I bought this book in my vampire/werewolf/paranormal-is-the-best phase in 2000. I don't recall liking it too much but then a week or two ago I started seeing previews for the movie. The movie looked interesting so I said to myself, hey go back and read the book again. I tried again and I only got 60 pages into it. I still do not like it. Did anyone here read and like it? Or better yet, did anyone see the movie? I'm trying to figure out if it's worth my time to see a movie for a book I could barely stand.

I did that for The Devil Wears Prada and while I'll admit the movie, IMO, was 10x better than the book it still wasn't EXCELLENT to me. Though apparently, The Academy & Hollywood Foreign Press, etc, disagree.

Just curious. :c)

I loved the book when I read it, but it's been a year or two so I don't recall a whole lot about it.

It's up as one of my next reads as I just offered it to midwinter in the Fantasy swap and I wanted to read it too before the movie. Not that I go to the cinema, but before the DVD, because good or not, I'm a paranormal junkie so I can always take 2 hours out of my life for a vampire or werewolf flick, good or not. With books, it's a bit different since they take more than 2 hours, and can't be enjoyed with your partner on "date night". :wub:

Anyway, Sand had recommended it to me while we were at BookCloseouts up in Toronto so I picked it up then. I'll reply after I've read it, which should be very soon.

Dang another to add to my wishlist. ;) I have seen the ads for the movie on LJ though.

Just so you know...the movie is only loosly based on the book. Very very loosely.

I enjoyed the book. I haven't seen the movie. I may...as I can enjoy movies completely separately from the books they were based on...but this isn't one to go see because you liked the book.

Movie summary: (whited out because it seems very complete and I have no idea if it contains spoilers...highlight to read)
Ten years ago, in the remote mountains of Colorado, a young girl watched helplessly as her family was murdered by a pack of angry men for the secret they carried in their blood. She survived by running into the woods, and changing into something the hunters could never find... a wolf.

Now, though she lives half a world away, Vivian Gandillon is still running.

Living in relative safety in Bucharest, Vivian spends her days working at a chocolate shop and nights trawling the cities underground clubs, fending off the reckless antics of her cousin Rafe and his gang of delinquents he calls "The Five". But only when she's running through the woods around the city does Vivian feel truly free... though whatever she's chasing seems to continually elude her.

Aiden Galvin is an artist researching Bucharest's ancient art and relics for his next graphic novel based on the mythology of the loup garoux - shapeshifters whose power to change effortlessly into the forms of both human and wolf was once concsidered holy among men.

Wrestling demons of his own, Aiden hopes to explore the inner lives of these outsiders he believes were persecuted to extinction - labeled monsters, murderers, werewolves. They achieved what he lacks - transcendence, the ablity to change what they are. What he doesn't know is that the loup garoux are not only very real, they're far from extinct.

During a chance encounter in an abandoned church celebrating the loup garoux, Aiden unknowingly comes face to face with the real thing... Vivian.

Others may have secrets, but none as extraordinary as hers, for Vivian is among the last of her kind, leading a tenuous existence under the protection and control of Gabriel, the powerful and enigmatic leader of one of the last packs of loup garoux on earth.

After their brief encounter in the church, Aiden can't get Vivian out of his mind, nor can she forget him. He persues her until she relents and begins to see him, but she can't bring herself to tell him the truth - and lives in fear of showing him what she really is. If she bleeds, her eyes will betray her as loup garoux. And what's worse: her future, and who she falls in love with, is already predetermined.

To keep their kind from being hunted to extinction, Gabriel holds them to strict laws. One is that he must take a new bride every seven years, and Vivian has been prophesied to be his next.

The other is that the pack must hunt as one or not at all. It is the very key to their survival. Chased from the soil of every continent, only in Bucharest - where once a Magyar prince was said to have loup garoux blood - have they found sanctuary. On the night of the full moon, they gather as one in the woods outside the city. Though the wolves are outnumbered by man, on the night of the hunt they can be who they truly are - hunting a single chosen human as a pack. If their prey reaches the other side of the river, he will be allowed to live... but no human has ever reached the river.

And the full moon is almost upon them.


Book summary:
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?

As you can see...they're vastly different.

somewhere amongst my embarrassingly numerous TBRs I have Blood And Chocolate and also The Silver Kiss by the same author.

can anyone tell me if the two books are related, and if so is there a correct reading order?

I think I had The Silver Kiss, too. If memory serves (and it often doesn't, lol), they aren't related because The Silver Kiss is about vampires and B&C is strictly about werewolves.


After reading the summary Pepper posted, I think the book is barely related to the movie. It seems the only thing they kept the same was the names and the fact that they were werewolves.

However, I think I'm gonna pass on this movie. I hope you guys that are planning to read the book enjoy it! :c)