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Blood and Chocolate
Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?
Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He’s fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.
Vivian’s divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really—human or beast? Which tastes sweeter—blood or chocolate?
Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He’s fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.
Vivian’s divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really—human or beast? Which tastes sweeter—blood or chocolate?
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Annette Curtis Klause
8 books1,026 followersAnnette Curtis Klause broke new ground in young adult literature with The Silver Kiss, a book that is at once "sexy, scaring, and moving," according to Roger Sutton writing in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. A vampire love story, Klause's first novel is a darkly seductive thriller with heart and message.
Born in Bristol, England, in 1953, Klause became fascinated with grisly things at an early age. "My mother read and sang to me," Klause explained. "But my daddy used to sit me on his lap and tell me the plots to gangster and monster movies. I knew all about Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Jimmy Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson before I ever saw any of their movies." Her father also let her speak to Willoughby, an imaginary little boy who lived down his throat.
When she was seven, Klause and her family moved north to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She recalls that her first experience with creative writing occurred when she was incapacitated with a twisted ankle at age eight or nine. Klause wrote a poem about her mother ironing and decided from then on to save all her poems in a notebook. Soon she was writing and illustrating her own books, mostly about a cat and the kittens she has. At age ten she and a neighborhood friend began making up plays and performing them on a tape recorder. "The plays usually involved some kind of humorous mistake," Klause recalled, "like a woman calling up a plant nursery instead of a nursery school for her child."
It was also about this time when Klause wrote her first (unpublished) bit of horror, The Blood Ridden Pool of Solen Goom. Each of the chapters ended with ". . . and more blood flowed into the blood ridden pool of Solen Goom." Increasingly she read fantasy and science-fiction books, in addition to Mark Twain and, as she got older, the beatnik books of Jack Kerouac. "I wanted desperately to be a beatnik," she remembered. She also read her first vampire book at age fourteen: Jane Gaskell's The Shiny Narrow Grin, which was Klause's initial inspiration for her first novel many years later. "I was smitten by the pale young man who appeared in a few suspenseful scenes," Klause related, "and became mesmerized with the whole concept of vampires." Initially, Klause responded to this fascination by writing poetry, which she described as "a pretentious, over-written, dreadful sequence of poems interspersed with prose called The Saga of the Vampire[also unpublished]." These early writings would later become invaluable for Klause when she set out on the journey of her first novel.
Klause's life was distinctly changed when she was fifteen and her father moved the family to Washington, DC, for career reasons. In high school Klause continued writing poetry. After finishing college in 1976, Klause went on to graduate school in library science. She took poetry workshops in college, but poetry was soon replaced by short stories once she graduated and started working in libraries. Klause began sending her work out to magazines, collecting numerous rejection letters. Several of her poems and a short story were published in anthologies and small magazine reviews, but it took several years of concerted effort to find her voice and her audience.
"I finally took a writing workshop with Larry Callen, a well-known children's writer," Klause noted. "I knew I wanted to write for young people. I'm still working through my own adolescence, so it seemed appropriate. I continued with further ones. I still go to the writing group Larry Callen introduced me to, and often chuckle about how an idea or action will affect the people in my group even as I am writing." Klause soon graduated from short stories, and with the help and encouragement of Callen, set to work on a novel. "I wanted to write for teenagers, so I thought back to what I liked to read at that age. In a way, I stole from myself with The Silver Kiss, because I looked at my old writing notebooks and found the vampire poem I had written as a t
Born in Bristol, England, in 1953, Klause became fascinated with grisly things at an early age. "My mother read and sang to me," Klause explained. "But my daddy used to sit me on his lap and tell me the plots to gangster and monster movies. I knew all about Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Jimmy Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson before I ever saw any of their movies." Her father also let her speak to Willoughby, an imaginary little boy who lived down his throat.
When she was seven, Klause and her family moved north to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She recalls that her first experience with creative writing occurred when she was incapacitated with a twisted ankle at age eight or nine. Klause wrote a poem about her mother ironing and decided from then on to save all her poems in a notebook. Soon she was writing and illustrating her own books, mostly about a cat and the kittens she has. At age ten she and a neighborhood friend began making up plays and performing them on a tape recorder. "The plays usually involved some kind of humorous mistake," Klause recalled, "like a woman calling up a plant nursery instead of a nursery school for her child."
It was also about this time when Klause wrote her first (unpublished) bit of horror, The Blood Ridden Pool of Solen Goom. Each of the chapters ended with ". . . and more blood flowed into the blood ridden pool of Solen Goom." Increasingly she read fantasy and science-fiction books, in addition to Mark Twain and, as she got older, the beatnik books of Jack Kerouac. "I wanted desperately to be a beatnik," she remembered. She also read her first vampire book at age fourteen: Jane Gaskell's The Shiny Narrow Grin, which was Klause's initial inspiration for her first novel many years later. "I was smitten by the pale young man who appeared in a few suspenseful scenes," Klause related, "and became mesmerized with the whole concept of vampires." Initially, Klause responded to this fascination by writing poetry, which she described as "a pretentious, over-written, dreadful sequence of poems interspersed with prose called The Saga of the Vampire[also unpublished]." These early writings would later become invaluable for Klause when she set out on the journey of her first novel.
Klause's life was distinctly changed when she was fifteen and her father moved the family to Washington, DC, for career reasons. In high school Klause continued writing poetry. After finishing college in 1976, Klause went on to graduate school in library science. She took poetry workshops in college, but poetry was soon replaced by short stories once she graduated and started working in libraries. Klause began sending her work out to magazines, collecting numerous rejection letters. Several of her poems and a short story were published in anthologies and small magazine reviews, but it took several years of concerted effort to find her voice and her audience.
"I finally took a writing workshop with Larry Callen, a well-known children's writer," Klause noted. "I knew I wanted to write for young people. I'm still working through my own adolescence, so it seemed appropriate. I continued with further ones. I still go to the writing group Larry Callen introduced me to, and often chuckle about how an idea or action will affect the people in my group even as I am writing." Klause soon graduated from short stories, and with the help and encouragement of Callen, set to work on a novel. "I wanted to write for teenagers, so I thought back to what I liked to read at that age. In a way, I stole from myself with The Silver Kiss, because I looked at my old writing notebooks and found the vampire poem I had written as a t
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September 20, 2018
**this is not a float - i have been ordered to edit this review to include something "necessary"
i was watching the runaways last week, and in the bonus-feature interviews, dakota fanning was all wide-eyed exclaiming how she was so excited to finally get to act in a period piece.
and i died a little inside.
but so this book, from 1997, predates twilight but somehow it involves a werewolf love story. WHAAAAAT??? (her previous novel, silver kiss, from 1992, is about a vampire - suspicious*) so, to dakota fanning these books are practically vintage, and would be the historico-literary predecessors to the sparkly ones the kids are loving today.
it's all about perspective.
i never considered werewolves to be sexy. the shedding, the dogbreath, the teeth and claws; just not my particular fetish. however, the way this young teenage shewolf describes the changes her body undergoes during the full moon... woah. hot stuff. even when she is in human form, she completely owns her sexuality, and is aggressive and believes herself to be the most beautiful thing on either two or four legs. until her human lover sees her change, and does not agree with her ideas of beauty. (this is like a dude i dated once who wished i would dress "more feminine", when i used to only wear combat boots and assorted badassery.and i didn't change then, but now i only wear dresses,too late for you, guy - but i still say "fuck you, cichowicz!! fuck your standards of beauty!!")(i have given up writing on-point reviews. deal.)
but so werewolves...
this book is actually quite good. i may have to give it an extra star because there were a lot of elements i liked in it, and i had to read so many just mediocre books last week, this one is surely one-star better than most of them. she is an excellent stylist, and i was very glad she did not give the expected ending, but was willing to disappoint a whole lot of lovestruck teenie girls with the more "appropriate" ending.
it also has one of the most romantic mid-coital lines, "i want to lay my kill at your feet". this makes me swoon,but makes elizabeth roll her eyes and scoff. maybe you have to read all the surrounding clawing and nipping and rolling around on the bed bits. (science fact learned from this book: when two werewolves bang, they can either be human or wolf or some sort of inbetween. convenient.)
i don't know what else, but any teen fiction book that starts out with quotes from both hesse and kipling has gotta be good, right?? right??? add to that a vicious female protagonist who will literally claw your eyes out if you get in her way, and i think we have a winner.
* also suspicious is the mother in this book is named esmé like the mother in that tremendously popular teen vampire series; a name i used to love. salinger is forever sullied for me, thanks, supernatural teen fiction moms...
** i have been told "you really CANNOT write a review of a book with that title and NOT include some reference to Elvis Costello.
I suggest this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcU38D...
please go add this to your review now!!"
woof! i obey connor.
come to my blog!
i was watching the runaways last week, and in the bonus-feature interviews, dakota fanning was all wide-eyed exclaiming how she was so excited to finally get to act in a period piece.
and i died a little inside.
but so this book, from 1997, predates twilight but somehow it involves a werewolf love story. WHAAAAAT??? (her previous novel, silver kiss, from 1992, is about a vampire - suspicious*) so, to dakota fanning these books are practically vintage, and would be the historico-literary predecessors to the sparkly ones the kids are loving today.
it's all about perspective.
i never considered werewolves to be sexy. the shedding, the dogbreath, the teeth and claws; just not my particular fetish. however, the way this young teenage shewolf describes the changes her body undergoes during the full moon... woah. hot stuff. even when she is in human form, she completely owns her sexuality, and is aggressive and believes herself to be the most beautiful thing on either two or four legs. until her human lover sees her change, and does not agree with her ideas of beauty. (this is like a dude i dated once who wished i would dress "more feminine", when i used to only wear combat boots and assorted badassery.and i didn't change then, but now i only wear dresses,too late for you, guy - but i still say "fuck you, cichowicz!! fuck your standards of beauty!!")(i have given up writing on-point reviews. deal.)
but so werewolves...
this book is actually quite good. i may have to give it an extra star because there were a lot of elements i liked in it, and i had to read so many just mediocre books last week, this one is surely one-star better than most of them. she is an excellent stylist, and i was very glad she did not give the expected ending, but was willing to disappoint a whole lot of lovestruck teenie girls with the more "appropriate" ending.
it also has one of the most romantic mid-coital lines, "i want to lay my kill at your feet". this makes me swoon,but makes elizabeth roll her eyes and scoff. maybe you have to read all the surrounding clawing and nipping and rolling around on the bed bits. (science fact learned from this book: when two werewolves bang, they can either be human or wolf or some sort of inbetween. convenient.)
i don't know what else, but any teen fiction book that starts out with quotes from both hesse and kipling has gotta be good, right?? right??? add to that a vicious female protagonist who will literally claw your eyes out if you get in her way, and i think we have a winner.
