Honestly, I am so over vampires and I know a lot of you are too- so when I was camping out in the YA Fantasy Romance section of Barnes and Noble I was skeptical about a lot of the stuff I was looking at. However, something about this book called to me. Firstly, it’s Holly Black and I’m uncertain I can dislike anything Holly Black writes. Secondly, the premises was intriguing and while we live in a post Twilight world finding a Vampire Book that doesn’t sound like a complete rip off is very hard. However, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown surprised me yet. It was intriguing, clever, and contained a female character I didn’t want to stab in the throat ninety-nine percent of the time. 

The story is about Thana. She’s got that typical YA book heroine thing to her. She’s tragic, doe eyed, and tough all at the same time which works for her without coming of as irritating and Mary Sue (most of the time.) Tana wakes up at a party with everyone around her dead/dying, her  dopey ex boyfriend Aidan on the edge of turning into a vamp, and another vamp chained down. Thana has to race against the clock to get Aidan to a Coldtown (it’s pretty much a ghetto for vamps and weird humans who’ve gotten stuck there.) She packs up Aidan and Gavriel the sexy, mysterious, and somewhat kind vampire and hits the road with them. On their way there they meet some friends and foes and all in all it’s a fun journey. 

The love story is definitely between Gavriel and Thana and contains one of the best vamp kiss scenes I’ve seen in a YA book (tongue biting and blood licking, it’s hot, gave me a bit of an early Sookie Stackhouse vibe.) What makes Gavriel and Thana so refreshing is that they both have secrets that keep their feelings hidden from everyone except themselves. The attraction is there immediately and I was very impressed with how compatible they were as characters without having been shoved down everyones throat. 

Despite how great the story was one thing didn’t sit well with me and that was the fact the POV’s changed from time to time but there wasn’t any particular pattern to and when it changed from Thana to another character the first time it felt very jarring and slightly unnecessary. A plot device could have been used such as a text or a phone call. The only switches I did enjoy were the ones to Gavriel’s past with his maker that reminded me of Angel and Spike in a wonderful way. 

Despite the point of view switching I did whole heartily find this book entertaining and was actually sad to find out it was a one shot and not part of a series, although I will say the ending was open ended enough that a series wouldn’t feel like something out of left field and I hope this might go on because I’m not quite ready to fully ready to say goodbye to Coldtown just yet.