Series: Wranglestone #1
Release Date: February 6th 2020
Publisher: Stripes Books
Pages: 384
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book for a bookstagram tour.
Rating: 3.75/5 stars

Synopsis

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.

Review

Wranglestone is the action packed, wintry tale of a world in which the Dead have taken over America. A small group of survives have created a community in a national park and they are kept safe from the zombies by the water that surrounds them. When the harsh winter draws in though, there’s nothing to stop the zombies crossing the ice. Peter is one of the youngest members of the community and when he accidentally allows a stranger to enter the community he learns a hard lesson. He’s forced to learn how to wrangle the zombies with Cooper, a boy he’s long had feelings for. But as winter draws closer Peter and Cooper soon learn that there’s more going on in Wranglestone that meets the eye.

I love stories with supernatural creatures and I haven’t read too many zombie stories so this was exactly the kind of book I was looking for. Wranglestone is a fast paced horror tale and one you absolutely cannot look away from. Charlton’s writing style is really easy to get absorbed in and I found myself absolutely racing through this one – particularly in the later half of the book when the action really picked up. I absolutely adored the beautiful setting of this story, the national park was really vivid and came to life in the descriptions. I loved the concept of a community free from the horrors of the dead until the winter freezes the river and they can cross over. It was something I’d never come across before and I’m so intrigued to see where the story goes next.

Wranglestone has some really interesting characters and I really liked our main protagonists Peter and Cooper. The romance is really sweet despite it being very quick to develop. I loved that the two characters were quite opposite – Peter prefers the comfort of his home and Cooper is always out in the wild – but that they fit together so well. There were a few twists in the story that I didn’t see coming and that made for a very exciting finale in this book.

Wranglestone is an exciting debut and one I really enjoyed reading. If you’re a fan of zombie books this is absolutely a must read and I’m definitely counting down the days until the release of book two.