Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Thoughtful readers of the Twilight series will enjoy Tantalize, which is funny and intriguing and much better written. Vampire stories usually have a sexual subtext with some more obvious than others. Tantalize skews a bit mature.
Seventeen-year-old Quincie Morris has had a lot of loss in her life. She lost her parents at age 13 and she doesn't know how she would have survived that without the support of her best friend Kieran, who is a half-werewolf. She's under the guardianship of her uncle D and together with Vaggio, the three run an Italian restaurant. The restaurant is about to undergo a change in theme in order to compete with some new area restaurants. Fat Lorenzo's is about to become Sanguini's, a vampire-themed restaurant. A month before the grand opening, Vaggio is brutally murdered. Evidence points to a werewolf.
Quince and her uncle decide to soldier on in spite of Vaggio's death and place want ads seeking a "vampire" chef. In the meantime, people are beginning to disappear and suspicion begins to fall upon Kieran.
This gripping story will have you turning pages right through a rather terrifying climax. You might even need to sleep with the light on.
Seventeen-year-old Quincie Morris has had a lot of loss in her life. She lost her parents at age 13 and she doesn't know how she would have survived that without the support of her best friend Kieran, who is a half-werewolf. She's under the guardianship of her uncle D and together with Vaggio, the three run an Italian restaurant. The restaurant is about to undergo a change in theme in order to compete with some new area restaurants. Fat Lorenzo's is about to become Sanguini's, a vampire-themed restaurant. A month before the grand opening, Vaggio is brutally murdered. Evidence points to a werewolf.
Quince and her uncle decide to soldier on in spite of Vaggio's death and place want ads seeking a "vampire" chef. In the meantime, people are beginning to disappear and suspicion begins to fall upon Kieran.
This gripping story will have you turning pages right through a rather terrifying climax. You might even need to sleep with the light on.