I have to admit this one might have been more like a 3.8 for me. 
 I really have a thing for post apocalyptic books lately and there definitely doesn't seem to be a shortage of them. On top of that who doesn't crave some gut ripping zombie action now and again? ME ME, I Do! - preferably in book form...movies sometimes send me into visual overload and gets my heart racing like I'm about to have a heart attack for almost 2 hours straight. It was so not a good idea watching the entire first season of Walking Dead in one sitting...but I digress... 
 This is a quick read and light enough for young readers while still gritty enough for adults to enjoy if they like YA fiction. 
 We start out in this secluded little village that's fenced in amid a forest. It's a bit reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan's movie The Village. Religion rains supreme here with the Sisterhood enforcing the 'proper' way of life and the Guardians protecting the fence. I loved the title of the book and that is what caused me to pick it up. It gave me such a great mental picture of someone facing a horde of zombies. 
 Mary is our main character, she is a young teenage girl and seems bound to get herself into trouble. She's never been satisfied with life in the village - always thinking about the Ocean and places other than where she is. Her mother filled her head with stories as a child and that is often all she thinks about. 
 Now in this village young women have to get married and they must be spoken for by a young man once they come to a certain age...if they aren't then they must enter the Sisterhood. Mary gets in a pinch because the boy she wants doesn't choose her, and well she doesn't want the boy who did. Oh triangles and triangles, can't seem to get away from them right? 
 She is up to mischief and it seems she pits herself against a particular Sister. But of course when do the zombies come in? What happens in any good zombie flick where you barricade yourself in? - well the gut grubbers get in eventually. Madness ensues. 
 My gripes about this book - Mary the main characters attitude - she was a seriously selfish person. She was constantly thinking about herself. It makes it hard to believe that both of the boys in this book would be so interested in her. It's always about her. 
 The way her brother treats her in the first third of the book. As well as the lack of character building in some of the supporting characters. They could have definitely used a bit more fleshing out. 
 There were a lot of agonizing moments for me, in that I don't know how there would be so much emphasis on romance in a horror book, but alas there it was. I still enjoyed it but it had me enjoying it less because of that hormone teenage angst. Of course I've read the next two in the trilogy as well. If you like zombies, YA and a bit of romance then by all means give it a go. 
 On a side note:- the mean Sister Tabitha - there is a short story available about her that I haven't read yet but I plan to because she has my name!