The coldest girl in Coldtown

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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.

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ISBN
9780316213103
9780316213110
9780316323635
9781478924708

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These books have the appeal factors suspenseful and fast-paced, and they have the genres "urban fantasy" and "paranormal romances"; and the subjects "vampires," "seventeen-year-old girls," and "fifteen-year-old girls."
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These books have the appeal factors suspenseful and multiple perspectives, and they have the genre "urban fantasy"; the subjects "vampires" and "supernatural"; and characters that are "well-developed characters."
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Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Kat Beyer and Holly Black write dark urban fantasy for teens. While Beyer uses a more contemporary setting, both authors feature protagonists who are initiated into the family trade of paranormal professions. -- Pamela Manasco
Holly Black and Francesca Lia Block both write fast-paced, urban teen fantasy that features mature themes, faeries, and magic. However, while Black also writes books for older kids, Block's work deals with more controversial issues geared toward a more sophisticated teen audience. -- Kelly White
These authors explore the scarier side of faeries and magic in their suspenseful high fantasy novels. Both often feature political intrigue, steamy romance, pulse-pounding action, and dramatic storylines. -- Rebecca Honeycutt
Leigh Bardugo and Holly Black both write teen and adult fantasies (whether epic, urban, or dark), and their books are known for their detailed world-building, fast-paced plots, and suspenseful tone. -- Kaitlin Conner
These authors write fast-paced, mystery-driven urban fantasy for teens. Although Holly Black's novels tend to be darker than Laura Powell's, fans of intricate world-building and strong teenage heroines will find plenty to love in both authors' books. -- Pamela Manasco
Both Holly Black and Kendare Blake's urban fantasy novels for teens share a focus on dark, supernatural mysteries. Although their books tend to be violent and full of action, these authors also often weave complicated, ill-fated romances into their stories. -- Pamela Manasco
Holly Black and Tessa Gratton write urban fantasy for teens, showcasing heroes and heroines with interesting magical powers and complicated love lives. Both authors often utilize dark themes in their writing and explore a variety of fantasy settings in their suspenseful books. -- Pamela Manasco
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These authors' works have the genres "epic fantasy" and "gateway fantasy"; and the subjects "fairies," "rulers," and "imaginary kingdoms."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* What happens in Coldtown stays in Coldtown, because once anyone enters this Vegas-like prison for vampires and their infected human pets, there's little chance of leaving it. After a fairly ordinary high-school party, Tana awakens to discover that she is surrounded by the corpses of her friends and classmates, who have all been drained of blood. While trying to leave, she finds her ex-boyfriend, Aidan, tied up but still alive, his eyes intense with the infection that will fully turn him if he receives the human blood he craves. Tana is saved from Aidan's bite by a mysterious, red-eyed boy, Gavriel, who also materializes in the party's gruesome aftermath. With hungry vampires scraping at the door, she escapes with both guys in tow to find a way to save them all: by somehow making it in and out of Coldtown. In this novel, inspired by her short story of the same name, Black returns with another dark, fast-paced thriller starring a sharp-witted, brave girl who does all the right things when faced with monsters. With rapid-fire dialogue, lavish details, and a wildly imagined world, this will enthrall Black's fans from start to finish and leave them hoping for another bone-chilling, vicarious tour of Coldtown. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Vampires plus reality TV plus romance plus Holly Black (plus a multiplatform marketing campaign) equals a potential mega-bestseller that fans are already waiting for.--Mack, Candice Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

In Black's exquisitely imagined contribution to vampire lore, the creatures have shaken off centuries of clandestine existence and gone public, turning thousands into bloodsuckers like themselves. In an attempt to control their spread, the U.S. government has restricted vampires to ghettolike Coldtowns, where a glamorous, high-octane culture has developed, broadcasting its debauched parties to the world and creating a subculture of humans who fetishize eternal life and long to be turned themselves. Seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up after a wild night of partying to discover that almost everyone in attendance has been killed by vampires, "dried blood crusted on their clothing like rust... dotting their skin like freckles." Wandering through the carnage, she finds her infected ex-boyfriend, Aiden, and a mysterious, half-mad vampire named Gavriel chained in a bedroom. Escaping the massacre, Tana drives them to the nearest Coldtown, knowing that if she enters, a quick death might be the best outcome. Replete with grisly violence, an intriguingly complex take on the mechanics of vampirism, and well-developed and memorable characters, this superior, dread-soaked tale will satisfy vampire addicts of all ages. Ages 15-up. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Library Journal Review

Not long ago, the world discovered that vampires were real. Now many live in quarantined Coldtowns, walled-off cities where vampires roam free and humans flock to offer blood to prove their worthiness for eternal life. Pulled by the allure of the televised decadence, the lavish soirees, and the romantic sensibilities, people enter Coldtown, but few ever leave. Tana wakes after a dusk-to-dawn party to find that only she and her infected ex-boyfriend are alive- for now. Impetuous and empathetic, Tana frees a mysterious chained vampire and all three run from the remaining monsters to the nearest Coldtown. Tana must decide whom she can trust if she is ever going to go home. Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles) perfectly blends classic vampire lore with more than a few new twists. Narrator Christine Larkin expertly relates the tale of Tana, who struggles to survive without losing herself. VERDICT Young adult and adult devotees of vampire and urban fantasy will discover more than enough to sate their voracious appetites with this world of opulence, ancient social hierarchies, and reality television feeds in this essential purchase.-Lisa -Youngblood, Harker Heights P.L., TX (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Horn Book Review

