Black City by Elizabeth Richards - ADVISABLE

Richards, Elizabeth  Black City, 400 pgs. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2012.  $17.99 Content: Language: PG-13 (25 swears; 2 God); Mature Content: PG-13; Violence: PG-13. 

Natalie Buchannan comes from a Sentry family, her mother is an important government official, so it is shocking when she is placed at the local Workboot school, where all the blue collar workers’ kids go.  While at her new school, Natalie feels a physical draw, an actual physical pull on her heart, to a boy named Ash Fisher.  However, any relationship between them is forbidden because Ash is half-human and half-Darkling.  The reconstruction of their city is not going smoothly between the Sentry and the Darklings, and Ash and Natalie can’t seem to fight their feelings for each other, regardless of the legal implications of their relationship.  Because they care about each other, they are more willing to see the truth behind the political uprisings, and they begin to unravel the truths behind the façade put out by the government. 

This book is hard to put down, the storyline revels pieces of the puzzle at just the right time to keep the reader interested.  The characters both carry a lot of baggage so I liked how they were able to use their pasts to show character growth.  The violence is war violence and a lot of blood from vampire deaths.  There is also off page sex.  This is the first book in the series. 

MS, HS-ADVSIABLE.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.