* also suspicious is the mother in this book is named esmé like the mother in that tremendously popular teen vampire series; a name i used to love. salinger is forever sullied for me, thanks, supernatural teen fiction moms...
** i have been told "you really CANNOT write a review of a book with that title and NOT include some reference to Elvis Costello.
I suggest this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcU38D...
please go add this to your review now!!"
woof! i obey connor.
come to my blog!
October 28, 2011
Just a note of warning: I didn't like Blood and Chocolate. I read it on a high recommendation from a friend and it bored me to tears. But I persevered, hoping it would get better. It didn't.
Our protagonist, Vivian, looks kinda like Megan Fox, only blonde. Vivian thinks of men like they're meat. Here are a few of her thoughts that we're privy to.
and
and
We're not dealing with a girl of astounding intelligence here. In this universe, werewolves only have two goals -- to kill things and to sleep with things. Notice I said things in both categories. I don't think these werewolves are very particular.
Our love interest is Aiden, a rebellious, Satan worshiping, faux emo. Yes, you read that right.
Our other love interest is Gabriel, a twenty-four year old weirdo. He reminds me of Edward, only creepier. You think Edward was a creeper? Check out what Gabe does to sixteen-year-old Vivian.
This doesn't seem very romantic to me. This guy makes Jacob, Sam, and Edward look like cushy Teletubbies. Seriously, if any of them were ever in jail with Gabe I'd advise them to not drop the soap.
You think I'm kidding? This guy couldn't control himself when he was with his girlfriend in bed and he phased. Then, when she was scared, he smacked her upside the head. Of course he was sorry right? But being sorry doesn't exactly bring her back from the dead.
Taking the words right out of Vivian's head here.
If all werewolves are like this, and Gabe is pretty mild, Emily got away easy. Sam could have done much worse.
Gabe is a creep, yet somehow this book gets praised as being everything Twilight isn't. I'd kill myself before recommending this book over Twilight. Edward might be a stalker, but at least he isn't a murderer. And let's remember, vampires need to kill humans to survive. These werewolves do it for fun.
But I'll leave Gabe alone for a while. After all, there's much, much more to hate about this book.
I'm not much of a feminist myself -- I really just believe in equal rights for everyone -- but some of the stuff in this book really disgusts me.
For instance,
In this world, male werewolves are twice as big as female wolves. This is certainly awkward. Now in reality, male wolves are only a few inches bigger than female wolves. Keep in mind that wolves are animals, werewolves are half-human. In this world, a male werewolf can practically rape any woman he wants. There isn't really anything stopping him except for the other males, and they only intervene if they wanted to rape the woman first.
Moving on.
In addition to being anti-feminist, this book is also somewhat of a misanthrope. Like Twilight, I get the feeling that it promotes hate towards humans. Or interracial marriage.
Guess what we learn? Being different is bad. If you can't get along with another species because they're afraid of you, it's alright to ditch them instead of trying to talk it out. Don't try to have a relationship with someone of another species because your only purpose in life is to breed with the alpha-male. At least, I got that's what I got from this book. Feel free to say otherwise.
Besides the one-dimensional characters, the rapists, and the overall stupidity of our main character, we're treated once again to a plot fail. Like Twilight, this book doesn't gain an actual plot until the last fifty pages.
Vivian is a moron. She makes Bella look like Hermione Granger -- an intelligent female character. In fact, as I was nearing the end of this book, I go bored. So I drew up a character comparison chart for those who have read Twilight and Evermore. The similarities are somewhat startling.
Willem = Jacob/Jude
Astrid and Rafe = Victoria and Riley/Drina and Roman
Gabriel = Edward/Damon/Sam
Vivian = Bella/Ever
I forgot Aiden, but he's a cowardly loser so I can't really put him anywhere. The only character I like is Willem, and he speaks like three times. Also, we get a lot of weird relationships in this book. Astrid and Esme, both around forty, are lusting after Gabe, who is twenty-four. He gets with Vivian, who is sixteen. Astrid gets with Rafe, who is also sixteen. Rafe is best friends with Urf, who is Astrid's son. Yeah, we got some weird stuff going on around here.
Blood and Chocolate was published first, in 1997. Sadly, we haven't progressed much. Instead of the blonde, beautiful, sex-obsessed idiots that L.J.Smith and Annette Klause write, we get the shy, ugly, idiotic twits that Stephanie Meyer and Meg Cabot write.
The prose in this book isn't that great either. It reads like an amateur fanfic. I've said that before, but never has it been more true.
and
and
and
and
and
If you're like me, you've read a lot of Avatar:The Last Airbender fanfics. And if you're dumber than me, you actually liked more than 90% of them. If you're really stupid, you read a few Greek/Roman fanfics and thought they were brilliant. Brace yourself for this nugget of truth -- they all sucked. And this book reads just like them.
I forced myself to finish it because I wanted to write a review. I skimmed it last year, thought it was pretty bad, and decided to move on. Then I picked it up again. I didn't think it could get worse. Boy, was I wrong. I thought I had missed something. I missed nothing. This is like a bodice ripper in disguise. It's full of misused adverbs and adjectives, and the stupidest metaphors you'll ever read.
I will never second guess myself again. I almost feel sorry for anyone who liked this and then turned around to hate Evermore, Blue Bloods, and Twilight. This is worse. Granted, it came first, but it's much, much worse. At least the Lying Game kept me interested, even if it was vapid garbage. This was boring.
I give this .5 stars because I liked Willem and the cover. This had so much potential. It had the mythology, it had the premise, but it failed.
Our protagonist, Vivian, looks kinda like Megan Fox, only blonde. Vivian thinks of men like they're meat. Here are a few of her thoughts that we're privy to.
A female on the loose was a dangerous creature; she could challenge another bitch for a male she fancied. Some of those male eyes strayed to Vivian, too, and she preened at the thought of being a threat. She and Esmé exchanged knowing looks, their lips plump,
curved, and smug.
and
She was staring, she knew, but his face was delicious. His eyes were amused and dreamy, as if observing life from the outside and finding it vaguely funny. He seemed languid, not intense like the Five -- those jangly, nervy, twitching, squirming, fighting, snapping, sharp-edged creatures who demanded so much from her. She noticed his tall dancers frame and his long-fingered hands, and the thought crossed her mind that she would enjoy him touching her.
and
The boy to Aiden's left noticed her first. He was a burly blond with a good-natured face and eyes that glazed over slightly at her approach. Vivian couldn't resist, she winked, and his cheeks turned pink. It was so easy. The other kid, wearing some kind of funny lopsided haircut, kept on yakking away, but the girl looked over and wrinkled her nose. She was small, with close-cropped dark hair -- the sort of girl that wore black stockings even on days like these.I'll put a few more runs in those tights, honey, if you look at me like that again, Vivian promised silently.
We're not dealing with a girl of astounding intelligence here. In this universe, werewolves only have two goals -- to kill things and to sleep with things. Notice I said things in both categories. I don't think these werewolves are very particular.
Our love interest is Aiden, a rebellious, Satan worshiping, faux emo. Yes, you read that right.
Our other love interest is Gabriel, a twenty-four year old weirdo. He reminds me of Edward, only creepier. You think Edward was a creeper? Check out what Gabe does to sixteen-year-old Vivian.
"Or ..." His hand lashed out, grabbed her, and whipped her into his arms, where he held her tight. "We can take it fast and rough." His mouth came down on hers and his hot tongue parted her lips. She pulled back, but he caught her hair in his fist and pressed her close. She pushed on his chest and struggled in his arms, but he wouldn't let go. Damn him, she thought, tears forming.I don't want fierce, I want gentle.
This doesn't seem very romantic to me. This guy makes Jacob, Sam, and Edward look like cushy Teletubbies. Seriously, if any of them were ever in jail with Gabe I'd advise them to not drop the soap.
You think I'm kidding? This guy couldn't control himself when he was with his girlfriend in bed and he phased. Then, when she was scared, he smacked her upside the head. Of course he was sorry right? But being sorry doesn't exactly bring her back from the dead.
Taking the words right out of Vivian's head here.
"Who cares?" She thought briefly of slicing his hand but dismissed the idea. He [Gabe] was much bigger than her and didn't mind hitting females.
If all werewolves are like this, and Gabe is pretty mild, Emily got away easy. Sam could have done much worse.
Gabe is a creep, yet somehow this book gets praised as being everything Twilight isn't. I'd kill myself before recommending this book over Twilight. Edward might be a stalker, but at least he isn't a murderer. And let's remember, vampires need to kill humans to survive. These werewolves do it for fun.
But I'll leave Gabe alone for a while. After all, there's much, much more to hate about this book.
I'm not much of a feminist myself -- I really just believe in equal rights for everyone -- but some of the stuff in this book really disgusts me.
