Holly Black

When seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up following a party in the aftermath of a violent vampire attack, she travels to Coldtown, a quarantined Massachusetts city full of vampires, with her ex-boyfriend and a mysterious vampire boy in tow.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Veronika

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. It's an eternal party, shown on TV 24 hours a day - gorgeous, glamorous, deadly! Because, once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave... A wholly original story of rage and revenge, love and loathing from bestselling author, Holly Black. Fans of True Blood will love this dark and sexy tale.

(Bre)anne✨

…when we turn, is there something shoved inside of us or is it more that something inside of us has been released?

But the third option, the possibility that there’s something monstrous inside us that can be unleashed, is the most disturbing of all. Maybe it’s just us, us with a raging hunger, us with a couple of accidental murders under our belt. Humanity, with the training wheels off the bike, careening down a steep hill. Humanity, freed from the constraints of consequence and gifted with power. Humanity, grown away from all things human.

“They see themselves in you and are blinded.”

Avarni B

"I already have a brother," Gavriel slurred. "He's dead." The devil loomed over him, his grin widening to show off sharp teeth. "As am I." Gavriel opened his mouth to shout, but drunk as he was, he began to laugh instead.

Death has passed you by twice, Tana. Don't court him a third time.

Gabriella Rivera

Sherany

Monicap

Plot: 5/5
Oh, I just—words can’t—words fail me here.
But this was amazing and fast-paced and emotional. And also, the world-building was so well-done and so crucial to the plot.

Characters: 5/5
I have more to say here. I do, I promise.
Tana: I loved her. I love, love, loved her. On the first page, she woke up, and there were a bunch of dead kids, the vampires that had killed them, her ex-boyfriend, and one random vampire, and she almost broke but instead she stood up and was like, “All right, let’s get this done. I am going to get us through this and I am going to save you, my jerk-ass ex-boyfriend, you, the random crazy vampire, and myself, so shut up and get in the car.” And that was pretty much her attitude through out the book. “I’m gonna get this done” even though getting it done threatened to break open all her vulnerabilities and almost broke her at SO MANY POINTS.
QUOTE: It was almost funny, the way she couldn’t wear an single outfit without ruining it.  DIFFERENT QUOTE:  She didn’t want to explain the recklessness, the pleasure of making a bad choice, picking her own path to damnation.  
Aidan: I actually REALLY loved Aidan. I don’t understand him at all—I mean, he was so… weird. When we flashbacked to his and Tana’s relationship it was just so strange. Well, he was. And I don’t understand why, but I loved it, and I loved him. I was sort of sad when he just sort of disappeared from the story (view spoiler)[after he became a vampire (hide spoiler)].
QUOTE: “You’re playing some kind of game of sex chicken with him. Who cares one of you flinches first?” 
Gavriel: *SQUEEEEEEE* here is a VAMPIRE. Ancient, tortured, INSANE, and actually violent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Should I be less excited? Does this make me seem like psychopath?)
QUOTE: “I have a friend too. And I mean to kill him.”  DIFFERENT QUOTE: “You’re very, very dangerous, I get that, and you’re prone to some very theatrical brooding, but don’t let yourself mistake that for some kind of inner corruption.” 
Midnight: I really loved what Midnight added to the novel. In a way, Midnight was part of the world-building. I didn’t actually like HER, but I liked her purpose in the novel, if that makes sense.
QUOTE:  “Clever girl. You play with fire because you want to be burnt.” 
Winter: Winter was clever, and he wanted to be vampire, but he didn’t, and that made sense, because his motivation was clear: his sister.
Lucien and Elisabet: I loved all Gav’s flashbacks, because that’s where (I feel) we really got to know Lucien. And the flashback with all three of them going to Spider was especially telling.
QUOTE: 
Pauline: I don’t feel that we ever really got to know her, because she was mentioned, like, five times, and we actually spoke to her twice. And both times were over the phone. I just think we could’ve gotten to know her a little better. When did she and Tana meet? How did they become friends? Why is Pauline such a good friend where the other two mentioned (Nicole and Amber, I believe) weren’t? Did Tana meet Pauline at that sleepaway camp? I just… I have wonderings.
Pearl: We got to know pearl better than Pauline, but I didn’t really like pearl. I mean, I know liked her, cared about her, which is what raised the stakes. But honestly… Pearl is just the quintessential little-sister-character. Yo know the little-sister-character. Her only purpose is to get kidnapped, get in trouble, do something stupid and get taken by the mafia or whatever so the main character has to go save her. She shows up in, like, EVERY STORY. EVER. The first little-sister-character I ever saw, the one who, for me, defines the little-sister-character is Buffy’s Dawn. And Pearl, I’m sorry, but you nowhere near as likable as Dawn. Only Tana loved you, and I know why she loved you, but me? I didn’t. Sorry. 

