... book review _The Coldest Girl in Coldtown_ by Holly Black...

Still sick albeit getting better slowly but it is allergy season and the very, very high tree pollen isn’t helping. To continue with another book review on this blog, I recently finished reading another Young Adult (YA) text that I quite enjoyed.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Paperback: 448 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (September 3, 2013)

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown (2013) by Holly Black is the story of Tana who wakes up from a party only to discover that she is the only survivor of a vampire attack. The story is set in a time when vampires are a reality. To keep everyone safe, vampires or those who have become cold (bitten by a vampire and only one human blood drink away from turning into one) are sent to a Coldtown per the law.

Coldtowns hold more than just vampires or those who have turned cold. They attract those who are drawn in by the perceived glamor of vampirism. Once in Coldtown, it is nearly impossible to leave unless you are uninfected and have a marker which is the size of a quarter.

All of Tana’s classmates have been slaughtered by vampires except for her ex-boyfriend Aidan, who has been bitten and tied to a bed. Next to him is Gavriel, a shackled vampire. The sun will soon be setting and Tana realizes that the house still contains vampires. She has just enough time to save both Aidan and Gavriel, and escape, but not without having her leg nicked by a vampire’s fang.  Believing that she will turn Cold, she takes Gavriel, Aidan, and herself to the nearest Coldtown. On the way, she picks up two vampire-obsessed siblings named Midnight and Winter. Midnight is a blogger who documents everything about her obsession with vampires.  

I don’t want to reveal too much more in case anyone is interested. Part of the charm of the book was knowing very little about the plot when I started reading it.

It’s another chapter in YA vampire fiction and certainly one that I enjoyed. It wasn’t just pure romance. The vampires are somewhat scary and certainly unpredictable. Tana must remind herself of that while trying to be unaffected by Gavriel’s good looks and charm.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown has received several awards including being named the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2013) and the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2014).

Of course, Holly Black is not new to the vampire fiction world although she is best known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books, and the Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale trilogy. Her novel Doll Bones (2013) which was recently recommended to me by a librarian friend who had a student start it but not finish it because it “was that creepy” was named a Newbery Medal honor book.

I also quite enjoy the trend of making book trailers. Here’s one for Black’s book.