Tantalize

Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Year: 2007
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Supernatural fantasy

Plot Summary: 17 and orphaned, Quincie Morris is overseeing the renovation of her family's Italian restaurant as it becomes the vampire-themed Sanguini's. After the head chef (and family friend) is brutally murdered, Quincie finds his replacement in the unassuming but talented Henry Johnson. Meanwhile Quincie's best friend (and would-be love interest) Kieren, a hybrid werewolf, is under suspicion for murder. Life gets increasingly stranger as Sanguini's opening night draws closer...

Red Flags: teenage drinking, some gore, moderate language, mild sexual content, general weirdness

My Rating: C. This book just got weirder and weirder. I thought it would be more Twilight-y (which, for some reason, I wanted) and it wasn't at all. I thought hot werewolf Kieren would actually be in the book, but he hardly was. Also, this book was strange and in the end, what was the point? The characters were bland. The setting was Austin but too undefined for me to get a grip on. Also, I hate it when characters aren't described (Kieren! I don't know what you look like! I only know that you're hot!).