Romance: 5/5
So we have Aidan, Tana, and Gavriel, running away together. The perfect set up for a love triangle. But, I actually don’t feel like there was a love triangle here. Some people may disagree with me, I know, but I honestly DON’T think there was a love triangle. 
Which must have been hard to resist with that tantalizing set-up.
We had Aidan, and his weird idea of what a relationship should be like, and Tana, who was still a little pissed because of their break-up, and Gavriel, the insane vampire they decided to take along with them.
It was well-developed, and they only kissed once over the course of the novel, it was VERY sexy. And the ending… it was just right.
QUOTE:  “You’re more dangerous than daybreak.” 

+ two extra credit points for that AMAZING world building, 

Overall Grade:17/15. A++
I am JEALOUS of this book. This is a book that I wish I had written. But I know that if I had written it, it wouldn’t have been quite as good, and I’m Holly Black’s hands rather than mine. 
And Holly Black has made my favorite Authors list, with this one and The Curse Workers.

Sarah Sammis

Annika Arguemore

I've actually finished this for a very long time now, and am currently reading another book. This is why my review might be a bit too foggy.

This was a vampire setting that was as realistic as it gets. Sure, it was still sugar-coated, being a Young Adult novel and all, but humanity (in the novel)'s reaction to the situation seemed pretty accurate. I wasn't so sure about the whole Coldtown thing, and the name Coldtown itself, but it all surprisingly worked out pretty well, and I commend Holly Black for it.

It was a book that wasn't too predictable at times, even though you kind of knew deep inside that the protagonist would get into a Coldtown. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it made you reel. I'm not actually sure, though, if it made you reel for more or reel from fear of something bad actually happening (which it didn't, by the way). The twist was unexpected, though. And I especially liked the ending.

Melissa Palmer

Book #7 Read in 2014
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (YA)

This is a different sort of vampire book. In this book, Coldtowns are where vampires and those humans who are infected are contained...and there are not really too many rules there. Tana heads for the nearest Coldtown after her friends are slaughtered by vampires at a party...and her ex-boyfriend Aidan has been infected. Along for a ride is a vampire that Tana saved. The trio get to Coldtown and things get even more harried....vampires turning others into vampires, the head vampire being out to get them....bloodshed and mayhem. 

I loved this book (and yes, that is saying something because Holly Black's fairy books are not my cup of tea). Tana was a great character and I loved the humor, romance, action etc of the book. I liked the different take on vampires and way that was presented. I highly recommend it.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

berkyova.t

I am in love with this book. Gavriel is hot af

Nessa Luna

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is about Tana, who wakes up to find the majority of her classmates dead. She barely escapes the house, with Aidan (her infected ex-boyfriend) and Gavriel (a vampire), and together they make their way to the nearest Coldtown, a place where all the vampires, and humans that were infected go to. Either by choice, or because they were sent there. On their way there, they meet Winter and Midnight, a brother and sister determined to get into Coldtown, to tell the world how awesome and exciting it is.

