Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

I feel like an asshole for giving this book a one star. But I'm also being very honest about my feelings for it, and I do not like lying. But first I would wish to say that I'm giving it a one star because of the book, not because of the author, because I have nothing against Holly. I kind of adore her. And I have enjoyed books by her before. But not this one. I didn't enjoy it at all.

I've been wanting to read The Coldest Girl in Coldtown for a few months now, ever since I read the summary. Thought I would love it. And then I got an invite via NetGalley to read it, and I wanted to read it right away, because I haven't been able to read much lately. Not sure if I will be able to read much after having read this, though. Sigh. But still. I am glad that I read it. Maybe.

I don't know how to talk about this book. Just be aware that my review will not be positive at all. Because to me there wasn't anything positive about this book. I just didn't like it at all. I'm sad about it, but that's just the way it is. First I want to talk about the writing. I had issues with it from the beginning, and it just got worse for every page. I did not enjoy it. There were so many things the characters said that did not make sense and that I didn't enjoy reading about. I have to love the reading to enjoy a book, for the most part. But this time I did not enjoy the writing or the story. I tried to like the writing, just couldn't.

The book is told from the point of view of Tana, who I'm still unsure if  I liked or not. Found her to be a lot of silly and she didn't seem real. I didn't like the way she did things, and the way she reacted or didn't react to it all didn't seem real to me at all. So yeah. I didn't like reading about her. But I still wanted the entire book to be from her point of view. But there are a few small peeks into the mind of her sister, Pearl, which I did not like or understand. And from Tana's past, which I felt was just unnecessary.

In the beginning of this book there is a party. And there is a vampire attack. And yeah. I hated the way Tana reacted and did NOT react to it all. Like I said, did not feel real. We also get to know her ex boyfriend, whom I did not like one bit. Didn't understand why they were ever together before, and I would not call them a couple, since he was with other girls and boys while together with her. Wft. Yeah. I just found him to be a big asshole all the time, and I can't believe she just accepted it all. Sigh.

Then there is the vampire we get to know, whom is also the love interest. Kind of. I didn't even like him. Gavriel was a weird person, and I don't think he was written very well. Didn't like the way Tana was describing him, and most of it felt unreal. The way she could see mad delight in his eyes. How could she see that? Sigh. Anyway. There was a lot of silly in this book and I did not enjoy it. Which I keep saying. Sigh. I just don't know what else to say. This book just wasn't for me, which is a real shame, tbh.

There is vampires in this book. And I could have loved that, if there hadn't been Coldtowns. How can the vampires claim to be free and be so happy to be out in the open when they are ALL trapped in these Coldtowns? Yeah, fine, they have parties and lots of humans there but they can't do what they want and they can't ever leave. I don't call that a happy ending. Sigh, yeah. I didn't like reading about the vampires. Didn't even like reading about Gavriel's past. It bored me, because of bad writing and all.

I don't know what else to say about this book. There were a lot of silly and stupid characters that I did not enjoy reading about. Only character I might have liked was Jameson. And that is just maybe. I didn't like the others and I didn't like the writing and I did not enjoy the plot much either. There is a bunch of things happening, but yeah. It bored me and I wished to stop reading so many times. Although, there was one scene near the end which wasn't all bad. Still a lot of bad, but not just bad. Liked it a little bit.

Okay. That's all I have to say about this book. For the most part. I would not re-read it. Ever. But I'm still glad I read it, even if I ended up giving it a one star. I wish I could say it was an interesting read, but to be honest I was bored all the time. Didn't care much what happened to the characters or to the story. Only liked the part about the Spider at the end, and not even all of it. Just that one small part.  I'm sorry for this negative review, but not really. You can't love all the books. And I did not love this.

I don't know if I think other people should read this book. If I recommend it to others. Because, yeah, I did not like it. And yet, I've seen a lot of people on Goodreads who have loved it. So I suppose it comes down to what you love. I liked the vampire part, even though I felt it wasn't done well enough. I did not enjoy the writing. I did not like the characters. I felt a lot of the character names were a bit silly, like Midnight and Winter. Did not like those characters either. Sigh. I'm just not happy about this book.

I'm still unsure how I should rate this book. But I'm ending up at a one star, no matter how long I think about it. Because I did not enjoy this book. And the only reason for why I read all of it was because the day I started it I managed to read half the book. And while I wanted to quit all the time after that and before that, I've never actually not finished a book after having read so much of it. But anyway. I liked one thing about the ending, so maybe a one point five star. Maybe. But nothing more than that.

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