The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

by Holly Black
Hennepin County Library hardcover 419 pages
genre: YA horror

This book was just creepy. Tana wakes up in a tub after a major drunken party (page one) and finds all her friends are corpses. She can tell they were killed by vampires and she wants to get out before dark falls again. Her ex-boyfriend Aidan (who is a major league selfish jerk) is tied to a bed and alive but infected by the vampires. A vampire named Gavriel is chained to a chair next to the bed. She rescues both of them and off they go to the closest Coldtown (contained vampire city). This book glamorizes the vampire culture while pretending to warn of the horrors. Too many descriptions of blood being licked from fresh cuts . . . too many vivid images of disgusting depravity. I almost liked the budding romance of Tana and Gavriel, but this book was way too horrible for me.