Did I know I needed a zombie horror romance in my life? No.
Can I imagine my life without it now? Absolutely not, I need this like I need air.

Bell writes descriptive scenes that paint a picture of grotesque horror, and others that truly make you think of the circle of life. There are scenes that have you going "damn, that FMC be sassy, I like her" - and scenes with a gentlemanly MMC who you just want to get to know. A touch of gore, a touch of FMC self discovery and romance, add in a dash of loss and you've got the mixture for an absolutely killer story that I devoured episode by episode.

The way Bell uses words is beautiful, lyrical, and easy to obsess over. Can't wait to see what she does next.

5 stars, if I could give more, I would.

I could have easily read a 100 pages more. I wish the story was a bit longer because I found it really difficult to connect with the characters.

I still give it 4 stars, because the way this story was written, so beautiful and lyrical, I did feel like I was in that world myself.

The way the author uses words is so otherworldly and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

The prose are lyrical and the story grips you from the off. I loved this short story although I found myself getting really invested and then feeling a bit let down when the end of the chapter would come up.

I cannot wait to see what this author does next and I really hope it is a full length novel as this was brilliant I just desperately wanted the characters to be more fleshed out and the story to continue after that final sentence.

“In a mere breath of night, every token of my life had been turned to ash—a history rewritten in char.”

Let me tell you, the potential for this book is INCREDIBLE. I mean, a zombie romance? So unique and so many lanes you could go down! However, this is a debut, and you can tell. It falls into many of the common pits of debut writing, but this book is definitely a solid start to Mel C. Bell’s career.

Let’s start off with what I liked:
The Pacing
According to the publisher’s notes for the ARC, the ARC is being released in installments, so what I read is not the full story. The best part, you can tell it in the story! This might seem like a little thing, but I’m telling you, the pacing was spot on! I’m incredibly excited to see what Bell does next with the rest of the story! Hopefully I get those ARCs as well

The Story
UGH the story (so far) was amazing! It left a lot of intrigue and suspense and compels you to keep reading! My finger could not stop flipping the page! Again, super excited to see what Bell continues to do with this plot where there are so many unique and interesting avenues for her to take!

The Way the Dialogue is Written
I actually love when authors fully commit to the accents of characters. Did I have to search up what “ken” meant? Yeah, but hey, the more you know! I absolutely loved the way that Bell committed to these accents, and it just gives the characters even more personality.

...so what pitfalls did Miss Bell fall into with this book?

A Lack of Worldbuilding
Now, this might be because this is only the first part of this book, but I still don’t know where we are in the world. Are we in the U.S.? Scotland/Ireland? Are we even in our world? I find that this is a common issue with debut authors, but this was still a source of confusion for me in the book.

The Romance
This isn’t really a pitfall so to speak, but more of a dislike on my part. The romance isn’t clicking for me at the moment. It feels very insta-lovey, and you can see in my updates below, it has the “big strong man and smol bean girl :3” trope. (I don’t like either of these)

The Writing (sometimes)
Now this is a common pitfall: overflowery writing. I wrote “sometimes” because sometime these similies and metaphors were unique, well placed, and well written! (I’m looking at you “My mouth did an admirable impression of a bear trap being set wide open”) However, other times it fell flat and I felt myself skimming parts because it went way over detail. Again, Bell has AMAZING potential as a writer, and I see her being hugely successful, but if the flowery writing could be cut down just a little bit… that would be awesome. Also, minus more points for the repeated mention of the horse’s “orbs”. I mean come on… did we really need to use orbs?

As for the grey area stuff such as the lack of characterization for our 2 main characters, I’m just attributing that to only having one little chunk of the book.

Overall, it’s a solid debut so far, and I can’t wait to see what else Bell comes up with!

3.5/5 stars rounded down

-----------
got the arc 🥳 this cover is GORGEOUS and the premise sounds amazing! can’t wait to read it :)

update: I’m pretty sure this isn’t the full story… the publisher notes said they’re releasing the arcs in installments soooo

update #2: it’s the dreaded trope… big strong boi and smol bean girl :3… if the rest of this book is good maybe I can overlook it

update #3: it isn’t looking so good….

- thank you publisher for the arc -

I really enjoyed reading this story. It was short and the writing was lyrical and beautiful. I felt like there was a lot more story in it that I really wanted to get to, but I'm assuming this is only a short part of the story (hopefully because I want more!). I found the writing stunning and each moment was built on one another and so gorgeous. I did get confused a few times and I felt as if the accent writing went a smidge overboard at some points, as clarity was scarce. I wish there was more to the story because I was left with a lot of questions and would love to know how this story ends.

It is cruel that this was less than 100 pages. I want more! I want to know everything about Mal and Maddie. I wanted to know his entire history! Ughhhh! And the wording and writing style of this author is so beautiful. With their words alone the canvas of their words quickly came into view and I saw everything like a movie in my mind. The scene of them rushing through the woods with the hoard coming after them! Horrifically amazing. I want more. I need more. Do yourself a favor and read this now! Zombies in the Wild West should attract you enough but there is a little magical twist there toward the end. A hint of a romance.