For instance,
"Why aren't females allowed to compete in the Ordeal?" Esmé said.
She sat at the kitchen table. There was a leaf in her hair, and Vivian was jealous of Esmé's night in the open.
"Gimme a break!" exclaimed Rudy. "Isn't it obvious? It's purely physical. Females are in a different weight category. Their muscles don't develop to the same degree. Why risk injury or death with no
chance to win?"
Vivian took the cup of coffee meant for her mother from Rudy's hands and leaned back against the counter to drink it. Rudy rolled his eyes, but poured another cup.
"But some females are smarter than some males, craftier fighters," Esmé argued.
Rudy set Esmé's coffee in front of her and sat down himself. "Stop being awkward, Esmé. It's only a way of matching fairly and protecting our own. You females get your chance. It's only the top female who mates with the victor. She has to be the strongest and the smartest to ensure our survival."
"Yeah, great, some chance. It's a male's world, isn't it? A female may be queen bitch but she doesn't get to choose her king."
"You loved Ivan, didn't you, Sis?" Rudy asked. "You didn't beat the crap out of every new girl who came along with a challenge just for the status."
In this world, male werewolves are twice as big as female wolves. This is certainly awkward. Now in reality, male wolves are only a few inches bigger than female wolves. Keep in mind that wolves are animals, werewolves are half-human. In this world, a male werewolf can practically rape any woman he wants. There isn't really anything stopping him except for the other males, and they only intervene if they wanted to rape the woman first.
Moving on.
In addition to being anti-feminist, this book is also somewhat of a misanthrope. Like Twilight, I get the feeling that it promotes hate towards humans. Or interracial marriage.
Guess what we learn? Being different is bad. If you can't get along with another species because they're afraid of you, it's alright to ditch them instead of trying to talk it out. Don't try to have a relationship with someone of another species because your only purpose in life is to breed with the alpha-male. At least, I got that's what I got from this book. Feel free to say otherwise.
Besides the one-dimensional characters, the rapists, and the overall stupidity of our main character, we're treated once again to a plot fail. Like Twilight, this book doesn't gain an actual plot until the last fifty pages.
Vivian is a moron. She makes Bella look like Hermione Granger -- an intelligent female character. In fact, as I was nearing the end of this book, I go bored. So I drew up a character comparison chart for those who have read Twilight and Evermore. The similarities are somewhat startling.
Willem = Jacob/Jude
Astrid and Rafe = Victoria and Riley/Drina and Roman
Gabriel = Edward/Damon/Sam
Vivian = Bella/Ever
I forgot Aiden, but he's a cowardly loser so I can't really put him anywhere. The only character I like is Willem, and he speaks like three times. Also, we get a lot of weird relationships in this book. Astrid and Esme, both around forty, are lusting after Gabe, who is twenty-four. He gets with Vivian, who is sixteen. Astrid gets with Rafe, who is also sixteen. Rafe is best friends with Urf, who is Astrid's son. Yeah, we got some weird stuff going on around here.
Blood and Chocolate was published first, in 1997. Sadly, we haven't progressed much. Instead of the blonde, beautiful, sex-obsessed idiots that L.J.Smith and Annette Klause write, we get the shy, ugly, idiotic twits that Stephanie Meyer and Meg Cabot write.
The prose in this book isn't that great either. It reads like an amateur fanfic. I've said that before, but never has it been more true.
The smile left Esmé's face. "Baby, I know you're lonely for kids your own age, but I wish you'd be careful. If you gotta wag your tail, wag it for one of the Five."
and
Because I, too, have a double edge, she thought.And you should run from me as fast as your legs can carry you.
and
His velvet smile forgave her.
and
Dear Moon, he's sweet, Vivian thought in anguish.
and
Esmé laughed. "She's a teenager, for Moon's sake. She's supposed to rebel."
and
Aiden didn't say anything else for a while, but just when she thought he had nothing to add to the topic, he spoke. "You're, like, so beautiful and cool and sure of yourself, I think the kids at school were frightened of you."
If you're like me, you've read a lot of Avatar:The Last Airbender fanfics. And if you're dumber than me, you actually liked more than 90% of them. If you're really stupid, you read a few Greek/Roman fanfics and thought they were brilliant. Brace yourself for this nugget of truth -- they all sucked. And this book reads just like them.
I forced myself to finish it because I wanted to write a review. I skimmed it last year, thought it was pretty bad, and decided to move on. Then I picked it up again. I didn't think it could get worse. Boy, was I wrong. I thought I had missed something. I missed nothing. This is like a bodice ripper in disguise. It's full of misused adverbs and adjectives, and the stupidest metaphors you'll ever read.
I will never second guess myself again. I almost feel sorry for anyone who liked this and then turned around to hate Evermore, Blue Bloods, and Twilight. This is worse. Granted, it came first, but it's much, much worse. At least the Lying Game kept me interested, even if it was vapid garbage. This was boring.
I give this .5 stars because I liked Willem and the cover. This had so much potential. It had the mythology, it had the premise, but it failed.
August 6, 2017
I read Blood and Chocolate when I was 14 but it's stayed with me since. It was the first time a seemingly simple plot with overdone fictional monsters actually dealt with what it was to be human.
I hold much respect for Vivian, the protagonist. Yes, she does stupid things. But what teenager doesn't feel what she feels? Are we all not trying to hide a part of ourselves from the world? Don't we not fight with our parents and try to rebel for no real reason? Do we not take simple comforts for all they can serve us? I loved that she wasn't skinny, awkward, or socially inept. She had a family, a close one. She was a real beauty, curvaceous and more classically female. She was flawed in her self-assurance, which made her careless, but she was still confident without being in denial of her situation.
As for the writing itself, the book was a step up from Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss. It had its own sense of internal dialogue, a way of connecting the protagonist's beliefs and the writing. Yes, it was awkward at times but it is not supposed to be our world. It's Vivian's. The thoughts of the characters were more easily identifiable also. Her previous work didn't have the same insight into the characters.
-----
SPOILER: My friends have criticized the ending for not fitting to their ideals of modern love but I personally loved it. Why would she stay with someone that clearly couldn't handle her? Gabriel loved her and watched out for her. He forgave her for turning from the pack. He was like her and valued her after all was done. I think it's the instinct of the modern teen to go for the ill-fated romances but I believe she deserved a man, not a boy.
I hold much respect for Vivian, the protagonist. Yes, she does stupid things. But what teenager doesn't feel what she feels? Are we all not trying to hide a part of ourselves from the world? Don't we not fight with our parents and try to rebel for no real reason? Do we not take simple comforts for all they can serve us? I loved that she wasn't skinny, awkward, or socially inept. She had a family, a close one. She was a real beauty, curvaceous and more classically female. She was flawed in her self-assurance, which made her careless, but she was still confident without being in denial of her situation.
As for the writing itself, the book was a step up from Curtis Klause's The Silver Kiss. It had its own sense of internal dialogue, a way of connecting the protagonist's beliefs and the writing. Yes, it was awkward at times but it is not supposed to be our world. It's Vivian's. The thoughts of the characters were more easily identifiable also. Her previous work didn't have the same insight into the characters.
-----
SPOILER: My friends have criticized the ending for not fitting to their ideals of modern love but I personally loved it. Why would she stay with someone that clearly couldn't handle her? Gabriel loved her and watched out for her. He forgave her for turning from the pack. He was like her and valued her after all was done. I think it's the instinct of the modern teen to go for the ill-fated romances but I believe she deserved a man, not a boy.
June 12, 2023
Blood and Chocolate is an odd little werewolf book that for whatever reason just makes me smile.
I don’t even know if this is YA. It's clean as far as sex scenes go, but it's also pretty sexually charged and deals with more adult themes than most young adult books.
It also suffers from being a bit older, so some of the things the guys do are kind of iffy by today's standards. There's the distinct smell of a 90s romance novel in some of the ways the love interest acts. As in, you can really feel the machismo wafting off of Gabriel and that’s not necessarily a good look anymore. But if you’ve read about one nonconsensual kiss from a manly love interest you’ve read about them all. Know what I mean?
However, according to the story, these are supernatural creatures who have their own set of rules when it comes to that sort of thing.
So.
Buyer beware.
Another thing to beware of is the audiobook that I listened to this time around. It was the Recorded Books, Inc. version that was read by Alyssa Bresnahan. I was definitely aware that this was a woman doing men's voices. They were annoying and sounded squeaky. For me, it was incredibly off-putting to listen to and immediately took me out of the fantasy of the story.
I also want to say that when I was originally poking around and found this book I did not grab it based on that awful-looking cover with a Guns N Roses' groupie on it.
I picked up this:
I originally read Blood and Chocolate in 2007, read it again in 2010, and now I’ve read it again in 2021. I keep coming back to this one and I’m not exactly sure why. I guess it’s because while it does have problematic parts, it’s also sort of raw in a way that you don’t always get. It’s not very pretty, the characters are flawed, and the answers aren’t tidy or polite. I like it. 90’s taint and all.
I don’t even know if this is YA. It's clean as far as sex scenes go, but it's also pretty sexually charged and deals with more adult themes than most young adult books.
It also suffers from being a bit older, so some of the things the guys do are kind of iffy by today's standards. There's the distinct smell of a 90s romance novel in some of the ways the love interest acts. As in, you can really feel the machismo wafting off of Gabriel and that’s not necessarily a good look anymore. But if you’ve read about one nonconsensual kiss from a manly love interest you’ve read about them all. Know what I mean?
However, according to the story, these are supernatural creatures who have their own set of rules when it comes to that sort of thing.
So.
Buyer beware.
