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.(view spoiler)[Before I get to the concepts of this book let us look at our four main characters (the rest is basically filler anyway):Vivian:She is stupid. That is pretty much all there is. In the book she starts a relationship with Aiden (more on that later) because he wrote some poem that reminds her of her own kind and she has no friends she likes among the werewolf kids, even though we learn, rather as a side comment, that there are other werewolf colonies out there, so why didn't she go to one of them? No idea, the more I think about it the less her actions make sense.But to show her level of stupidity, apart from the scene where she wrecks the room (while drunk) of a "rival" human girl, we just have to look at her attempt to reveal her secret to Aiden:In a room full of candles and him in bed (he probably thought she wanted sex, to be honest I doubt at his age I would have thought different) she wants to reveal her secret to him and basically does it by shifting right in front of her and is then shocked and hurt when he is afraid and throws something at her. And of course she jumps out of the window leaving plenty of evidence and what comes next and all with these two is pretty stupid as well. But to the basic idea: I know she is 16 but this is so stupid that a 10 year old could do better. The transformation might actually twist her body so much it could look horrible (not sure since we are never told how it looks like) and even if not, when your girlfriend suddenly turns into something that is the stuff of horror movies you are surely not going to react positively. And even without that she turns into a big predator right in your room, so she not only ignores the facts of centuries of cultural baggage but also millions of years of evolution which pretty much hardwire every human being to be afraid of something of that size and with such teeth.A good idea, which again a 10 year old could think of, would be to drop some hints here and there, earn his trust in human form, form a strong bond, maybe even approach him in wolf-form (possibly with a collar around your neck so he thinks you are a dog, they don't look exactly like wolves anyway) and show you are not dangerous and then reveal yourself when you think he can handle it. You would think someone like her growing up in an environment where secrecy is so important would spend some more time thinking about her plan, but apparently not.And for some reason she later on is so confused between her human and her wolf side that she cannot transform out of her hybrid shape. Why? I have no idea, that is what I meant with stuff being made up.By the way her love for Gabriel comes out of nowhere as well, throughout the entire book she cannot stand the guy and at the end she suddenly loves him. This is lazy and cheesy even for YA romance standards.AidenNow some people describe Aiden as weak and all, but to be honest he is ok, he simply isn't the jock type and thank God for it since we have enough of those with the werewolves already. But the book, and many readers, practically vilifies him for his more passive nature and later on panicked behavior. I actually can understand his reactions, being a fan of werewolves, somewhat, is different than seeing one and when you are practically thrown into this stuff you might come up with some pretty crazy ideas (like healing Vivian with a silver bullet). And to be honest he and Vivian, she more than him since she knew what was going on, are both responsible for this mess. Gabriel as well since he never came clean to Vivian about the danger she is facing and acts like he knows everything, but nonetheless he totally blames Aiden, the one of them all who was the least equipped to handle all of this properly.GabrielWhat a dick! There is the stuff I said above and the fact that he acts totally patronizing, sexist and idiotic, but here it is portrayed as sexy, I guess. I also guess he is supposed to be some natural born leader and truly loves Vivian. Small problem, he got his leadership via combat, barely shows any actual people skills and before the end of the book he never even hinted that he actually loves Vivian, not that we ever get to know why. And speaking of the end: that is when he, after all the shit had gone down, spoke to her about the dangers a relationship with a human has because he was in one as well, instead of doing that at the start. What I mean with him being a dick?Like Vivian he, in his words, mistook the desire to protect and dominate for love, no idea how, and so had a relationship with a human girl/woman. Apparently when it all came out she freaked out and he hit her with such force that he killed her. His only true response is that a werewolf woman would have survived that. Apparently the fact that he used totally unnecessary violence doesn't even cross his mind. When I would have to do that it might be justifiable, should I not be able to restrain said woman. Sure not how it should be but sometimes you have no other choice when you want to keep people from hurting themselves and so you must physically restrain or somehow stop them, also a punch of mine