Annette Curtis Klause - Blood and Chocolate

There are many reasons why I follow the blogs of authors, not least of which is the vain hope that they might inspire me to WRITE SOMETHING YOU LAZY FOOL, but one of them is so that I can catch posts like this one from the fabulous Sarah Rees Brennan, in which she throws book recs around the place. Blood and Chocolate is, in her opinion, the best werewolf book ever. As someone whose favourite werewolf books has for years been, by default, Terry Pratchett's The Fifth Elephant (which is maybe not a Werewolf Book per se, but certainly the only book I can remember that contains a significant number of them), this sounded like an excellent genre-exposure opportunity.

Paranormal romance is not something I get excited about as a general rule. I will happily read sporkings of the more dreadfully written and blatantly rape-culture-endorsing examples of the genre, but by and large I will steer clear. (If you haven't read that post of bookshop's before, GO AND DO SO NOW. I'll wait.)

For the first chapter or so I was feeling dubious about Vivian, the protagonist, given that we are quickly treated to a description of her that teeters precariously on Mary Sue Precipice:

She was tall and leggy, like her mother, with full breasts, small waist, and slim hips that curved enough to show she was female. Her skin was gently golden; it was always golden, sun or not, and her tawny hair was thick and long and wild.

But although Vivian is gorgeous and a boy-magnet and speaks French with a perfect accent and has hair that changes colour super strength, there was a lot I ended up liking about her. I liked that she's a teenage girl with teenage girl problems ranging from how to fit in at school to how to cope with her mother's taste in new boyfriends. I liked that she has good self-esteem. She also has a healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards sex that I found really refreshing to read about, as even a lot of books aimed at adults tend to dial down the sexuality of women -- especially young women -- and so Vivian's HURRAH KISSING and GODDAMNIT WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO SEDUCE THIS DUDE thoughts and feelings came across as part of a balanced portrayal of a teenager, not sexytimes for the sake of sexytimes; especially because romance and sex are definitely not the only thing Vivian thinks about. Not even the main thing she thinks about, I'd say.

The other enormous redeeming factor is that Vivian is not a normal human girl who happens to be the object of a paranormal being's affections. Vivian is a proud werewolf whose pack is having problems: some of their members started killing humans (which is absolutely forbidden) and they had to leave their last town in a hurry, but not before a fire was set on their property in revenge; a fire that killed a lot of them, including Vivian's father. And the pack is now having a lot of trouble settling into their new place, especially because they are lacking a leader, so there's a lot of infighting and bitchiness and power plays going on, which in Vivian's opinion is a whole lot of stress she really doesn't need. Especially now that she's gone and fallen in love with a human boy.

Basically: Vivian is what would happen if Edward Cullen were actually a vain and ballsy teenage girl who just wanted a) her family to stop being so crazy, and b) to have some sex already.

So yes, there were a lot of things to like: I liked Vivian and her pro-active attitude, I liked the werewolf mythology and the werewolf politics, I liked the characterisation of a lot of the supporting characters, I liked the plot. I liked that there was a scene where Vivian bit out another werewolf's eye and then spent a few hours afterwards going ugh, I did what? But...as a whole, the book fell flat for me, and there were too many things that pulled me up short and made me frown.

The lack of positive female characters other than Vivian herself was depressing. Vivian's relationship with her mother is at least complicated, but Esme is presented as being sort of flighty and status-hungry, and not really there as any kind of emotional support. Vivian is also the only female werewolf of her generation in the (admittedly quite small) pack, and it's quite clear that her milkshake brings all the boy-wolves to the yard, not just because she's all sexy but because...well, there's nobody else? All of Vivian's inner struggles and identity issues and boy troubles etc. are dealt with inside her head because she has absolutely zero female friends, or even friendly acquaintances, to confide in.

As for the love story, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop for the first half of the book, but when it did, it just didn't make sense. Suddenly there's another love interest? That guy who sexually harrassed you quite a few times without ever apologising? Remember when you accidentally won some kind of ritual battle and he expected you to be his queen and you were like hell to the no? Can't we stick with that interesting storyline, ie. loyalty to pack law vs. dislike for powerful jerkface?

Spoiler alert: no.

It's not that I was heavily invested in the original love interest, either, it's more that I would have been just as happy -- happier -- for Vivian to end up single and a bit wiser. (Although an unfortunate side effect of the lack-of-female-confidantes problem was that for the ending to be a happy one, Vivian needed to end up with some kind of close relationship. It's just sad that romance was presented as the only option.)

For a story that has at its heart a great portrayal of identity problems, the frustration of two conflicting aspects to one's life, and the determination to follow one's heart even if it leads one outside the norms of one's community, I found the ending disappointing. Inasmuch as it answers the question of 'Can one defy one's appointed role in life and society?' with a resounding APPARENTLY NOT.

Blood and Chocolate is an easy read and a fun inversion of the usual paranormal romace tropes -- I'd certainly hold Vivian up a a role model to any young girl who might be tempted to stray down the Bella Swan path -- but as far as my favourite werewolf book goes, I think The Fifth Elephant is still at the top of the list.