The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

This is a zombieverse at first reminiscent of The Village.  In the middle of the woods, the last of humanity for all most of them know.  The fence is the end of their world and they are an island in the forest and the Unconsecrated are always there, just on the other side.  The Sisterhood is the heart of the village and keeps it running through commitment to God.  Usually you only get maybe one religious fanatic in a vampire tale, but here you see what happens when you have a society based on it.  Mary’s mother raised her on dreams of the sea and so she wonders about where the forbidden fenced paths lead and then she is one of the few to learn of the secrets of the Sisterhood and to see the girl in the red vest.  Some people call it a romance, but I do think the love is definitely a subplot, a romance would handle it differently.  Things happened that I definitely didn’t expect.  I sometimes wondered why they didn’t rebel and go with love but then I thought about how history shows us the power of religion.  I used to think I was Mary, but love is enough for me though who knows it might not be if I were living in a zombie apocalypse, but with my current love I’d fare pretty well in that or when China invades.  Okay, back on topic.  I wasn’t totally wowed but I liked it and will definitely read the rest.

Will someone explain the trend below to me?  There still seem to be some series that actually have a name but I feel like more and more we have The First Book Series.  Or has it always been this way?