Ok, first of all, what's Tana & Gavriel ship name??! I need one NOW! Tanvriel? Gavrana?! What?! I LOVED them together! They made the entire story for me. All the feels. All the creepy, intense feels that I got from their twisted, morbid relationship! Should it freak me out that I was feeling things during their scene together at Lucien's party where they were drinking each other's blood? I mean, how whacked out am I to have loved that scene so much?!

This world that Holly Black built was absolutely amazing. Infected, Cold, Vampire, Human. It was all so fascinating. I don't think I've ever encountered a vampire story that has affected me as much as this one has. The characters were amazing. There were SO many of them, that at times it was hard to keep up, but I was so engrossed in the story that I forced myself to remember every single character.

Let me just say that -- favorite characters? Tana, Gavriel, Jameson, Valentina. I couldn't get enough of them. And the funny part? Jameson and Valentina were supporting characters and really were only in about half of the story. That's how great of a job Holly did with their development. I really liked them by the end of the book. I also like how she made Valentina out to be more than she initially is. Great little surprise.

Now for the characters I loved to hate - Aidan, Lucien, and Midnight. Aidan was a good guy, inherently, but he just got on my nerves to the point where I was like, no I'm over it. I think it mainly had to do with the fact that I just couldn't enjoy him and Gavriel at the same time. Nothing against him as a character. Lucien was just a manipulative SOB who you couldn't trust as far you could throw him. I really enjoyed his entanglements with Gavriel, especially after learning about how their relationship came to be. And Midnight (or Jenny) was just a biatch. I didn't like her when I first met her because I could tell that her ways were going to be trouble. She didn't listen to anyone and she was rash in her decision making. So I wasn't surprised at what happened to Winter (her twin brother) and then to her. I just wanted to shake her!

Tana was a badass. I really enjoy her development and how she just had so much mercy for people, whether they were vampires, infected, etc. But of course, there were times when her gracious ways got her in trouble. People were obviously going to take advantage ** cough, cough** Aidan.

But OMG Gavriel, I want a Gavriel for myself. His story was one of the most interesting vampire stories. All I will say is that there is SO much more to him that it takes the ENTIRE book to reveal it all. And I loved it! With each uncovered secret, I kept squealing like a little girl. I just loved Gavriel and how intense he was. His relationship with Tana, from start to finish, was so much fun to read about. There are THREE major scene between them in the book that I just get SO many feels over -- when they enter the Coldtown, when they're at Lucien's party, and then at the end. I just got butterflies in my stomach from how appropriate it all was.

Gah, the feels!

I LOVED this book! I'm bummed that it's a stand alone, but I'm also happy because I don't enjoy many stand alone novels and I REALLY enjoyed this one. It ended in a place where I was satisfied, but I still wanted more. Not many authors can do that too well. But Holly nailed it.