Wranglestone by Darren Charlton

Years after the zombie apocalypse began, Peter discovers a secret that's been hidden from his isolated community.

Peter's tiny community survives, perched high on stilts above islands in a huge lake. Most of the year they're safe, protected from the Dead by the water. But when winter comes, the lake freezes solid and every villager lives in fear until the next thaw. This year, the freeze exposes secrets that some of his people would kill to protect.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I like the idea of it, and I'm always down for zombie stories. I'm just...not sure how the world works. How many people in the community? Enough that losing three people to bites in a matter of days isn't a cause for concern for anyone; no one is worried that they'll be too few to function. Few enough that they can all fit into one living room for a meeting late in the book. How do they live? They mention fishing and hunting, but there's no mention of farming or foraging, and they can't be growing anything on the islands, the houses are in the way. A plot point is medicine and ammunition being acquired through underhanded means. Where do the islanders not in the know think they're coming from? There's a big fuss about firing a flare because it might draw the Dead, but whenever someone is bitten they light a flare to tell the nearby military encampment about it? All of these things can be explained, they just aren't.

But the story itself is great, and I love Peter...a very unmanly boy, who makes the best pillows and blankets around and is thus left alone and not teased. I am a little confused how Peter and Cooper, who grew up together in a community of however many people there are, ended up with such different accents, but since the book is from Peter's POV maybe he thinks he sounds different than he actually does.

It's a good read and I hope it'll do well, but it could be better.

Winter was the only season every Lake-Lander feared...

In a post-apocalyptic America, a community survives in a national park, surrounded by water that keeps the Dead at bay. But when winter comes, there's nothing to stop them from crossing the ice.

Then homebody Peter puts the camp in danger by naively allowing a stranger to come ashore and he's forced to leave the community of Wranglestone. Now he must help rancher Cooper, the boy he's always watched from afar, herd the Dead from their shores before the lake freezes over.

But as love blossoms, a dark discovery reveals the sanctuary's secret past. One that forces the pair to question everything they've ever known.

An action-packed and thought-provoking debut, for fans of Patrick Ness, Marcus Sedgwick, DREAD NATION and The Walking Dead.