I felt kind of tricked into reading this book, because when I first read the summary on the back of the book I had no idea this book would be about vampires. As I really really dislike books about vampires, I was a bit skeptical about reading further, even though I was very intrigued by the book. Because basically, after only three or four pages, you read about a pile of corpses, and I really like stories that start like that (yes, I’m one of those people).

What I liked:

This book was filled with action, and I like it when that happens in a book. From their daring escape from the land house, to the attacks and fights inside the Coldtown, I loved every bit of those scenes. This was also one of the few (I think the first one I read) dystopia books that told you what happened outside of America. Not really in great detail, but there still was some news about what was going on there.

I also liked the entries made by Midnight (though I didn’t like her character much), I really wanted to read more of those entries, but unfortunately there weren’t a lot of them. I am just a fan of reading a story written like diary entries, which is why I enjoyed Life As We Knew It so much.

With the whole broadcasts and all the cameras being everywhere, it kind of felt like the Hunger Games, and that’s also what I kind of expected of this story. A bunch of kids locked up inside the Coldtown, with monsters (I imagined actual monsters, like big hairy animals).

What I didn’t like:

What I didn’t like were the many flashbacks in this story. Sure, they were probably needed to tell the story, but honestly I don’t really think the flashbacks of Gavriel were that much needed. There were some small things that I found very predictive, like certain romances.

I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters. Maybe I could relate to Pearl a bit, I would probably be fascinated by the Coldtowns, watch the feeds every now and then (not as obsessively as Pearl did) but I would never ever want to go there. Personally, I wanted to punch Aidan in the face every time he opened his mouth, because to me he felt like such a manipulative asshole, I can’t believe Tana even listened to him. (Sure, he saved Pearl near the end of the story, but that doesn’t make up for all the stupid things he did throughout the rest of the book).

I thought Midnight and Winter (and everyone who had the same idea as them) were the most stupid people in the whole planet. The only character I really liked were Jameson and Valentina, who were just really kind and didn’t do anything stupid at all, in my opinion.

I also had a tiny bit of a problem with the third person narrative of the book. I am used to reading books in the first person narrative, and this was quite a difference for me. Sometimes, the author liked to use ‘she/he’ a lot instead of the persons name, especially after there was a moment of describing something (like the house Lucien lived in). At those moments, I would be quite confused which she/he the author was talking about (nine out of ten times, it would be Tana, but still it was a bit annoying).

In my opinion, the book ended quite abruptly. I would really love to read if Tana makes it out of Coldtown, if she turns into a vampire, what happened to Pearl and Pauline, and yeah, I just have a lot of questions at the end of the book. But I liked it. I wouldn’t say it’s in my list of favourite books, but – for a book about vampires – it was quite enjoyable. If you are a fan of vampire novels, I definitely recommend you read the Coldest Girl in Coldtown.

Julia

Not my favorite book in the world, but a nice stand alone read.

Faith Kitowski

you have got to be kidding me. this book. oh this book. i’m not even kidding, i will be thinking about this days on end. gavriel, GAVRIEL HELLO PEOPLE NEED TO BE TALKING ABOUT HIM. he may be unhinged but i still love him for it. this book was everything i wanted

“Death’s favourites don’t die”

Didn’t think reality tv and vampires would ever work together but Black really did that!! I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!

This was the most unique take on vampires i’ve read in a longgggg time and i’ve read a lot of them! The world building was so well done, the characters were really interesting, I love Tana so much she was such a good main character. Somehow the insta-love worked well too, props to the author there wow, I found myself really hoping for Gavriel and Tana. Also just as you think everything’s going to work out, plot twist(!) more drama, I really got into this book, I couldn’t stop reading!

I really missed the vampire genre and just needed something new to keep it alive for me, so I turned to Holly Black after how much i loved the cruel prince! I’m really loving how inclusive her books are and I feel this is going to set in a long time readership for me. I just wish this wasn’t a standalone...