Another thing to beware of is the audiobook that I listened to this time around. It was the Recorded Books, Inc. version that was read by Alyssa Bresnahan. I was definitely aware that this was a woman doing men's voices. They were annoying and sounded squeaky. For me, it was incredibly off-putting to listen to and immediately took me out of the fantasy of the story.
I also want to say that when I was originally poking around and found this book I did not grab it based on that awful-looking cover with a Guns N Roses' groupie on it.
I picked up this:
I originally read Blood and Chocolate in 2007, read it again in 2010, and now I’ve read it again in 2021. I keep coming back to this one and I’m not exactly sure why. I guess it’s because while it does have problematic parts, it’s also sort of raw in a way that you don’t always get. It’s not very pretty, the characters are flawed, and the answers aren’t tidy or polite. I like it. 90’s taint and all.
October 9, 2022
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BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE is such a weird book. It revels in its 90s-ness the way your one hipster friend who still owns a VHS player and Instagrams their collection of Pogs does, and it's weirdly sexual in a way that I'm not sure a YA today would be allowed to be without drawing all sorts of outcry. I mean, for starters, there's ~SEDUCTION~ where one of the heroine's boyfriends is waiting for her naked under a sheet with candles all over his room lol. And also, the heroine is sixteen and in a love triangle between a human boyfriend her own age (Mr. Bedsheets and Fire Hazards) and a werewolf guy who is-- ahem-- TWENTY-FOUR. (Also it's implied that he may have banged her mom. Yum. Not.)
I can see why this book gets a lot of flak from critics. It's kind of like a gender-reversed TWILIGHT, if Edward were a girl named Vivian who was also a werewolf. (Her mom is even named Esme!) But there's so much more about it, too. It's a coming-of-age story that's about pushing boundaries and wanting to grow up but also wanting to explore and find adulthood and be your own person. Vivian has grown up under her wolf pack but she doesn't want to be wedded to convention, and she loathes how juvenile and immature the only other werewolf kids in her pack (all guys of course) are. So it's not really any wonder that she would be attracted to their total opposites: a sensitive artist type (Aiden) or a powerful and dominant man who doesn't need to make displays because he owns them (Gabriel).
The weird age gap is uncomfortable, especially since the heroine is underage. If she were seventeen it would have been better, and it would have been even better still if she were eighteen. But I also can see why the author chose to make that choice because sixteen is an age when you can start to feel like you have your whole life figured out (even if you totally don't). Also it was written in the '90s when fewer people had the means of giving a shit. I was mostly able to roll with it because of the fact that Vivian isn't human. I think my favorite parts of the book were actually the action scenes and the scenes describing the political intrigues between the pack members. Even though this is a short book, I felt like a lot of work went into fleshing out the world building and the way they changed. I'm not usually into werewolf books because they're all furry and sweaty and gross, but in this book, paired with the beautiful writing, I felt like Klause really did a great job portraying the beauty of the page.
Also, unlike THE SILVER KISS, which was about vampires (and which I usually prefer), I felt like the heroine was a lot more likable (even if she was a bitch; she was my bitch, you know?). It also has more of a romance ending than THE SILVER KISS, which I feel is more of a love story. Apparently Blood and Chocolate was made into a movie, but I have never seen it. Now I'm kind of curious to see how it compares to the book, which is pretty dark and often brutal. I'm guessing they aged up the heroine and took out a lot of the violence and sex.
I don't know. I kind of liked it. Is that weird?
4 stars
April 2, 2011
This was an appalling book on so many levels.
Vivian-the-werewolf lusts after an unsuspecting human boy (MEAT boy, mind you) who is embarrassingly weak and supremely uninteresting. She's also fighting off advances from numerous other men who just randomly grab her breasts and has birthdays where her mom and 6 men watch her open gifts of lingerie. And creepiest of all, Gabriel, the 24-year-old head wolf, is after her to be his mate--although that doesn't stop him from sleeping with her 40-year-old mom throughout the book. *shudder*
Vivian is also a self-centered, vain, out of control teenager who calls her mom a bitch and who is surrounded by people who curse all the time for no reason. Every man in the book is a hormone-driven jerk and the few females in it are selfish and unlikable. (Gabriel is actually the most interesting and likable character, except for that icky sleeping with mom thing.) I don't care if you're a werewolf or not, bad behavior is bad behavior. And on top of all this...the book is written in a melodramatic tone with very poor structure and awkward phrasing. After being rejected by the boy she loves, for example, Vivian runs into the woods and screams "I am beautiful! Why can't he see that?" and then drinks a full bottle of booze (given to her by an adult), destroys the room of a girl she's jealous of, and then later . I can't adequately express how awful scenes like this are, and how surprised I am that more people are not taken aback by the book's content and writing.
This book would be an annoying enough if it were written for adults, but being that it's meant for teenagers, I find the whole thing pretty outrageous.
Vivian-the-werewolf lusts after an unsuspecting human boy (MEAT boy, mind you) who is embarrassingly weak and supremely uninteresting. She's also fighting off advances from numerous other men who just randomly grab her breasts and has birthdays where her mom and 6 men watch her open gifts of lingerie. And creepiest of all, Gabriel, the 24-year-old head wolf, is after her to be his mate--although that doesn't stop him from sleeping with her 40-year-old mom throughout the book. *shudder*
Vivian is also a self-centered, vain, out of control teenager who calls her mom a bitch and who is surrounded by people who curse all the time for no reason. Every man in the book is a hormone-driven jerk and the few females in it are selfish and unlikable. (Gabriel is actually the most interesting and likable character, except for that icky sleeping with mom thing.) I don't care if you're a werewolf or not, bad behavior is bad behavior. And on top of all this...the book is written in a melodramatic tone with very poor structure and awkward phrasing. After being rejected by the boy she loves, for example, Vivian runs into the woods and screams "I am beautiful! Why can't he see that?" and then drinks a full bottle of booze (given to her by an adult), destroys the room of a girl she's jealous of, and then later . I can't adequately express how awful scenes like this are, and how surprised I am that more people are not taken aback by the book's content and writing.
This book would be an annoying enough if it were written for adults, but being that it's meant for teenagers, I find the whole thing pretty outrageous.
October 25, 2010
It was a big day for incest yesterday with me. And not that I mean that I tracked down some closely related blood relatives to make out with, either. First it was How I Live Now and then I read Blood and Chocolate, a cautionary tale against werewolf in-breeding.
Did you ever read Bitten and find yourself wistful of their carefree lives, money, and culture? Well, meet the badside of werewolf culture. You know, the side where your teenage friend is shagging your Mum, and you Mum and someone else's mum are publicly lusting after and fighting over the same guy who is TOTALLY way too young for them.
Then the good part comes when your sixteen year old self is fated to match said young specimen who still manages to be six years older than your sixteen year old self.
I imagine their wedding will look something like this.
[image error]
Not pictured: shame.
Of course werewolves aren't my favourite supernatural creatures to read about. I only really like them in Bitten and the Mercy Thompson series so perhaps my perception is unfair. I could be reading about worse mythological creatures after all...
Yeah... something like that...
The writing was pretty good and the pacing was of the story was actually pretty good. My main problem came with the ending which was a big let down for me, and the total lack of sex. Then again, I'm still angry at the dictionary for its lack of sex scenes too but at least the dictionary was only kind of a tease whereas this book keeps promising and promising and dressing up sluttily before pulling out at the last minute and claiming it has a meeting to attend.
I think I'll stay away from any blood relatives today, just in case...
Did you ever read Bitten and find yourself wistful of their carefree lives, money, and culture? Well, meet the badside of werewolf culture. You know, the side where your teenage friend is shagging your Mum, and you Mum and someone else's mum are publicly lusting after and fighting over the same guy who is TOTALLY way too young for them.
Then the good part comes when your sixteen year old self is fated to match said young specimen who still manages to be six years older than your sixteen year old self.
I imagine their wedding will look something like this.
[image error]
Not pictured: shame.
Of course werewolves aren't my favourite supernatural creatures to read about. I only really like them in Bitten and the Mercy Thompson series so perhaps my perception is unfair. I could be reading about worse mythological creatures after all...
Yeah... something like that...
The writing was pretty good and the pacing was of the story was actually pretty good. My main problem came with the ending which was a big let down for me, and the total lack of sex. Then again, I'm still angry at the dictionary for its lack of sex scenes too but at least the dictionary was only kind of a tease whereas this book keeps promising and promising and dressing up sluttily before pulling out at the last minute and claiming it has a meeting to attend.
I think I'll stay away from any blood relatives today, just in case...
October 13, 2014
This book is wrong on so many levels that I don't know where to start, and I definitely don't think it belongs in the teen section of the bookstore. Vivian, the main character and narrator, is far too calculating and sexualized for a 16-year-old girl, I don't care if she IS a werewolf. She's also mean-spirited and nasty, and frankly, I didn't find much about her to like for a good deal of the book, which contains entirely too much sexuality and vulgarity. With the exception of Aiden, the human boy Vivian wants to bed, every character in the book behaves like a rapaciously sex-starved porn star locked permanently in his/her 40's. Vivian seems to be intended as the young conscience of the book, alone and confused and trying to find her way, but she by and large fails miserably, as when the chips are down - and most of the time otherwise - she is just as greedy and selfish as the rest of them. I truly believe Annette Curtis Klause has some seriously distorted views of young love and the appropriateness of certain relationships. The book takes a few interesting turns, but for the most part, I found it nothing more than a story of instant gratification run violently and horribly amok. Not to mention the incredibly inappropriate relationship between Vivian and Gabriel, the 24-year-old head of her clan. He spends most of the book bedding both Vivian's mother and another woman in the clan and leering lecherously after Vivian, until with the book's resolution, he finally makes her his permanent property - with her happy acceptance. It really skeezed me out, and I can't tell you how shocked I was to google Klause this morning and find out the woman is not only a librarian who "specializes" in young adult fiction, but is actually head of children's services at a Maryland community library. Good GOD, I would not want this woman recommending books to my children. Nor will I recommend her books to my customers. Blood and Chocolate is one of the worst-written, most misogynistic and wrong-headed books I've ever had the misfortune to read.
