Tantalize

August 22, 2011
Kieran is an Irish-Mexican–American honors student at an Austin, Tex., high school who also happens to be half werewolf in this graphic novel addition to the teen supernatural romance genre. If his affliction were not enough to grapple with, the time is growing nigh that he will need to leave home to join a wolf pack, and he is in love with his human best friend Quincie. A crime at Quincie’s family restaurant sets the story in motion, as Kieran dodges vampires and fights for his true love’s soul, all while defending his own name and keeping his grades up. While supernatural metaphors for the transformations and horrors of adolescence are well-worn territory, Leitich Smith, who first published Tantalize as a young adult novel, provides a face-paced, twisty, enjoyable ride and compelling characters who develop as the story unfolds. Kieran’s sidekicks, a were-armadillo and a were-possum, provide some welcome perspective on the hero’s obsession, keeping the story from getting dragged down into too much teen angst. Doyle’s illustrations, while slightly static, capture the intensity of the emotions between the star-crossed couple.

March 5, 2007
Following her parents' death, Quincie Morris was left in her Uncle Davidson's care, and the fate of the family's Italian restaurant was left in hers. Now 17, Quincie, who narrates, and her uncle have renamed the place Sanguini's. They've remodeled it with a "vampire theme," which they believe will sell in their Texas college town since "vampires are a fringe population, and Austin is a tolerant place." A month before the grand re-opening, however, the longtime chef is mauled to death in the kitchen, and the murder suspect is a werewolf. Quincie finds this problematic, since her lifelong best friend and love interest, Kieren, is a "hybrid werewolf" who traces his lupine heritage to the wolves that roamed Ireland with St. Patrick. A new chef shows up who may be talented but is also spooky, with red contact lenses, pale hair and a menu featuring sweetbreads, blood sausage and baby squirrels in honey cream sauce. Best known for her Native American stories, Smith uses advertisements, newspaper clippings and menu pages to liven the pace, and creates palpable tension in the novel's second half. Quincie's story hews closer to the campy Buffy the Vampire Slayer
episodes (e.g., " 'You ate the police?!' I exclaimed") than to the elegant romanticism of Stephenie Meyer's books, but horror fans will be hooked by Kieren's quiet, hirsute hunkiness, and Texans by the premise that nearly everybody in their capitol is a shapeshifter. Ages 14-up.

May 1, 2007
Gr 8 Up-Orphaned at 13, Quince Morris, now 17, has been living with her Uncle Davidson and managing the familys restaurant. Her best friend and the love of her life, Kieran, is a werewolf in training who can not fully control the monster in him. As a result he will not return her affection for fear of the harm he could do to her. Within weeks of the grand reopening of the new vampire-themed restaurant, chaos breaks out. The chef is brutally murdered werewolf style, thus making Kieran a possible suspect. Quince has a month to transform the newly hired chef, Brad, into Sanguinis vampire extraordinaire and at the same time deal with the fact that Kieran is abandoning her to join his own wolfpack and that Brad is making advances. Readers will be tantalized by this dark, romantic, and disturbing fantasy of vampires, werewolves, and a strong no-nonsense heroine. Fans of Stephenie Meyer and Annette Curtis Klause will eat it up."Donna Rosenblum, Nassau Boces School Library System, NY"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2007
If Joan Bauer took a crack at dark fantasy, the result would probably be something like this gothic-horror comedy, set in an Italian restaurant reopening as a vampire-themed supper club. When someone murders the chef and more brutal killings follow, Quince scrambles to keep the family business alive and to escape with her own soul intact. From the teen's crush on her hybrid-werewolf best friend to her difficulty managing the stresses of an after-school job, Smith cleverly manipulates typical YA experiences to suit the book's alternate-reality context. The macabre conspiracy revealed at book's end, connecting to Quince's increasing dependence on a blood-red beverage she presumes is wine, will take few readers by surprise. But the immersion in food culture--including an overhauled menu, as grisly as it is gourmet--successfully builds on the sensual aspects of vampire mythology. For teens who ask for seconds, refer to the Read-alikes feature "After the First Bite," in " Booklist," May 15, 2006." "(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2007
Smith juices up YA horror with this intoxicating romantic thriller. In an alternate Austin, Texas, many humans fear the vampires and were-people living among them, but others are strangely attracted. Quincie Morris and her guardian uncle are preparing to reopen the family restaurant with a sexy vampire theme when their chef is brutally murdered. A charming young man with a mean marinara appears in the nick of time, and Uncle Davidson puts Quince in charge of turning him into a culinary Vampire King-but change is on the menu for Quincie as well. Her hybrid werewolf best friend and unrequited love, Kieren, talks of leaving to find a wolf pack; meanwhile, the new chef, re-christened Brad the Impaler, tantalizes her with sinfully delicious dishes, all washed down with a "house Chianti" that tastes a bit strange, Quince thinks. The story builds to a suspenseful climax as Quince discovers the truth about Brad and exactly what he's been giving her to drink. The restaurant's heady mix of rich foods and supernatural sexuality sets the tone for the novel; Quincie's longing for a physical relationship with her boy-wolf is as palpable as the taste of the food: "Volcanic spice drenched my teeth, tongue, gums." Smith adds a light touch of humor to the soup, but the main course is a dark romance with all the gory trimmings.

(Copyright 2007 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)