would not kill most adults. However Gabriel does not have this reasoning on his sight, at all. He is much stronger than any human and should he not be able to calm his ex girlfriend down with words he would still be strong enough to restrain her until she stops freaking out. So there was absolutely no reason for him to hit her to make her stop, not one. But the book never brings that up, it downright excuses his violent behavior and sexist attitudes. And this is where we come to our last main character.AstridWhen it turns out that I side with the obvious villain of a book than clearly the book does something wrong. Astrid is the only woman that openly defies patriarchy and she is vilified, ridiculed and demonized for it. She is even infantilized via the comparison to the male werewolves during the fight (where she is likened to a child by Vivian, due to her size) and made fun of for her attempt to become pack leader and not just Alpha bitch. As if this misogynistic treatment of hers is not enough she is physically and mentally a total stereotype. It is her rallying others behind her, for some time, that causes a looming threat of the werewolves going blood crazy, further stating, like so many other books/movies etc. that a woman as a leader is a danger first and foremost.She basically uses nothing but trickery and sex to get what she wants, which is both looked down upon in this book, and her making out with a much younger male (who is her partner in crime, yes she can't do it on her own) is frowned upon while the relationship of Gabriel and Vivian is openly accepted. And with the sex part we come to the last part on why she is a stereotype. She is quite literally a vixen, truly she not only uses sex and trickery, no she is slight, small, has red hair, and thereby red fur, and her whole werewolf appearance is described as more fox-like than the others. She is thereby total cliché in every sense of the word.But of course the main characters are not the only problem here.The basic concept of the werewolves already seems pretty flawed:It could never work. They are blood-thirsty monsters, not predators and it looks like the two concepts of the “Beast within” (1. The primal instinct driven part of the human mind, 2. All the self-destructive and antisocial urges of a person) got mixed up again. And the werewolves were based on and filled with stereotypes, wrong ones very often: human, wolf, male, female, urban, wild and so on. And that "the beast within" concept is in my eyes a convenient excuse for violent behavior ala people just are that way, which is stupid since even with their regenerative powers a species that violent would have died out a long time ago.It is obvious that they are just time bombs waiting to explode since sooner or later one of them becomes a man-eater and I am not talking about a man-eater every few years but rather every few months unless they are restrained or isolated from humans. Coupled with that they are incredibly short-sighted and have no coping mechanisms and tactics to deal with their current situation. The only thing that comes even remotely close to it is a strict "pack" structure and moving away from humans.And although living close to humans is more stressful to them they still chose a leader by bloody combat. Which is completely ridiculous since this only shows the best, or luckiest, fighter and someone with obvious fighting abilities but not someone with leadership qualities.Love and affection?The book had some seriously screwed concepts of love and affection. Seriously, mistaking the will to dominate and protect for love? There was no hint that Vivian wanted to dominate or protect Aiden. Are we to believe that her jealous acts (totally in character considered how the werewolves were portrayed) were due to her desire to protect? When you want to dominate a person you show that not with actions that are similar to those done out of jealousy. How can anybody mistake the desire to protect and dominate with love? Maybe it would have been believable in-book if it had shown us how that “real” love between Gabriel and Vivian looked like if the one with Aiden was false. I guess that might be the reason why it stopped with the scene of Vivian being kissed by Aiden back into her human form and Gabriel confessing his love and all since there is no alternative concept. And the end was the old “Prince Charming comes along and rescues Sleeping Beauty.”The book is feminist?I guess the fact that Vivian seems to enjoy her own body is considered progressive and would she be human it probably would but I think people forget that she is a werewolf and so of course she would be more confident around humans since she is physically superior to them. But among her own kind this is not the case, especially in the scene shortly before the fight where the character of Astrid was described to be looking like a child next to the huge males in line. And this scene (among others) clearly demonstrates the books misogynistic nature since the later leader Gabriel "shows" why there is no rule against women fighting for pack leadership since in his mind, and others, they cannot fight men to begin with and so a rule