July 21, 2014
This brilliant, sexy YA, did urban fantasy before we knew that's what it was called. Please don't judge it by the abysmal movie version, the book is nothing like that dross. It's romantic, fast paced, a true insight into what it might be to be a teen girl, and a werewolf. The main character is strong, powerful, and has a genuine path to self actualization and independence. We should be so lucky as to have young girls read and want to be Vivian. I adore this book.
November 25, 2017
Si quieres leer sobre hombres lobo, pero no desde el típico punto de vista que todas las películas tienes, este es tu libro. Primero por que está contado por una chica y segundo, por que tiene elementos mucho más coherentes al describir su forma de vida entre los humanos. Tiene su dosis de romance, pero es muy entretenida,y seguro que al final te deja sorprendido. (A mime pasó) Se los recomiendo.
February 10, 2017
Blood and Chocolate is a well-loved YA werewolf novel, and I've been meaning to read it for the last decade. Now that I have, I'm really disappointed.
Vivian is a 16-year-old werewolf who's torn between her pack and fitting in with the human world (and a human boy). Vivian is also selfish, arrogant, dramatic, and stupid. Over and over we hear her thoughts on how beeeeaaaaauuuuutiful she is and how all the boys want her. Every action she takes endangers someone and she only ever focuses on her own needs, despite the other characters cooing over how she shows such concern for the pack. I was ready to rip off her "tawny" hair before I was halfway through the book.
The writing is painful too; Annette Curtis Klause writes like some of the teenage fanfiction writers I've encountered. The dialogue is unnatural, and people act in ways that they just wouldn't in real life. She uses awkward terminology (such as referring to a gift from Vivian's boyfriend as a "love gift"). And for the coup de grâce of stupidity, when Vivian is accused by the police of vandalism, a 24-year-old pack member provides an alibi - he tells the cops that they were having sex all night. A 24-year old...tells the cops...that he was screwing an underage high schooler. And the cops thank him and leave. Huh? What?
YA novels can be written much, much better than this. Werewolf novels can be written much, much better than this (see Kelley Armstrong's Bitten). Don't waste your time.
Vivian is a 16-year-old werewolf who's torn between her pack and fitting in with the human world (and a human boy). Vivian is also selfish, arrogant, dramatic, and stupid. Over and over we hear her thoughts on how beeeeaaaaauuuuutiful she is and how all the boys want her. Every action she takes endangers someone and she only ever focuses on her own needs, despite the other characters cooing over how she shows such concern for the pack. I was ready to rip off her "tawny" hair before I was halfway through the book.
The writing is painful too; Annette Curtis Klause writes like some of the teenage fanfiction writers I've encountered. The dialogue is unnatural, and people act in ways that they just wouldn't in real life. She uses awkward terminology (such as referring to a gift from Vivian's boyfriend as a "love gift"). And for the coup de grâce of stupidity, when Vivian is accused by the police of vandalism, a 24-year-old pack member provides an alibi - he tells the cops that they were having sex all night. A 24-year old...tells the cops...that he was screwing an underage high schooler. And the cops thank him and leave. Huh? What?
YA novels can be written much, much better than this. Werewolf novels can be written much, much better than this (see Kelley Armstrong's Bitten). Don't waste your time.
December 13, 2010
Update: In October I finished this book a third time. Turns out this is one of those books that gets better with every read. I'm going to go ahead and up the rating to four stars.
Blood and Chocolate was a book that I didn't totally like the first time around--I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about it, to be honest. It's well written but much darker than most YA fiction. Overall I felt positive about the story even though I didn't quite care for the protagonist, Vivian--she comes across as slutty and entirely too sure of herself.
Because Blood and Chocolate left me feeling so perplexed, I needed to read it again (which I did, months later). The second time I read it I finally understood why the main character was so sure of herself and overly sexed. She's not entirely human--a fact that I was aware of the first read through but I didn't really think about.
She was raised to be comfortable with her sexuality, but not necessarily in a dirty way, just not in a human way. And I realized she was so sure of herself because she grew up in the Alpha's household. Just being daughter of the Alpha was a position that demanded respect, and Vivian had been treated accordingly--in fact, until her father died the entire pack celebrated her birthday.
The thing is, during my second read, I realized I quite liked that Annette Curtis Klaus allowed her main character to suffer, struggle. To not get what she wanted when she wanted it. Vivian, so sexual and so sure of herself, didn't understand love any more than your average teenager. If anything she struggled with it, with getting her heart broken, more than your average teen. In fact, she reacts in a downright scary manner.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that I liked Blood and Chocolate because the main character gets over her heartbreak and even moves on. It isn't often a YA novel takes this route, which, if you ask me, is quite unfortunate, though I digress.
Vivian learns there is more to love then physical attraction and/or like-mindedness. And above all she learns to love and accept her(whole)self.
Blood and Chocolate was a book that I didn't totally like the first time around--I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about it, to be honest. It's well written but much darker than most YA fiction. Overall I felt positive about the story even though I didn't quite care for the protagonist, Vivian--she comes across as slutty and entirely too sure of herself.
Because Blood and Chocolate left me feeling so perplexed, I needed to read it again (which I did, months later). The second time I read it I finally understood why the main character was so sure of herself and overly sexed. She's not entirely human--a fact that I was aware of the first read through but I didn't really think about.
She was raised to be comfortable with her sexuality, but not necessarily in a dirty way, just not in a human way. And I realized she was so sure of herself because she grew up in the Alpha's household. Just being daughter of the Alpha was a position that demanded respect, and Vivian had been treated accordingly--in fact, until her father died the entire pack celebrated her birthday.
The thing is, during my second read, I realized I quite liked that Annette Curtis Klaus allowed her main character to suffer, struggle. To not get what she wanted when she wanted it. Vivian, so sexual and so sure of herself, didn't understand love any more than your average teenager. If anything she struggled with it, with getting her heart broken, more than your average teen. In fact, she reacts in a downright scary manner.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that I liked Blood and Chocolate because the main character gets over her heartbreak and even moves on. It isn't often a YA novel takes this route, which, if you ask me, is quite unfortunate, though I digress.
Vivian learns there is more to love then physical attraction and/or like-mindedness. And above all she learns to love and accept her(whole)self.
November 2, 2018
Actually read this well after I had watched the movie but still could not put this down! This is different enough from the movie that I would recommend anyone that even moderately enjoyed the movie go pick this one up!
October 18, 2010
The message of this book creeped me out the eff out. Stick with your own kind, people will never accept what is different. Blood and Chocolate is a hate crime of a book. I was liking it until then. The selfishness and sexualization didn't bother me. I didn't feel threatened by their differences. There was a nice parallel about kids who hang with the wrong crowd (I'd recommend reading Life Without Friends for a great ya story about a girl who hung with kids who go to prison for bullying and murder). The baddie werewolf kids who want to kill humans, and how she wanted to get away from that and see what else was out there was promising. I hated that after the human boy and his friends turn out to be haters, that somehow equals: never venture outside anything that is different. It didn't feel like accepting yourself for being what you are if you have to lump absolutely everyone else into one category and hide with only those who are the same. That's giving up. People change, anyway. How can you know they'll always be the same? People can be scary, society is scary. Their werewolf society was definitely fucked up and scary (like compounds with guns scary). What started out a good story about a werewolf girl venturing outside known violence and primitive rules turns giant steps backwards to hiding in fear of what is different. What the fuck?
December 4, 2023
Blood And Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause is one book in my collection that I’ve had for an extremely long time, I believe more than 10 years? For me, it’s a novel I could never give up even if I’ve read it oh so many countless times knowing what’s going to happen in the end. From the story plot, to the idea of werewolves and romance, and mystery, this novel always has me hooked each time I read it. Pick this one up next time you need a YA paranormal romance thats a great quick read that will have you satisfied at the end.
August 28, 2016
Blegh..such a rad title! So much possible awesomeness! Yet Klause didn't pull it off. She had quite the story in her hands, but all I ended up with were vague promises and hints at something better.
Now Gabriel, ahh I think he had some potential. As in: rawr baby! Unfortunately he was pretty much condemned to the periphery. Not that it would've mattered all that much. Because the heroine, Vivian, had just as little luck escaping her cardboard persona. Klause spent a lot of time fussing about her long blond hair, long legs and overall prettiness.
Speaking of fussing: as far as I'm concerned this book is PERFECTLY suitable for young teens. I don't get this "fuzz" about inappropriate (sex) scenes. The sexual tension was there - hello to life! - but I didn't detect a single scene that got even close to explicitness. These werewolves - trailer trashy as they were - still were more tame than most humans. I'm just glad I wasn't confronted with the moral police when I first read Blood and Chocolate as a kid. I probably would have been stuck with Little House on the Prairie material instead.
Now Gabriel, ahh I think he had some potential. As in: rawr baby! Unfortunately he was pretty much condemned to the periphery. Not that it would've mattered all that much. Because the heroine, Vivian, had just as little luck escaping her cardboard persona. Klause spent a lot of time fussing about her long blond hair, long legs and overall prettiness.
Speaking of fussing: as far as I'm concerned this book is PERFECTLY suitable for young teens. I don't get this "fuzz" about inappropriate (sex) scenes. The sexual tension was there - hello to life! - but I didn't detect a single scene that got even close to explicitness. These werewolves - trailer trashy as they were - still were more tame than most humans. I'm just glad I wasn't confronted with the moral police when I first read Blood and Chocolate as a kid. I probably would have been stuck with Little House on the Prairie material instead.