In an alternate here-and-now, vampires are sequestered in Coldtowns guarded by barbed wire and Homeland Security. Live feeds from inside the Coldtowns broadcast the glamorous Eternal Ball with its celebrity vampire hosts, attracting thrill-seekers who are welcomed inside but can never leave. After losing her mother to vampirism, Tana keeps her distance until she wakes up from a party one morning to a house littered with the drained corpses of her friends. The only other survivors are her charming but cheating ex-boyfriend Aidan, left infected and tied to a bed, and beautiful, mysterious vampire-guy Gavriel, chained beside him. Fighting her instinct to run, Tana compels herself to help them get to the nearest Coldtown. Inside, the town is more ghetto than glamour, and Tana becomes entangled in a deadly vampire feud. Blacks compelling prose, descriptive yet direct, conjures a modern gothic world populated by cruel immortals, desperate humans offering themselves as food, and a few hardscrabble survivors. Tana is a winning heroine, by turns staking killer vampires and giving herself over to Gavriels deep, smoldering kisses. As in previous works (The Poison Eaters Other Stories, rev. 5/10; the Good Neighbors books, rev. 1/09, 1/10), Black displays her gift for channeling the dark side, seeming to wake the very shadows around us. lauren adams (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kirkus Book Review

This eagerly anticipated novel (based on Black's short story of the same name) bears little relation to the sparkle-infused vampire tales of the last decade. Ten years ago, a vampire "started romanticizing himself" and went on a rampage, turning people until new vampires were everywhere. As much as possible, they are contained in walled Coldtowns, along with humans who idolize them--or were trapped when the walls went up. Outside, people avoid going out after dark, watch endless feeds from Coldtown parties and idolize vampire hunters. When nihilistic Tana, whose emptiness seems to stem from events surrounding her mother's infection with vampirism, wakes up in a blood bath to find her ex-boyfriend infected and a terrifying but gorgeous vampire chained beside him, she is determined to make things right. What follows is a journey that takes her into Coldtown and out of the grief that has plagued her for years, with plenty of sharply observed characters and situations that feel absurdly, horribly believable. There's dry humor and even a relationship (to call it a romance would be too easy; this is something entirely more complex). Perhaps most unexpectedly, there is no happy ending, just a thread of hope in humanity. You may be ready to put a stake in vampire lit, but read this first: It's dark and dangerous, bloody and brilliant. (Horror. 14 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* What happens in Coldtown stays in Coldtown, because once anyone enters this Vegas-like prison for vampires and their infected human pets, there's little chance of leaving it. After a fairly ordinary high-school party, Tana awakens to discover that she is surrounded by the corpses of her friends and classmates, who have all been drained of blood. While trying to leave, she finds her ex-boyfriend, Aidan, tied up but still alive, his eyes intense with the infection that will fully "turn" him if he receives the human blood he craves. Tana is saved from Aidan's bite by a mysterious, red-eyed boy, Gavriel, who also materializes in the party's gruesome aftermath. With hungry vampires scraping at the door, she escapes with both guys in tow to find a way to save them all: by somehow making it in—and out—of Coldtown. In this novel, inspired by her short story of the same name, Black returns with another dark, fast-paced thriller starring a sharp-witted, brave girl who does all the right things when faced with monsters. With rapid-fire dialogue, lavish details, and a wildly imagined world, this will enthrall Black's fans from start to finish and leave them hoping for another bone-chilling, vicarious tour of Coldtown.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Vampires plus reality TV plus romance plus Holly Black (plus a multiplatform marketing campaign) equals a potential mega-bestseller that fans are already waiting for. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

In Black's exquisitely imagined contribution to vampire lore, the creatures have shaken off centuries of clandestine existence and gone public, turning thousands into bloodsuckers like themselves. In an attempt to control their spread, the U.S. government has restricted vampires to ghettolike Coldtowns, where a glamorous, high-octane culture has developed, broadcasting its debauched parties to the world and creating a subculture of humans who fetishize eternal life and long to be turned themselves. Seventeen-year-old Tana wakes up after a wild night of partying to discover that almost everyone in attendance has been killed by vampires, "dried blood crusted on their clothing like rust... dotting their skin like freckles." Wandering through the carnage, she finds her infected ex-boyfriend, Aiden, and a mysterious, half-mad vampire named Gavriel chained in a bedroom. Escaping the massacre, Tana drives them to the nearest Coldtown, knowing that if she enters, a quick death might be the best outcome. Replete with grisly violence, an intriguingly complex take on the mechanics of vampirism, and well-developed and memorable characters, this superior, dread-soaked tale will satisfy vampire addicts of all ages. Ages 15–up. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary Agency. (Sept.)

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School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 9 Up—A dystopian thriller with a chilling twist. Tana, 17, passes out at a party and wakes up in a house filled with corpses. Her friends lie in crusted pools of blood as she searches through piles of belongings for her keys and boots. Her first thought is that someone must have left a window open. In Tana's world, vampire attacks happen. At the tender age of six, she witnessed her mother's transformation from a loving parent to a creature so desperate for blood it would lure and attack its own daughter. It is because of things like this that Coldtowns, quarantined cities where the infected go to live and die, exist. Along with Tana, the only other survivors of the party are Gavriel, a handsome and mysterious vampire, and Aidan, her newly infected ex. She decides to take them directly to Coldtown, but if crossing the barricades means staying there indefinitely, Tana's not sure she's ready to leave life as she knows it behind. Twilight fans will enjoy the drama, but its fan base need not be limited to those who read paranormal romance. Teens with a yen for dark, futuristic novels, and maybe even a few Anne Rice readers, will find this a refreshing take on vampire lit. As always, Black's writing is quick paced and thought-provoking. A must-have for any teen collection.—Jennifer Furuyama, Pendleton Public Library, OR

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