I. NEED. MORE!

devin.reads

Brittany Reynolds 

I thought all the vampire stories had been told but this one does a wonderful job of creating a new and exciting world. I loved Holly Black's writing. I like how the love interest didn't become the main story and the girl didn't get all stupid like they usually do. Well done. Also it was done in a way that we knew they cared for one another but weren't throwing "I love you"s around 2 chapters in. Great read and I highly recommend it to anyone. I will definitely be picking up some more Holly Black books soon!!

Nicole Goldstein

I thought this was really amazing. There have been so many books on vampires and lately they didn't seem scary. This reminded me of when I read and watched interview with the vampire. When vampires were romanticized but still scary. Tana's journey was thrilling and crazy and exciting. Basically the same words I would use to describe Gavirel. The whole concept was great and the action was perfect. Just a well balance in all.

Genuinely, Holly Black does miss. I’m wavered between 4.25 to 4.5 stars. This is what you want in a vampire book!!! Holly is so so good at characters and understanding humans, in general.

TW to be added later

Genuinely, Holly Black does miss. I’m wavered between 4.25 to 4.5 stars. This is what you want in a vampire book!!! Holly is so so good at characters and understanding humans, in general.

Lis B

Elisa Bieg

I’m always surprised when I read Holly Black’s books: they are never quite what I expect based on the title and synopsis.

This was the third book of hers that I read, and definitely the worst out of the three for me: it’s a mix of genres, and the result of that that can be really cool or very odd. This was the latter.

This is basically YA paranormal horror/mystery/dystopia/romance. It’s a weird book, where the elements from the various genres don’t quite blend seamlessly; I can’t even pinpoint exactly what didn’t work for me, because when I think of the story it sounds in theory like something that should be so intriguing and awesome; but in truth I found it hard to stick to, with scene sequences and events that were somehow jarring in their shifts rather than flow smoothly, and a summary world building that doesn’t entirely fit the story somehow, and on which I wasn’t sold AT ALL.

I other words, this book tried to do and be too much, and as a result it came up short on most counts. 

Though the MCs were kind of intriguing, the character arcs felt a little uneven and pasted together. It’s a pity because I feel like this could have been SO good, because the MCs and some of the premises were fairly original!

But as it is, this took me forever to get through and it went straight on my swap pile, and I can’t give it more than 2 STARS, despite the fact that I can’t help but feel that with a good script and a few adjustment, someone could make it into a good TV series!

Amanda

Coldtown was dangerous, Tana knew. A glamorous cage, a prison for the damned and anyone who wanted to party with them. Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. And once you pass through Coldtown's gates, you can never leave. One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

lindsey

This book was so great! Written beautifully and pieced together in an interesting way that kept me eager to read more. I adored this book and its characters...not to mention the adorable romance! Only bad thing that I must say is that I did not enjoy the ending. I didn't quite understand it and it was not what I was hoping for. Otherwise, this was such an amazing adventure to read about :)

laura

cora rolfes 

It was good. I’m a sucker for morally grey characters so

courtney garrison

I have never read a book by Holly Black ever, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this book. I knew it was about vampires and that was it. I am glad I went into not knowing much because wow, it was so good. The writing and the characters are amazing, the way Holly Black writes is absolutely fantastic. She sucks you in and your left wanting to know more every time you read it. This book was so good I didn’t want to finish it, I wanted to hold on to as much of the story as I could.

Your MC is a girl named Tana. She awakens in a bathtub of an old farmhouse to find herself in the middle of a massacre. Everyone at the party from the night before is now dead except Aiden (Her Ex-Boyfriend) and the Vampire chained up in the corner. She is soon faced with the possibility of being infected along with Aiden already being infected and makes the choice to go to Coldtown.

Coldtowns are cities that built walls around themselves to help keep the vampire population in and hopefully stop the spread of the infection. Most humans end up going to coldtown because they have glamourized vampirism so much they want to turn into one. So facing the Aiden and Herself being infected, tana heads to coldtown in her car with Aiden and Gabriel ( the Chained up Vampire)

I keep gushing over this book, but it was so good. I honestly compare it a bit to savage song by V.E. Schwab as far as the built-up cities and Humans against monsters (Vampires). I was thoroughly impressed with this books and is definitely one of my favorites. Overall it was such an amazing book with great writing and a fabulous world. The character building was astounding, especially with the growth after getting to Coldtown.