August 22, 2010
Klause poetically describes the violence and sensuality of the pack lifestyle, creating a hot-blooded heroine who puts the most outrageous riot grrrls to shame. Blood and Chocolate is a masterpiece of adolescent angst wrapped in wolf's clothing, and its lovely, sensuous taste is sure to be sweet on the teenage tongue. (Ages 13 and older) --Jennifer Hubert
Does this sound like a book for 13 year olds?
Was she Aiden's soulmate? Vivian wondered up in her room. Wouldn't she know if she were? Maybe if she made him the mate of her flesh first, then she would know.
Aside from that, there us also mentioning of biting off of buttons and searching for dark corners in the theater.
Doesn't sound like a book for young adults, right? And it is definitely not suited for anyone of 13 years old.
And overlooking the part where Vivian is presumably sixteen or a little older than that, we have a pretty decent love story.
Vivian Gandillon, is far from a normal teenager. She's a loup-garou/ werewolf. She's trying to fit in within normal society but fails, since she has zero friends. Until, she approaches Aiden, the poet/ meatboy. She feels the connection. She feels that Aiden understands her, despite not knowing what she is since he did write a poem about werewolves. They date. Vivian is in love. Everything was perfect.
Until she decided to tell Aiden the truth of what she was.
She thought she was beautiful in both her skins. Human and wolf form. But Vivian in her wolf form wasn't enough for Aiden to love her.
____
However, despite me not recommending this book to young adults, this book is enjoyable. At times, sweet like chocolate. And at times, bitter like blood (or rather coppery). But still, a book to be devoured by romance enthusiasts like me. :)
May 15, 2015
Αυτό το βιβλίο δεν μου άρεσε. Δεν είναι ότι δεν ανυπομονούσα απλώς να το διαβάζω, αλλά ότι βαριόμουν να διαβάζω ολόκληρες τις σελίδες, οπότε πηδούσα αρκετές! Οι λόγοι είναι πολλοί, οι ήρωες, όλοι τους, είναι αντιπαθητικοί, πχ. η πρωταγωνίστρια πολλές φορές συμπεριφερόταν σαν εμμονικό σχιζοφρενικό πλάσμα. Η αφήγηση είναι πεζή, η ατμόσφαιρα… ποια ατμόσφαιρα; Δεν έχει ατμόσφαιρα! Δεν έχει ωραίο love story, ούτε γενικώς η πλοκή με κέρδισε. Θα το πω, η ταινία είναι κλάσης ανώτερη. Μεσαιωνική μυστηριακή ατμόσφαιρα, οι χαρακτήρες είναι πιο συμπαθητικοί και ταίριαξαν κάπως την σοκολάτα του τίτλου (στο βιβλίο πάντως δεν κατάλαβα πως κόλαγε)
January 15, 2016
Wow. This was a book I didn't want to read. My book club voted for it so I thought to myself 'fiiiiiine' and as it turns out I absolutely loved it.
Side note; Is this really a stand alone?! I disapprove.
Side note; Is this really a stand alone?! I disapprove.
June 8, 2018
Reread Review 5/15/18: 1 / 5 stars
Spoiler free review/discussion/gripe can be found here: https://youtu.be/ZN2DXVxI4JI
Spoiler free review/discussion/gripe can be found here: https://youtu.be/ZN2DXVxI4JI
September 29, 2013
This book read like some teen soap opera, and definitely not of the good kind. The “heroine” Vivian was some stupid teenage drama queen and it looked like stuff was made up over the course of the story without paying attention to consistency and believability. I know how old the protagonist is supposed to be, but is that level of recklessness and stupidity really normal or even realistic considered the circumstances?
The reaction especially of the human characters seemed often pretty forced (respectively out of character) and Vivian didn't come along as very likeable as well.
I came to this book because it was mentioned in a thesis paper as being very progressive and feminist and I must say that I don't see that, at all. The book is incredibly patriarchal and sexist. I think what some readers might forget is that these are mostly werewolves and so they must be judged compared to their own kind and there these werewolves revealed themselves as totally patriarchal and the whole book as incredibly misogynistic.
The end could have been from the worst kind of chick flick. That wasn’t romantic; at all it was cheesy, at best.
This book had the necessary ingredients for a good thriller or horror book but the way it is, this is at best second grade romance fiction.
The reaction especially of the human characters seemed often pretty forced (respectively out of character) and Vivian didn't come along as very likeable as well.
I came to this book because it was mentioned in a thesis paper as being very progressive and feminist and I must say that I don't see that, at all. The book is incredibly patriarchal and sexist. I think what some readers might forget is that these are mostly werewolves and so they must be judged compared to their own kind and there these werewolves revealed themselves as totally patriarchal and the whole book as incredibly misogynistic.
The end could have been from the worst kind of chick flick. That wasn’t romantic; at all it was cheesy, at best.
This book had the necessary ingredients for a good thriller or horror book but the way it is, this is at best second grade romance fiction.
August 17, 2017
antes de la lectura
Por álla por el 2013 o cuando tenia 13 años /2007 seria entonces. Yo vi en televisión pagada una pelicula que se veia interesante llamada BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE o tambien besos de sangre o la marca del lobo. recuerdo que fui la primera pelicula que vi COMPLETA EN TELEVISION PAGADA y que sea digamos del género que me gustaba . la pelicula narraba la vida de Vivian una mujer loba que vivia en Rumania con su tia y que pronto iba ascender a reina loba porque el lider de la manada la habia elegido ya que esta jovencita , 19 años, y guapa. recuerdo incluso que vi la pelicula 3 veces. me gustaba la narración , los paisajes , los personajes. siempre me pregunté si habia una segunda parte. luego me enteré que era basado en un libro de Anne Curtis . lo obtuvé pero al final no lo leí.
durante la lectura.
este libro lo habia pospuesto por mucho tiempo , lo que sucedia es que cuando lo obtuve era muy joven , muy digamos positiva. aun no me habia enterado acerca de que los libros no son iguales a las peliculas . mi unica experiencia CREPUSCULO habia resultado lo bastante fiel a las obras asi que no sabia que esperar. luego investigué lo suficiente años atras como para saber que casi todo era modificado asi que debia ir con mente imparcial a leerlo y no esperar nada mas
hace varios dias me dije , es hora de leerlo y lo hice sumamente rápido. el libro es mediano y fácilmente me engachó en la lectura. un libro adecuado. no tenia abrumadores descripciones ni lenguajes complicados o dialogos sin sentidos. cosas sencillas que de hecho bien podria haberlo leido a los 13 . me ha gustado mucho Vivian , a diferencia de la pelicula aqui tiene 16 . es una menor de edad que sabe perfectamente como ser loba. lo que no sabe es como ser humana. como parecer humana. y se siente sola. Adrien en la pelicula es un pintor que viene de viaje desde Estados unidos a Rumania mientras que en la obra esta situada en MARYLAND de Estados unidos. Vivian posee un acento francés . y asi podria contar un montón de diferencias desde los cambios de personalidad hasta personajes pero enfoquemonos en esto no mas.
el libro es bueno , de hecho a medida que leia lo veia como una trama sencilla pero honesta. mas que un libro de licantropos habla acerca del primer amor , de la soledad , conocer a si mismo y las tentaciones. el lobo , el lobo de ella la parte de ella que no quiere ser mostrada es expuesta de muchas formas . pasión , lujuria y sangre. me recordó a la caperucita roja. para variar este libro no tiene NADA DE ESCENAS DE SEXO. existe si , claras insinuaciones de que alguien tuvo o tiene sexo pero solo eso. la mera mención de esa palabra. me ha molestado de sobremanera la forma en como la pelicula cambió muchas cosas del libro. creo que ahora tendré que separar la pelicula del libro. ambas son buenas si . pero son dos cosas distintas. como si fuera dos realidades.
Gabriel es genial , un hombre adecuado que tiene problemas pero los intenta superar no quiere cosas fáciles sino cosas ganadas ni robadas.
no me hizo llorar el libro pero senti un pesar tan duro que senti que de nuevo tenia 15 años y me partia el corazón como fue esa vez que lei ELEANOR AND PARK. esta obra es buena pero no merece 5 , porque es un poco sencilla . creo que es orientado a un público adolescente. un poco mas de sunstancia y de 20 hojas hubiera sido perfecto. de todas formas creo que es algo que recomendaria leer a alguien enojada de 15 años que no sabe bien si es vampiro o extraterrestre o Nini.
