Blood and Chocolate
sirenandnymph gave me the book Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause for my birthday, and I read it yesterday. This is a Y/A novel about a werewolf girl trying to find her place in the world, torn between her pack life and life as a human, including a human boy. The human boy's name was Aiden (which all former AVers on my f-list will know gave me a soft spot for him).
This was a fast read, but a good one. The character development was well done, and the pack politics were fascinating. The adult content rating was R for violence (wolves bite and fight), as well as some sexual content, but that was mostly in people's thoughts, not the real thing.
I don't know if this novel is intended to be a series, but I would be very interested to know what happens to Vivian next. Though if this is it, there is plenty of closure.
The one thing that bugged me was the patriarchal society of the wolves (though I did understand the whys behind it). Mainly, it was the fact that women were adult at 16, while men weren't adult until age 21. That sounds matriarchal, but not when you know why. Basically, a man can't lead the pack until he is at least 21, but a woman can fight for the right to be "queen bitch" as early as 16, which basically means she's fighting for the right to be the mate of the pack leader. And when a woman did stand for leader in the big fight, they cheated to get her out of contention first (of course, she was evil, so it was better, but still patriarchal).
Grade: B+
Overall, I found it quite enjoyable, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested. Now I'm sad that I missed out on seeing the movie. I wonder if it is still in the dollar theater?
This was a fast read, but a good one. The character development was well done, and the pack politics were fascinating. The adult content rating was R for violence (wolves bite and fight), as well as some sexual content, but that was mostly in people's thoughts, not the real thing.
I don't know if this novel is intended to be a series, but I would be very interested to know what happens to Vivian next. Though if this is it, there is plenty of closure.
The one thing that bugged me was the patriarchal society of the wolves (though I did understand the whys behind it). Mainly, it was the fact that women were adult at 16, while men weren't adult until age 21. That sounds matriarchal, but not when you know why. Basically, a man can't lead the pack until he is at least 21, but a woman can fight for the right to be "queen bitch" as early as 16, which basically means she's fighting for the right to be the mate of the pack leader. And when a woman did stand for leader in the big fight, they cheated to get her out of contention first (of course, she was evil, so it was better, but still patriarchal).
Grade: B+
Overall, I found it quite enjoyable, and would recommend it to anyone who is interested. Now I'm sad that I missed out on seeing the movie. I wonder if it is still in the dollar theater?