The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Published September 3, 2013
by Little, Brown Books

Description

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. The only problem is, 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.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

When I first read the description I wasn't sure what to expect when it just said "monsters" but I wasn't surprised when it turned out to be vampires. They're everywhere these days. The idea of a "Coldtown" was new though. The idea is that once a town is showing signs of infection they get blocked off and everyone living there, even if they aren't infected, are stuck inside. Bounty hunters catch vampires and bring them to the towns where they can either collect money or a marker. Markers allow someone on the inside who isn't infected to get out.

It was entertaining and I'll be honest that, yes, it is another story with an attractive looking vampire and all that stuff. If don't like that kind of thing this probably isn't for you, but if you can still appreciate a good YA vampire story, this is a pretty good one. You can pre-order a sample of the book for Kindle for free from Amazon that has the first 68 pages.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Description

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

I just loved this book... all the feels! I never thought I'd like a book from a zombie's perspective, but this zombie is so freakin' likeable! I really came to like him because I could tell how hard he was trying to change and that he wanted to be different.

A couple of the reviews I read about Warm Bodies before I read it were negative because they said the names were too close to those in Romeo and Juliet (R and Julie for example) but I didn't pick that up when I was reading. I mean, I can't think about Shakespeare when zombies are involved, though I suppose you could draw comparisons if you wanted to put the time in. I really didn't. Another complaint was this "..." but I like ellipsis and there are only so many ways you can show the slow speech patterns. It didn't bother me like some other reviews I read, but I did notice them.

Julie is far more forgiving than one could expect, but I think it's meant to show her willingness to forgive and she seems to have this light in her soul. Sorry, that was cheesy. But I rolled my eyes multiple times over her "bad girl" image she tried to give herself. You are surrounded by zombies, how are you so calm?

I don't want to give away too much, but these zombies love brains, not just the flesh. So when R eats the brain of Julie's boyfriend? Let's just say that that's what starts him on his change. I haven't seen the movie yet but I plan to soon. It's funny and touching and a good zombie love story (these are words I never thought I would say together).

The Accidental Vampire by Lynsay Sands

The Accidental Vampire by Lynsay Sands

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I didn't enjoy this book, but the sex is hot. Really hot. The main problem is that the ending seemed something out of a high school play. Everything is happy, la de de dah.... dumb.



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Echoes by Ashley Vogel

Echoes by Ashley Vogel



My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Echoes, the first young adult novel by Ashley Vogel is entertaining and exciting. What would you do if your mother was getting remarried, you have to move to another town (meaning a new school where you don't know anyone), you have two new step-brothers (one nice, one bratty) and on top of that, you have an aunt (who went missing before you were born) who wanted you and the guy you like to find her body?

Welcome to Alden. Claire has to move to Alden when her mom, Amelia, gets remarried. When Claire and Jerard are assigned by their teacher to do an essay about what happend to Fiona Kelly, Claire discovers that her aunt didn't die as a child like her mother told her.

The only problem I had with this book was the typos... a few, but I noticed. I'm really anal about grammar, so when I saw them I cringed. Other than that I loved it!

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