Cold Burn of Magic (Black Blade #1) by Jennifer Estep

YA Paranormal

From Goodreads:

There Be Monsters Here. . .
It's not as great as you'd think, living in a tourist town that's known as "the most magical place in America." Same boring high school, just twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each other for power. 
 
I try to keep out of it. I've got my mom's bloodiron sword and my slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a way with a lock pick.

But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend's pawn shop, and I have to make a call--get involved, or watch a cute guy die because I didn't. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I'm stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I'm going to end up just like her. .

World Building:  As the book started I expected it to be set in a magical middle ages kingdom.  That changed after a few pages.  This is set in the US with everything just like today except for the magic, monsters, and town that does not exist.  The first few chapters lay out the description of the town and the rules for the monsters and the magic.  It flows without really slowing out the story.

Plot:  It was familiar.  The girl from the streets who has to protect the son of one of the main families in the town.  It is well written and easy to read and the even though it followed a familiar theme it was a satisfying read.

Characters:  I found it easy to get into the head of the characters.  Some were very well developed and some were more of a sketch than a person.  Even so all worked well in the context of the story.

Writing:  The story was well-written and again very easy to read.  The world building, plot and characters development allowed the reader to enjoy the story without anything pulling you out of the book.

All in all this is a good start to a new YA series and I will be looking for the next book in the series.  While one problem is solved there is a much bigger problem for future books.

Kensington published A Cold Burn of Magic by Jennifer Estep in 2015.

I received an ARC of A Cold Burn of Magic from Netgalley in return for an honest review.