Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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?

I’d like to give you my heart, but since that might be inconvenient, I’ve brought you someone else’s.

I want to first say, the book is a million times better than that crappy movie “adaptation” that they did a couple of years ago. I was so excited that this book was finally getting some screen time. Now I wish they’d just left it alone.

Anyway, this review is about the book, not the movie, so onward…

Vivian is the epitome of self-confidence and the damage a boy can do to your self-esteem. She is a little larger than life in the beginning of the book. She is in mourning, yes. But everything knows she’s beautiful, including her. The puppies are fawning over her and she loves it. But, as Fate always does, she falls for the one person she can’t possible have – a human boy.

I liked Vivian, I thought she was confident, brave, smart, and knew what she wanted. Which is why I didn’t understand her fascination with this human boy who was nothing like her. I also really loved Gabriel. He was assertive without being ridiculously mean. He was amusing and sweetly gentle to Vivian. At the end, he helps her figure out what it truly means to be herself and to be a decent person (although, she already was a decent person. She just had a hard time judging people…I mean she was just completely off in reading people).

And so I leave you with this little quote that pretty sums up the entire novel:

He was raw and sharp and rich and throbbing with life. He was sweet blood after a long hunt. How could she have mistaken Aiden’s kisses for this? They had been delicious and smooth like the brief comfort of chocolate, but they had never been enough.

Safe reading!

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