would be ridiculous. He does it by suddenly hitting Astrid while she stands in line with the others and thereby drawing blood meaning she is disqualified. She calls him a cheat and everyone laughs it off and the reader is supposed to join in. But here is the problem: it was clear cheating. The official fight had not yet started and he only used this tactic on her, not on anyone else. He could have easily trying to hit a man first and then show that Astrid is too slow in her reactions to have a chance. But that is not what he did, he hit her first.Maybe the fact that Vivian can become "Alpha bitch" already at the age of 16 years might be considered progressive but in truth that would be double standard here (since males are considered adult at 18), but not only is her role pretty passive and she is basically there for support (like the typical female in a patriarchal system), nope she, just like the alpha male, only becomes leader via fight (and technically it was rather coincidence here) and nothing else. And after the fight Gabriel and everyone else expects Vivian to submit to Gabriel. That's right she is supposed to submit to her husband. Which is the most common and fundamental aspects of patriarchy there is. And one thing: Vivian is 16 and Gabriel is 24, there is 8 years age difference between them and that is not like the difference between 30 and 38, but between 16 and 24 there are literally worlds between them, very unlikely that these two think anything alike. In other words these two being the Alphas is basically robbing the cradle and pretty close to child brides.The books basic messageI can understand when people think that the overall message is “don’t be with someone that cannot fully appreciate you” because it is thrown in the readers face more than once, literally, but if that really was what the book was supposed to bring across it failed miserably.Since Vivian finds "happiness" at the end of the book by practically doing exactly like she was told throughout the book, in my eyes the message is clear:Stay with your own kind and follow the rules and paths laid out for you. If you don’t, you will only get punished and suffer for it. Follow everything you are told and happiness will be guaranteed and you will get your charming prince, who is basically a misogynistic asshole. (hide spoiler)]
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 HubertDoes 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. :)
What do You think about Blood And Chocolate (1999)?
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.
—Penny
So I recently saw the Blood and Chocolate movie, and I absolutely, positively LOVED it. It was just something about it being so dark and sexy (totally my thing, y'know?) that I just had to read the book. And I'm so glad I did. I can honestly say that this was one of THE BEST books I've ever read. Annette Curtis Klaus is a genius. It was just one of those rare books-made-into-movies that the movie isn't a total screw-up and the book a million times better. I loved them both equally (not to mention the werewolves in Blood and Chocolate were actually dangerous, instead of soft, cuddly creatures *cough*Jacob*cough* and the movies used actual wolves so they get points for that). But there were also some slight differences I didn't like about the movie; like turning Gabriel into the bad guy/villain. *Gasp* and Vivian and Aiden ended up together! And they killed Gabriel! Actually, now, the more I think of the movie/book differences, the more pissed off I get. I guess they're both great in their own different ways. And oh. My. Gosh. Gabriel is one of the most swoon-worthy characters I've ever read about. He sort of reminded me of Dimitri Belikov in the Vampire Academy series.Anyway, great novel. Totally recommended!
—Nina ♥
Blood and Chocolate is a supernatural romance book about werewolves, in the Maryland suburbs in a town called Riverview. Annette Curtis Klause makes you feel as if you are right there with Vivian watching her life a year after her father had died.tVivian Gandillon is a werewolf whose father had died in a fire. After his death the pack was leaderless and had to move to Riverview to live with Vivian’s uncle. Since her father’s death, Vivian does not get along with her mother.tVivian goes to school like a normal girl, but she has no friends. Her only friends are a group of male werewolves her age called The Five. She meets this boy named Aiden and immediately likes him. It’s forbidden for a werewolf and a human to be together, but Vivian did not care. When the pack found out about the relationship they were against it.tThe pack needed a new leader since Vivian’s father died. So the males in the pack held a fight to see who was the strongest and wisest to lead the pack. The females also held a fight to see who would be with the leader. Vivian did not what to be in the fight, but got in the fight on an accident and she won.tVivian now has The Five wanting to mate with her and she is suppose to be with the new leader. All the while she wants to be with Aiden. Who will she choose, and will Aiden find out she’s a werewolf? You have to read the book to find out.
—Izzy Nickole