Emma 

Finished this book the day I found it. This was the book that got me back into reading. Not just published books but books on multiple different websites and apps. I loved this book and was really hoping we could get a second book. I still haven't stopped looking for books like this. But now that I am thinking of it I need to reread it, it's been two years. I think that everyone should at least give this book a chance.

Allison Garrett

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown was a fantastic story and I was sucked in (get it? Sucked?) from the beginning. This wasn't a normal vampire story where the vampires are hidden from the rest of the world. Everyone knows about them and everyone wants to live in the cities where vampires are trapped, called Coldtowns. The romance in this story was great because it wasn't driving the story, but it added an extra part to it that spiced it up in dull moments. The only thing I didn't like was the end but that's because I wanted it to keep going and I doubt Holly Black will make a sequel to it. Overall I would highly recommend it because it was a good story and was very well written.

Cross-posted on Knizhnitsa

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is by far the strangest thing I’ve read in my life as it follows closely a story my friend and I wrote when we were 14. Less NSFW, yet full of all the YA paranormal romance clichés that made the genre shine a few years back, it feels strangely out of place in 2014 (or 2013, when it was originally published).

After a worldwide epidemic of vampirism, governments create a series of settlements called Coldtowns. Those places serve as giant quarantine wards for vampires and potentially infected alike; once you go in, you can never leave (*coughcough*hotelcalifornia*coughcough*). That’s the world Tana lives in and so one day, when she wakes up after a house party, to find out that all of the guests (except for her) have been murdered, she quickly assess the situation as a vampire attack.

It doesn’t take her long to get meet the attackers herself and soon she’s on the road to the closest Coldtown (possibly infected), accompanied by her almost turned ex and a mysterious (half-crazy?) vampire.


The Plot

As I said, the plot closely follows something that me and a friend of mine wrote a few years back when vampire paranormal romance was the Thing (down to the story starting with a girl waking up in the middle of a blood bath). So I was very curious to see how Black will deal with the premise and all the subplots that she could introduce.

The further I got into the book, the more the plot felt like a cliché. Maybe it’s because it’s 2014, maybe it’s because the market is oversaturated with human/vampire romance. And everything would be OK if this was the only flaw of the novel. The plot moves slowly during the trio’s journey to the Coldtown - a sensation which is emphasized by the constant interruptions for a) backstories, or b) brief side character third person POV’s, or c) both. Then, upon their arrival at the Coldtown, the plot suddenly picks up a different pace and we get flooded with new characters, most of which fade out in the background. The events move so quickly that we never get the opportunity to fully grasp the setting or what other characters are up to or what is going on overall.


The Setting

Despite the plot’s terrible speed throughout Tana’s journey to the Coldtown, the prose of those particular chapters has a certain melancholic quality to them which works well with Tana’s displacement of the world at that time. However, the writing style loses that once the plot becomes more saturated. Actually, it works against the novel. The overall inconsistent tempo spoils what could have been an eerie, haunting story, and turns it into a miss matched cliché.


The Characters

At several points throughout the book, we’re introduced to a bunch of new characters (a new bunch for each of those points). However, we never get around getting to know them - they start fading into one another once the attention shifts off them, making them mutually replaceable.

As far as the main characters go, I think Tana was supposed to be melancholic and somehow distant from the world. However, she comes off as boring and apathetic without any positive or strong qualities to compensate for that. Gavriel (the half-mad? vampire) feels clichéd - mysterious and dangerous and a vampire with centuries of blood baths behind him who oh! develops feelings for the first time in his life. Or something along the lines.


The Verdict
If you’re not feeling as picky as I do (as of recently), The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a good throwback to the Golden Age of Paranormal Romance. It’s very suitable for those moments when you just don’t know what to read or don’t feel like doing anything or just want to read something just because.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

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