Por álla por el 2013 o cuando tenia 13 años /2007 seria entonces. Yo vi en televisión pagada una pelicula que se veia interesante llamada BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE o tambien besos de sangre o la marca del lobo. recuerdo que fui la primera pelicula que vi COMPLETA EN TELEVISION PAGADA y que sea digamos del género que me gustaba . la pelicula narraba la vida de Vivian una mujer loba que vivia en Rumania con su tia y que pronto iba ascender a reina loba porque el lider de la manada la habia elegido ya que esta jovencita , 19 años, y guapa. recuerdo incluso que vi la pelicula 3 veces. me gustaba la narración , los paisajes , los personajes. siempre me pregunté si habia una segunda parte. luego me enteré que era basado en un libro de Anne Curtis . lo obtuvé pero al final no lo leí.
durante la lectura.
este libro lo habia pospuesto por mucho tiempo , lo que sucedia es que cuando lo obtuve era muy joven , muy digamos positiva. aun no me habia enterado acerca de que los libros no son iguales a las peliculas . mi unica experiencia CREPUSCULO habia resultado lo bastante fiel a las obras asi que no sabia que esperar. luego investigué lo suficiente años atras como para saber que casi todo era modificado asi que debia ir con mente imparcial a leerlo y no esperar nada mas
hace varios dias me dije , es hora de leerlo y lo hice sumamente rápido. el libro es mediano y fácilmente me engachó en la lectura. un libro adecuado. no tenia abrumadores descripciones ni lenguajes complicados o dialogos sin sentidos. cosas sencillas que de hecho bien podria haberlo leido a los 13 . me ha gustado mucho Vivian , a diferencia de la pelicula aqui tiene 16 . es una menor de edad que sabe perfectamente como ser loba. lo que no sabe es como ser humana. como parecer humana. y se siente sola. Adrien en la pelicula es un pintor que viene de viaje desde Estados unidos a Rumania mientras que en la obra esta situada en MARYLAND de Estados unidos. Vivian posee un acento francés . y asi podria contar un montón de diferencias desde los cambios de personalidad hasta personajes pero enfoquemonos en esto no mas.
el libro es bueno , de hecho a medida que leia lo veia como una trama sencilla pero honesta. mas que un libro de licantropos habla acerca del primer amor , de la soledad , conocer a si mismo y las tentaciones. el lobo , el lobo de ella la parte de ella que no quiere ser mostrada es expuesta de muchas formas . pasión , lujuria y sangre. me recordó a la caperucita roja. para variar este libro no tiene NADA DE ESCENAS DE SEXO. existe si , claras insinuaciones de que alguien tuvo o tiene sexo pero solo eso. la mera mención de esa palabra. me ha molestado de sobremanera la forma en como la pelicula cambió muchas cosas del libro. creo que ahora tendré que separar la pelicula del libro. ambas son buenas si . pero son dos cosas distintas. como si fuera dos realidades.
Gabriel es genial , un hombre adecuado que tiene problemas pero los intenta superar no quiere cosas fáciles sino cosas ganadas ni robadas.
no me hizo llorar el libro pero senti un pesar tan duro que senti que de nuevo tenia 15 años y me partia el corazón como fue esa vez que lei ELEANOR AND PARK. esta obra es buena pero no merece 5 , porque es un poco sencilla . creo que es orientado a un público adolescente. un poco mas de sunstancia y de 20 hojas hubiera sido perfecto. de todas formas creo que es algo que recomendaria leer a alguien enojada de 15 años que no sabe bien si es vampiro o extraterrestre o Nini.
July 6, 2009
I know a lot of people like this book, and the author is a fairly well known dark fantasy writer, from what I can tell. But I didn't care for it...something just really rubbed me the wrong way.
First of all, I actually disliked the main character, which is rare for me. Although she was a strong person, she was far from nice, far from decent. I just couldn't relate to the aggressive, arrogant, overtly sexual outlook she took on a lot of things. The werewolves in her pack were out-and-out jerk-offs, and yet they were almost portrayed as being sexy for it. Gabe, who ends up being the leading man, is made out to be the epitome of an arrogant, lustful, possibly abusive older guy...and yet you're supposed to believe the main character later becomes intensely attracted to him, pretty much because he's rough with her.
The only people with redeeming qualities were Aiden's human friends, and the shy, bespectacled werewolf Willem. It was a pretty dark fantasy all right, but the morals and characters just seemed skewed and unlikable to me.
First of all, I actually disliked the main character, which is rare for me. Although she was a strong person, she was far from nice, far from decent. I just couldn't relate to the aggressive, arrogant, overtly sexual outlook she took on a lot of things. The werewolves in her pack were out-and-out jerk-offs, and yet they were almost portrayed as being sexy for it. Gabe, who ends up being the leading man, is made out to be the epitome of an arrogant, lustful, possibly abusive older guy...and yet you're supposed to believe the main character later becomes intensely attracted to him, pretty much because he's rough with her.
The only people with redeeming qualities were Aiden's human friends, and the shy, bespectacled werewolf Willem. It was a pretty dark fantasy all right, but the morals and characters just seemed skewed and unlikable to me.
October 17, 2015
Blood and Chocolate basically jumped from the shelf, straight into my hands… and without really knowing what or why, I figured it was probably meant to be and was determined to find out what this was all about.
I have to admit, it took me a while to get into this story. As I am quite stubborn, it doesn't happen very often that I put down a book and never finish it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with Blood and Chocolate, though. Perhaps I just skip the blood and find myself a piece of chocolate in the kitchen instead?
It’s THEN when I started scrolling through the reviews here on Goodreads. And how much do I owe you people. A BIG Thank You goes out to the (over-)conservative readers! “Not fit for teens”, “incest”,… It gave me that extra push I needed. Oh, I read like a maniac! Eager to find out what was soooo ‘bad’.
As you could already guess when I used ‘(over-)conservative’ to address myself to certain reviewers, it never came. Cos let’s be honest… A condom in somebody’s pocket? A description of a kiss? Incest? They’re not all related in blood! They just the usual ‘cousin’ or whatever to the outside world, so they wouldn't have to explain themselves, taking a risk to get caught! ((shakes head))
Sorry to say, but you’re hitting the ball wrong! If you think you are protecting your teens or try to warn others, it’s YOU who needs the wake up call! Let them read it and use it to communicate with them! In the end, they see a lot worse than this in their favorite music clips or the lyrics are far more explicit than what they’d read in this book!
Another big thank you! Without you, I might have never discovered this beautiful story! (yes, it DOES gets better and better towards the end!)
I have to admit, it took me a while to get into this story. As I am quite stubborn, it doesn't happen very often that I put down a book and never finish it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with Blood and Chocolate, though. Perhaps I just skip the blood and find myself a piece of chocolate in the kitchen instead?
It’s THEN when I started scrolling through the reviews here on Goodreads. And how much do I owe you people. A BIG Thank You goes out to the (over-)conservative readers! “Not fit for teens”, “incest”,… It gave me that extra push I needed. Oh, I read like a maniac! Eager to find out what was soooo ‘bad’.
As you could already guess when I used ‘(over-)conservative’ to address myself to certain reviewers, it never came. Cos let’s be honest… A condom in somebody’s pocket? A description of a kiss? Incest? They’re not all related in blood! They just the usual ‘cousin’ or whatever to the outside world, so they wouldn't have to explain themselves, taking a risk to get caught! ((shakes head))
Sorry to say, but you’re hitting the ball wrong! If you think you are protecting your teens or try to warn others, it’s YOU who needs the wake up call! Let them read it and use it to communicate with them! In the end, they see a lot worse than this in their favorite music clips or the lyrics are far more explicit than what they’d read in this book!
Another big thank you! Without you, I might have never discovered this beautiful story! (yes, it DOES gets better and better towards the end!)
August 5, 2008
This book is nothing like Twilight. I found it on a booklist for Twilight read-alikes, and I understand why it was included, I’m just saying – it’s not like Twilight. In fact, if you didn’t like Twilight, you may like this book. The protagonist is as full of self-confidance as Bella is full of self-doubt. Whereas Bella’s relationship with her family is peripheral, Viviane is surrounded by family. She’s part of a pack after all. She’s a werewolf. In the end Viviane’s dilemna is not far from Bella’s; she wishes she could have a friend outside the pack. The theme is a perennial favorite with young adult fiction – finding where you fit in outside the stifling structure of one’s family. I didn’t like this one because it’s too transparent. Too obvious. The angst is spelled out too clearly.
June 25, 2019
I had to read a banned book for school, so I chose this one from the list.
STORY:
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Klause (264 Pages) is about a werewolf girl, Vivian, who falls in love with a human boy. In the beginning, Vivian has concerns about her werewolf pack. The boys are becoming murderous and her mother is becoming callous and using sexual escapades to hide her grief. To add to Vivian's worry, most of her pack is dead. She desires non-werewolf friends because her wolf friends see her only as a mate. But, one day a boy at her school writes a poem about werewolves and she becomes drawn to him.
Vivian immediately becomes attracted (very sexually attracted as well) to Aiden, a meat-boy (read: human) because he's not like other boys. He's a gothic hipster, so I will give Vivian that one. Aiden's not the usual love interest but he is human, a prerequisite for any supernatural YA romance. Aiden and Vivian's relationship is insta-love. I mean how is someone your soulmate and you have only known the person less than a month? Also, Vivian was in heat every single page for Aiden when he's present.
Toward that super climatic point, I felt strong second-hand embarrassment. Embarrassment for Aiden. Embarrassment for Vivian. Embarrassment for everyone!
This story is interesting and creates anticipation well. What's going to happen next? Who's going to be pack leader? When will Aiden find out his girlfriend is a mythical creature, who howls at the moon? Despite me not liking most of the characters, these questions kept me turning the page. Blood and Chocolate is not a book I liked but a book I wanted to finish.
So, I liked the actual plot and tried to figure the ending out. The surprise murder mystery was fun.
What did I dislike? For some reason, I got a bit confused about whether Vivian was in wolf or human form. I did not really care for most of the characters, which leads to the next section.
CHARACTERS:
In the first twenty pages, Vivian seems a bit Mary-sueish. She has a perfect French accent, all her teachers love her, and she's beautiful. So, ungodly beautiful that it intimidates everyone. Vivian comes off basic at times, and she immediately sees girls and dislikes them. I mean ... How do you dislike someone from a simple glance? I did not like Vivian, but I tolerated her because the plot revolved around her.
Also, why is Vivian's narrative mad corny? Like what were those lines?
Quotes:
Girl bye.
The Five, Vivian's childhood werewolf friends, are rambunctious and forgettable. They all act like jerks. I did like Willem, the only decent one.
Esmé, Vivian's mom, was okay. She was a waitress and a proud cougar and loved her boy toys. Still, she had not gotten over the grief of her husband. Eh, I kind of liked her.
Aiden I just did not care about. I was indifferent to his friends too.
