting, complex characters with snappy dialogue and edge-of-your-seat action that never lets up. If this is what reading outside the romance genre can get you, I’ve seriously been missing out.
• There’s 9 books in the series. This is an avid reader’s Holy Grail!
• This book reads like an action movie, and I LOVE action movies.
• The bromance between Will and Danny is the best I’ve ever seen, except for Riggs and Murtaugh, of course

​What I didn’t like

• One of my favorite aspects of romance land is that you can count on a happily ever after for the characters you’ve come to know and love. If a romance author doesn’t provide a happily ever after (or at least a happy for now) ending, she/he is publicly flogged on Amazon and Goodreads. It’s against the laws of romance to kill off your hero or heroine. But in this series, I have a feeling I can’t count on the happily ever after. It’s kind of a bummer.
• I won’t spoil anything, but there’s one romance (a quick one) early on in the book that I think was totally unnecessary. With the way it ended, what was the point? Seemed like a waste of good zombie-stomping time to me.
• I take issue with characters having sex when no one has showered for days, even weeks. I understand that current cleanliness standards will probably go out the window during the zombie apocalypse. I mean, you just won’t always have access to showers. I get that. But there’s something distinctly unsexy (for this romance reader, at least) about having sex with a  man who reeks of stale sweat, dead ghouls, and dirt.
• Unprotected sex is always a no-no, but unprotected sex in the zombie apocalypse? STDs and pregnancy can kill you, folks. How about abstinence? Or at least, how about you pick up some condoms while you’re out on supply runs?

The Verdict
This romance reader has officially ventured outside of her comfort zone and really enjoyed the journey. I downloaded the rest of the series immediately. All it took was a few pages for me to be invested enough in the characters to see what the author ultimately had in store for them (even if it’s not a happily ever after). I might even consider adding Will and Danny to my ultimate zombie apocalypse team.

Long-story-short: Thanks for the double-dog dare, Design Dude!

What about all you readers out there? Ever ventured outside of your reading comfort zone? Have a double-dog dare for us? We’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below or if you're a bit shy in public, drop us a line.

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