Reviews with content warning for Cursing - The Coldest Touch

Lately, vampire stories in the YA realm have been a bit hit or miss for me, but I enjoyed the way Sterling imagined vampires in this one! The concept of the Death Oracle made for some interestinig twists to the way we typically image vampires. This is the second book where they focus on the fact that teenagers shouldn't be turned into vampires because their brains aren't fully developed, and I think Claire does a good job showing why. This book takes it further than the previous one, and I think it makes it more believable.

Both Elise and Claire have distinct voices throughout the book, and the way their relationship evolved felt realistic. I also appreciated the fact that Elise didn't realize she was queer until later in the novel, and the conversations about identity were on point. I love rep like this because queer identities aren't clear cut for everyone, and seeing characters who are also working to figure it out speaks volumes for teens who are also trying to figure it out.

There were a few things throughout the book regarding world building that could have been fleshed out a little more, but all in all, this is definitely an entertaining, enjoyable read!

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hckilgour's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

While I’m not generally a fan of vampires because they come of cliche, these vampires were incredibly well done!

The paranormal world is well set up and fleshed out. And it’s unique. Elise’s powers and what they could do were a little unclear at first, but as she gets better with them, the reader better understands them too.

Wyn overall was a side character but was a very unique one. I’ve never encountered a character with the preferred pronoun “they”. It was a bit of diversity that really set this book apart. Though, occasionally I did get confused as I though we were talking about multiple people before remembering it was just Wyn.

Claire falling for Elise was an obvious thing that was going to happen. But the back and forth of trying to put duty over feelings made her character feel incredibly real. When Elise starts to also have feelings for Claire, it wasn’t done as well. They come from left field after a kiss it seems. Though towards the end there is a lot more questioning which made the transition feel more natural.

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qace90's review against another edition

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I’m calling this a DNF at 84% because I’m bored and kind of struggling. This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021 and no one could be sadder than me that this did not live up to my mental hype. The Coldest Touch does some really interesting things with vampire stories and has serious (in a positive sense) early 2000s vampire YA vibes. I also really enjoyed the characters and the complexity of motivations. This could 100% be a mood issue but I’ve been reading this book for a month, and I finally hit the too-bored-to-continue point. I think this will be a great fit for lovers of vampire YA, especially with the addition of Death Oracle mythos and tension, but for as much as I loved Sterling’s debut duology, The Coldest Touch fell flat on several notes for me.

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