Waiting On Wednesday (28)

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

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My WOW pick for this week is:

The Darkest Part of the Forest
By: Holly Black
Publication Date: January 13th, 2015

"Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they're destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she's found the thing she's been made for.

Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries' seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.

At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointy as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.

Until one day, he does...

As the world turns upside down and a hero is needed to save them all, Hazel tries to remember her years spent pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?" ~See it on Goodreads

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I. Need. This. Book. Plain and simple. I adore Holly Black and all things faerie! This book sounds a-freaking-mazing! And from the lucky people that got ARC's from BEA and such, I've heard great, great things about it. And I'm immensely jealous that I don't own this book yet, I'm talking wicked witch of the west green with envy y'all. But really, I can't say how excited I am for this book to come out and I will be there bright and early to get it! 

What's your WOW pick for this week?

ARC Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Title: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Category/Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy, Horror
Expected Release: September 3rd


See it at Goodreads


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.


The Coldest Girl in Coldtown wasn’t the first time I’d read anything by Holly Black. I knew going into this book what her style was like, and she’s been a favorite since I started reading more YA in my early 20s (having read the Modern Fae books first and absolutely fell in love with them). Nonetheless, I also knew that it’s been hard to attach the word “original” next to vampire anything in recent years, so this made me curious. I hadn’t read the short story and didn’t know anything about it before going into it. I was still insanely excited to pick it up and it’d been one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint me at all. In fact, it went above my expectations. I stayed up well into the night on the edge of my seat because I couldn’t put this one down, and for days after I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Ms. Black crafted a dark, unique world full of excitement and horror, twists and gasp-out-loud cover-your-mouth OMG moments. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown won me over from the first scene--a frightening heart-racing beginning that started off with a bang--and I wasn’t able to let go of this addictive story or its characters from that moment on.

This book blew my mind. I am mind blown. I am still practically speechless and flustered and I don’t know how I’m able to even write this review properly.

 

I found Gavriel just as forbidden and charming and mysterious as Tana had. Gavriel is my new favorite hero. Anti-hero? He’s not all fluffy bunnies and flower hearts, that’s for sure. But he does know how to certainly charm some. And while Tana had had it rough through the years since vampires revealed their existence, her character showed so much determination and strength that I just had to love her and hope nothing but the best by the end for her. These characters had spunk and a realistic appeal to them. Though the blurb may make it feel there’s a possible love triangle, there’s not. An awkward ex-boyfriend friendship, yes, and for that I was like “thank you!” Because really, how often do we see that? The romance overall was exciting and different. And I adored it.

I’m curious though: Is this a stand-alone or a series? The ending left off a bit open-ended, though could have been considered pretty well wrapped up at the same time. As much as I love stand-alones (and we all know we probably could use more of them), I’m sincerely hoping this is going to be a series because I want MORE. There are so many feels. And just gah… I need to know what’s happening to Gavriel and Tana and Pearl, and what’s going to go on next in this crazy-imaginative world. Please?! 

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is hands down one of my favorite reads, not just for 2013, but in years. Not hard to make that decision. Holly Black has once again delivered a unique cast and imaginative, fresh world not to be missed!

Review: White Cat

Title: White Cat
Author: Holly Black
Genre: YA, Urban Fantasy


Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories. --Goodreads




White Cat was mysterious and a compelling read. I loved the world that Holly Black created of Workers and the powers I learned about. It was like the Mafia meets Magick. Everything was very crafted and well-developed, and when I first delved into the story, I had high expectations-- having read Holly Black’s other works before. I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. This tale was so unique, believable, and unlike anything I’ve read in recent years!


I did have some small nitpicks. Personally, I decided that I like her Faerie tales better in conclusion of this. At times, I felt a little bored in parts of White Cat that made me skim a bit-- and I couldn’t quite connect with Lila as well as I would have liked. I loved Cassel’s character, though. His voice and personality was strong.



Nonetheless, a fantastic read that I will be highly recommending. I look forward to continuing on with this series!




4.5 stars!