The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (audio)

Tana wakes up at a sundown party to find all her friends murdered by vampires. Still she manages to escape, rescuing her infected ex-boyfriend, Aiden, and a mysterious vampire boy who was chained in the room with him. From there they travel to Coldtown where all the infected and vampires are sent in the hopes of curing Aiden and saving them all.

If  you are looking for a book with real vampires, then look no further. This is a book with blood and murder and vampires and sadness. Tana has lived what is a pretty sad, reckless life after her mother was infected. So she has this tough girl persona. But all that is tested when her ex-boyfriend is infected and she thinks she might be too. She runs to Coldtown hoping to fight off the infection and go home normal even though she knows the duplicitous nature of the wannabes and the vampires that live there.

I loved this book. I thought it was so great and I don't know how so much talent lives in one person. Black did a great job of making the vampires scary and the situation tense and violent. It was so well done. I really felt for Tana as she navigated this minefield and deals not only with the idea of being infected but with Gavriel, the vampire she rescued from the party. He is definitely an interesting character and it was nice to get his backstory without it overwhelming the book. The flashbacks done on the characters were a nice touch and nothing was given that wasn't necessary to the story. I liked it all.

Christine Lakin is the narrator and I liked her as the voice of Tana. She does fine with the different characters and I liked her reading. The musical cues in the book are really fun and add a little something to the book.

12 hours

Weekly Round-Up 12/16

Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.

I'm reading A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard. And I am still listening to Rotters by Daniel Kraus, read by Kirby Heyborne. With my son I'm still reading Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Ramage by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith.

Weekly Round-Up 12/9

Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.

I'm reading A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard. And I am still listening to The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, read by Christine Lakin and Rotters by Daniel Kraus, read by Kirby Heyborne. With my son I'm still reading Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Ramage by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith.

I reviewed Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman last week.

A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard.

Following an all-out battle with the walking Dead, the Spirit Hunters have fled Philadelphia, leaving Eleanor alone to cope with the devastating aftermath. But there’s more trouble ahead—the evil necromancer Marcus has returned, and his diabolical advances have Eleanor escaping to Paris to seek the help of Joseph, Jie, and the infuriatingly handsome Daniel once again. When she arrives, however, she finds a whole new darkness lurking in this City of Light. As harrowing events unfold, Eleanor is forced to make a deadly decision that will mean life or death for everyone

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

A father goes out for a milk and when he returns he has a very odd, involved story to tell.

I picked this up for my son and I to read together. But so far I haven't gotten around to reading it to him. I did read it myself. It's not a very long book and I basically read it while I was sitting with him as he did his homework. It is an utterly charming book. The dad is sent out for milk so his kids can eat their cereal and so he can have milk for his tea. But he is gone for a very long time and the kids begin to wonder where he is. Then he comes back with the milk and a long story involving space aliens, time travel, talking dinosaurs, and a whole host of other adventures. It's pretty great. For me, it's basically what Douglas Adams might have written had he written a children's book with its certain cheeky irreverence. It's a super fun book with wonderful illustrations by Skottie Young. I think my son will enjoy it when I read it to him.

Weekly Round-Up 12/2

Weekly Round-Up is my wrap-up of last week's activities and includes what I'm reading this week, reviews I've posted, books in the mail and anything else of interest plus From the Library, my weekly listing of what I've checked out from the library.

To tell you the truth I'm not entirely sure what I am reading right now. I keep book jumping so who knows. I do know I have A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard started as well as Reached by Allie Condie so it's one of those 2 books. And I am still listening to Rotters by Daniel Kraus (read by Kirby Heyborne) but my car is in the body shop so I switched to The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black (read by Christine Lakin) for right now (it's also due back at the library soon so I'm trying to get it done before then). With my son I'm still reading Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Ramage by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith. I know I haven't read review in a while. I'm just not in a reading mood lately which is weird for me but sort of more of the same too.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, read by Christine Lakin. 12 hours.

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.

Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan

Free from bonds, but not each other

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same.

Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life.

Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...