THE COLDEST GIRL IN COLDTOWN by Holly Black

Because you have waited patiently, I give you a video:

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

I can understand where you may have thought I’d given up on this blog.  But no!  I was just trying to build the suspense.  Or maybe I’ve just been very, very busy trying to write my own book - which I’ve managed to do.  Personally, I would give my own book a 0 on the lameness scale.  Hopefully I’ll be able to find an agent who feels the same way.

While I was writing, I definitely did not stop reading.  As a matter of fact, I read so much, that when I finally sat down to write a new entry, I couldn’t remember half of the books I’d finished.  Maybe that speaks to the quality of the books – but I suspect it has more to do with an overfull brain.

The one book that really stands out enough for me to remember is The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black.  In fact, I thought it was so great, I immediately read it a second time so that I could absorb the really good parts – most of which involve a lot of blood.

Just when you thought there was no room left for an actually decent vampire book, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown comes along with great writing, a totally original plot, and fascinating characters.  I picked the book up after reading Holly Black’s Doll Bones, a book I assigned my students as a summer assignment, and I was far from disappointed.

Tana is a girl who doesn’t back down from a difficult situation – in fact, difficult situations seem to drive her to act.  Waking up after a long, alcohol soaked evening, Tana finds her friends are not quite in the condition in which she remembered them.  She also finds her sometimes ex-boyfriend, Aidan, tied to a bed on his way to changing after having been bitten by a vampire.  In the corner there sits the most absolutely interesting male vampire character I’ve encountered, Gavriel who possesses a mixture of old world charm and serious bloodlust.  He is a vampire, after all.

When vampires lurking in the house threaten to break down the door, the easiest – and safest – move would be for Tana to jump out the window and make a run for it while the sun is still up.  Tana’s no wuss, though, and she’s not about the leave Aidan – jerk or not – behind; nor is she going to leave Gavriel – dangerous or not to the mercy of vampires who don’t seem to feel any sort of kinship with him.

And so begins an intricate and blood soaked journey in which Tana voluntarily enters a coldtown, a place where vampires, vampire wannabes, and masochists reside, living and dying off of one another’s twisted desires.

It all sounds pretty gross when I look it over, but believe me, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a super engaging read.

LAME FACTOR:  Have I not made it clear that it is a zero of five?

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR:  Uhh…maybe?  There is quite a lot of “bad” behavior, but nothing overly shocking.  Did I mention there’s lots of blood?

BRAIN POWER:  Holly Black is an excellent writer and this is a well-written story with strong, but not overwhelming, vocabulary. The story is worth the struggles of your little brain.