Review; Blood and Chocolate

Sorry for my lack of posting the last two days! I've been a little busy, and have been lacking on my reading lately with midterms. The blog became a victim of this tragedy. However I have bounced back, and managed to give it some CPR. Do you like the new layout? I FINALLY managed to get the 3 Column layout to work. HURRAY! I'm sure the layout will change again, but for now I like it. What do you guys think?

Author; Annette Curtis Klause

Review; 3.5/5

Release Date; September 7^th 1999

Product Description from Amazon.ca

Characterizing the adolescent experience as monstrous is not exactly a new idea. M.T. Anderson's woefully confused teen vampire in Thirsty and Jean Thesman's reluctant young witch in The Other Ones serve as excellent examples of this metaphor set to fiction. But no one really captures how our hormones make us howl as well as Annette Curtis Klause. Blood and Chocolate chronicles the longings and passions of one Vivian Gandillon, teenage werewolf. Her pack family, recently burned out of their West Virginia home by suspicious neighbors, has resettled in a sleepy Maryland suburb. At her new school, Viv quickly falls for sensitive heartthrob Aiden, a human--or "meat-boy," as her pack calls him. Soon she is trying to tame her undomesticated desires to match his more civilized sensibilities. "He was gentle. She hadn't expected that. Kisses to her were a tight clutch, teeth, and tongue... His eyes were shy beneath his dark lashes, and his lips curved with delight and desire--desire he wouldn't force on her... he was different." But Vivian's animal ardor cannot be stilled, and she must decide if she should keep Aiden in the dark about her true nature or invite him to take a walk on her wild side.

Review;

For anyone out there that has seen the movie before reading this book, like myself, you will be very surprised; they are two COMPLETELY different stories. The only things that remain the same are the character names, but even the end result surrounding the characters is like night and day compared to them in the book.

So, I picked up this book because I kinda have this fascination with werewolves all of the sudden. Well not all of the sudden, I have for a long time when I think about it, however this is a werewolf book and after seeing the movie I thought it would be a good read. I was surprised with myself, because I found that the book actually wasn’t really that good. I didn’t want Vivian to end up with her love interest Aidan. I found Aidan annoying, grabby, and goal orientated (in the one way all teenage boys are… hint hint). The plot was ok… Vivian does some funny things and she’s very rebellious, which is fun to read and live vicariously through. My favorite character was the bad guy, Gabriel; in fact I think he was the only character I liked because he was the only one that was honest about whom he is. Vivian was a werewolf but the whole book she tries to deny this and date a human boy, even though that reeks of trouble, while Gabriel never hides the fact that he’s badass.

It seems like this whole book deals with the inner struggles Vivian struggles with as a teenager and also as a werewolf, and her denial with the creature she either has to embrace or separate herself from. At times this book was a little boring and hard to read. Vivian can be a little mean and vicious. Alright I know she’s a werewolf but I mean vicious in the “Mean Girls” sort of way. Also, apparently this is a YA novel, which surprised me a little because Vivian seems to be way to focused on sex for a 16 year old .Yes I know this isn’t an oddity in modern times, but still it was a little dishearten and sad to read. I like to think we have a little more expectations for our 16 year old girls other than sleeping around. Right?

All in all, it was fast paced plot with lots of turns and conflicts, and I would still recommend it to fans of supernatural books and werewolves.