I guess Gabriel's my favorite. He had those creepy anti-personal-space issues, but he's the only one that qualified as likable. I have a soft spot for bad boys who are more than what meets the eye (Disclaimer: This applies to fiction only). I liked his backstory, but I am not sure how I felt about the aftermath. I mean this guy is still a creep who preys on underage girls and jams his tongue down their throats when he feels like it. Do you guys see why I am conflicted?
OVERALL:
This book had so much drama!
For all of Aiden and Vivian's insta-love qualities, I liked that Annette handled the relationship realistically. The ending I liked as well.
Would I reread this? No. Would I read a sequel? No. Despite the characters, did I enjoy the rollercoaster of emotions and absolute cringeworthiness? Yes, most definitely.
STORY:
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Klause (264 Pages) is about a werewolf girl, Vivian, who falls in love with a human boy. In the beginning, Vivian has concerns about her werewolf pack. The boys are becoming murderous and her mother is becoming callous and using sexual escapades to hide her grief. To add to Vivian's worry, most of her pack is dead. She desires non-werewolf friends because her wolf friends see her only as a mate. But, one day a boy at her school writes a poem about werewolves and she becomes drawn to him.
Vivian immediately becomes attracted (very sexually attracted as well) to Aiden, a meat-boy (read: human) because he's not like other boys. He's a gothic hipster, so I will give Vivian that one. Aiden's not the usual love interest but he is human, a prerequisite for any supernatural YA romance. Aiden and Vivian's relationship is insta-love. I mean how is someone your soulmate and you have only known the person less than a month? Also, Vivian was in heat every single page for Aiden when he's present.
Toward that super climatic point, I felt strong second-hand embarrassment. Embarrassment for Aiden. Embarrassment for Vivian. Embarrassment for everyone!
This story is interesting and creates anticipation well. What's going to happen next? Who's going to be pack leader? When will Aiden find out his girlfriend is a mythical creature, who howls at the moon? Despite me not liking most of the characters, these questions kept me turning the page. Blood and Chocolate is not a book I liked but a book I wanted to finish.
So, I liked the actual plot and tried to figure the ending out. The surprise murder mystery was fun.
What did I dislike? For some reason, I got a bit confused about whether Vivian was in wolf or human form. I did not really care for most of the characters, which leads to the next section.
CHARACTERS:
In the first twenty pages, Vivian seems a bit Mary-sueish. She has a perfect French accent, all her teachers love her, and she's beautiful. So, ungodly beautiful that it intimidates everyone. Vivian comes off basic at times, and she immediately sees girls and dislikes them. I mean ... How do you dislike someone from a simple glance? I did not like Vivian, but I tolerated her because the plot revolved around her.
Also, why is Vivian's narrative mad corny? Like what were those lines?
Quotes:
"Because I'm a pirate of the night and I want to see who's trespassing in my territory" (pg 22).
"I'll put a few more runs in those tights, honey if you look at me like that again" (pg 23).
"What red lips you have, he said in her ear.
"All the better to kiss you with, my dear," she replied (pg 51).
"I thought you would grab what I am with both of your hands and eat me up" (pg 192).
Girl bye.
The Five, Vivian's childhood werewolf friends, are rambunctious and forgettable. They all act like jerks. I did like Willem, the only decent one.
Esmé, Vivian's mom, was okay. She was a waitress and a proud cougar and loved her boy toys. Still, she had not gotten over the grief of her husband. Eh, I kind of liked her.
Aiden I just did not care about. I was indifferent to his friends too.
I guess Gabriel's my favorite. He had those creepy anti-personal-space issues, but he's the only one that qualified as likable. I have a soft spot for bad boys who are more than what meets the eye (Disclaimer: This applies to fiction only). I liked his backstory, but I am not sure how I felt about the aftermath. I mean this guy is still a creep who preys on underage girls and jams his tongue down their throats when he feels like it. Do you guys see why I am conflicted?
OVERALL:
This book had so much drama!
For all of Aiden and Vivian's insta-love qualities, I liked that Annette handled the relationship realistically. The ending I liked as well.
Would I reread this? No. Would I read a sequel? No. Despite the characters, did I enjoy the rollercoaster of emotions and absolute cringeworthiness? Yes, most definitely.
February 28, 2019
This is my third reread of this werewolf epic. I loved the lyrical, luscious writing style (the author is an ex-pat Brit living in the U.S. - I've always felt that the British have the best sense of humour and fiction/literature.) The fight scene between the wolves competing to become the new Alpha male of the pack was vivid and even a bit blood curdling.
The love triangle between Vivian, Gabriel and Aiden was so beautifully orchestrated - for the first two-thirds of the novel, I hardly knew which of her suitors would win the day in the end. (Note: A (terrible) movie adaptation of this novel exists. The book is SOOOO MUCH BETTER!) I was always Team Gabriel! I know there are many Team Aiden readers out there, but Gabriel always had my vote: give me a decent, strong, intelligent and compassionate young man over an emo hipster boy any day!
This book is about self-acceptance, social boundaries and the duty to oneself and to one's family/tribe. This book was published in 1997, so be prepared for a few dated modes of thinking - which I will not refer to for fear of spoilers, but I actually found this book very progressive. I am a staunch feminist and Vivian railed against many of the restrictive, male-oriented rules of the pack. The wolf pack has many customs and laws that the fiercely independent Vivian refuses to bow down to. Vivian loves her werewolf heritage but also longs for acceptance in the Homo Sapiens world. Gabriel is portrayed as a decent, caring leader who was willing to sacrifice and work hard to ensure the survival of the dwindling wolf pack. He also shows respect for Vivian's right to choose her own path and learn her life lessons at her own pace - so insightful for such a young man.
I dislike sequels, but I would have loved one for this book. Alas, no such luck: perhaps the author shared my dislike of them?
Vivian is such a vibrant, captivating character: I enjoyed spending time with her and her wolf pack, even though fantasy is not a favourite genre of mine. I highly, highly recommend this novel!
The love triangle between Vivian, Gabriel and Aiden was so beautifully orchestrated - for the first two-thirds of the novel, I hardly knew which of her suitors would win the day in the end. (Note: A (terrible) movie adaptation of this novel exists. The book is SOOOO MUCH BETTER!) I was always Team Gabriel! I know there are many Team Aiden readers out there, but Gabriel always had my vote: give me a decent, strong, intelligent and compassionate young man over an emo hipster boy any day!
This book is about self-acceptance, social boundaries and the duty to oneself and to one's family/tribe. This book was published in 1997, so be prepared for a few dated modes of thinking - which I will not refer to for fear of spoilers, but I actually found this book very progressive. I am a staunch feminist and Vivian railed against many of the restrictive, male-oriented rules of the pack. The wolf pack has many customs and laws that the fiercely independent Vivian refuses to bow down to. Vivian loves her werewolf heritage but also longs for acceptance in the Homo Sapiens world. Gabriel is portrayed as a decent, caring leader who was willing to sacrifice and work hard to ensure the survival of the dwindling wolf pack. He also shows respect for Vivian's right to choose her own path and learn her life lessons at her own pace - so insightful for such a young man.
I dislike sequels, but I would have loved one for this book. Alas, no such luck: perhaps the author shared my dislike of them?
Vivian is such a vibrant, captivating character: I enjoyed spending time with her and her wolf pack, even though fantasy is not a favourite genre of mine. I highly, highly recommend this novel!
February 10, 2017
I've bypassed this book quite a few times when I've come across it at a bootsale or in a charity shop etc and it's been overlooked because of one thing....I didn't realise it was about werewolves. Had I known that, I'd have snapped it up long before now. How I missed this one I'll never know.
I was drawn into this within a few pages and the story just grabbed me. It's a story about teen angst and love and decisions and betrayal and loyalty and just generally growing up and coming of age.... but with werewolves. I very easily got caught up with the story of Vivian, who has as many problems, if not more, then your average teen.
This book may be geared towards a young adult audience, but it can definitely be enjoyed by those of us who are young at heart and can still remember their youth. Klause pulls off a sensual story about the supernatural without making it seem cheesy. The characters are believable, the shape shifter culture is well rounded and Vivian's world comes alive on the page.
I've got the film on DVD here too but I haven't watched it yet. I don't know the first thing about the film other than it's nothing like the book, I've avoided reading anything about it so I'll be going in blind :D I'm looking forward to it though...
I was drawn into this within a few pages and the story just grabbed me. It's a story about teen angst and love and decisions and betrayal and loyalty and just generally growing up and coming of age.... but with werewolves. I very easily got caught up with the story of Vivian, who has as many problems, if not more, then your average teen.
This book may be geared towards a young adult audience, but it can definitely be enjoyed by those of us who are young at heart and can still remember their youth. Klause pulls off a sensual story about the supernatural without making it seem cheesy. The characters are believable, the shape shifter culture is well rounded and Vivian's world comes alive on the page.
I've got the film on DVD here too but I haven't watched it yet. I don't know the first thing about the film other than it's nothing like the book, I've avoided reading anything about it so I'll be going in blind :D I'm looking forward to it though...
February 7, 2010
I really liked this book , I thought it was much , much better than the other one I've read by her The Silver Kiss . Some people will probably be against this book being categorized under YA because of the sexual content ; but I thought it was really good for the main character to know that she's pretty/ hott and not be all self-doubting like girls in a lot of other YA books . Vivian knows what she wants and how to get it , she's not some damsel in distress . I loved her as the main character because of her strong will and personality . The ending made me happy tooo (: the way it was heading towards the middle I thought it would be bad , then it changes and becomes happyy ! I would recommend this book to whoever , as long as you like stuff about werewolfs ,ect .
Initally I had this as four stars , but I just keeep thinking about it even when I'm reading something else . Soo I'm changing it to five stars !
Initally I had this as four stars , but I just keeep thinking about it even when I'm reading something else . Soo I'm changing it to five stars !
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