Showing posts with label Annette Curtis Klause. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Annette Curtis Klause. Show all posts

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Book Review: Blood and Chocolate

If you've seen the movie version of this... I'd recommend that you forget you ever saw it! Hollywood didn't seem to have read the book (and if they did, they completely missed the point). I've never really cared for the title-- it doesn't fit in well with the book, and it usually makes my stomach churn (but it comes from a quote from Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse, which I have not read). That aside, the book itself is much better than its title suggests, though it does have its problems.

Vivian is a young loupe-garou (werewolf) whose pack-family is divided. Her father, the pack leader, died in a fire some time ago, and it's taken some time for the group to recover as far as they have. Which isn't much, Vivian realizes. With so much going wrong at home, Vivian seeks other companions and becomes romantically interested in a human boy at school named Aiden. The rest of the pack members-- especially the Five, the young male werewolves that are Vivian's age-- are not happy about her choice. As her relationship with Aiden progresses, she longs to tell him that she's really a loupe-garou. When she does, he laughs at first, but when she shows him her true form, he (understandably) runs. Vivian wishes he could see how beautiful she knows herself to be, and is upset with him for making Vivian hate herself. By the end of the story, however, she's found the one who appreciates her for herself, and embraces her new role in the pack.

Overall, the book has a pretty good storyline, but I felt that a few of the elements detracted from the point it was trying to make. There's some mild innuendo and sexual content that was unneccessary, and a few darker themes run through the storyline as well, marring an otherwise excellent book.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Book Review: The Silver Kiss

Similar to Twilight in ways but written in 1990, this has been one of my favorites since I was a teenager. Unfortunately the Twilight Saga may have already pushed this book into oblivion, because the slight romance element in the book that makes it exciting has been far more thoroughly explored in the Stephanie Meyer books. Nevertheless, I still like this one.

Zoe's mother is dealing with cancer, and it seems to be a losing battle. Her father isn't home much because he's usually at the hospital with Mom, and Zoe's best friend Lorraine is moving to Oregon. Everything seems to be going wrong, and Zoe is lonely and having a hard time dealing with the idea that her mother may die. It takes the eventual friendship with a handsome vampire named Simon to help her deal with these issues and learn that life is about more than death.