Book: Romancing in Rot by Lindsey Montgomery
Reviewed by Maggie Hayes
Rating: 4.5/5
Romancing in Rot by Lindsey Montgomery
⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5/5)
I absolutely ate up (pun fully intended) Clair and Leon's zombie apocalypse-defying love story.
Clair is a single mother struggling to regain her confidence after her TOTALLY TRASH husband abandons her and their daughter the instant people start getting eaten. Which is BS, because Clair is awesome. She's super intelligent, kind, patient, and a secret badass. Who leaves a woman who knows which chemicals to use to take out zombies? A dumb man, that's who.
You know who isn't a dumb man? Leon. While his trauma-induced mutism may mean he's quiet, he's paying attention to EVERYTHING. He immediately clocks that Clair is the kind of woman he could only dream of, but he's patient enough to recognize that she has a lot of internal work to do before he's ready to make a move. And when he finally does? SO SWOONY. Love letters are a seriously underutilized form of communication, but Leon brings the sexiness back with his heartfelt confessions.
Arguably the most important relationship in the book is the bond that forms between Leon and Clair's daughter, Poppy. It's sweet and paternal, and I love that he empowers her by teaching her how to take care of herself rather than simply protecting her from everything. That simultaneously earns him major bonus points with Clair, whose number one mission in life is keeping Poppy safe. The two of them tugged at all my heartstrings, adding real emotional depth to the horror BBQ.
My favorite thing about both Clair and Leon is that they're sneakily funny. Based on her first two books, I've come to expect a lot of humor from Lindsey Montgomery's characters, but Clair and Leon aren't as outwardly funny or in-your-face as Lyla and Jacob (from the first book in the series). Instead, it's a sneaky side comment—or, in Leon's case, a note—that earns a little chuckle. It feels right for their personalities, especially as Clair regains her confidence and her sense of humor becomes bolder.
Fair warning: the book ends with one doozy of a cliffhanger. I may or may not have gasped, cried, and shrieked. Now I'll be DYING (pun still intended) until the next book comes out. In the meantime, I'll just have to reread Montgomery's entire catalog.
Thank you to the author for providing an ARC!