Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause

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?

** spoiler alert ** Before opening up Blood and Chocolate, I was prepared for another cheesy (and sometimes addictive-like blood to werewolves and chocolate to me!!) novel about a boy and girl who fall in love and can't be together because one of them is some magical being. Blood and Chocolate--totally NOT cheesy, but rather dark and almost realistic. Vivian is a beautiful teenage werewolf who has men falling at her feet, but she chooses Aiden, a human boy who is interested in the occult. As she falls for him she must decide whether she trusts him enough to tell him her secret, and must deal with neither her family nor his approving of them together. There have also been some werewolf murders of humans lately, which is forbidden, and no one knows who the killer is.

For once, the supernatural-human love story did not come true. I was relieved when Vivian finally gave up on her Aiden obsession and got with Gabriel, who somehow went from being really creepy to really hot in the course of the book. I loved Gabriel and not Aiden since the beginning, but that may have been because I read the last page about 5 minutes in. Although I will be the first to admit that the fact that Vivian's mother tried to snag Gabriel for the first 3/4 of the book and that he later ends up with her daughter is pretty nasty. Vivian's relationship with her mother was a little odd. They treat each other as equals and show little affection, but when it comes down to it, Vivian would do anything for her mother. Like attack the wolf (Astrid) that was trying to kill her, even though her mother gave her almost no recognition for it. Speaking of Astrid, why was Vivian the only one who noticed that something was up with that woman? After the way she tried to kill Esme, when if she hadn't gone for the kill Esme probably would have given up anyway, I would keep both my eyes on that she-wolf. It was also cool how the story was told from Vivian's point of view because of how natural she made it all seem. Instead of crazy prophecies and apocalypses happening, it's as if Blood and Chocolate is just a quick snapshot of the most exciting, dangerous, and reckless part of Vivian's life.

5 stars.