Tantalize

Tantalize

By: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Reviewed by: gothiclolitamaiden, 15
Rating: It was alright...


“Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything?”

Hmmm…. Where have I heard this before? Oh! That’s right! There was this book, and there was a girl, who had a vampire and a werewolf who both wanted to date her….It was called “Midnight” or “Twilight” or something, I think. Don’t fret, I am not suffering from amnesia, I am merely being snarky, so forgive me. When I saw Lynna’s review of this novel, I immediately thought “Twilight Ripoff” and chuckled to myself. Therefore, though I usually agree with Lynna’s opinions, I resolved to decide for myself, and the verdict is: “Twilight Ripoff.” Despite my mean criticisms, it is not a complete and total ripoff, and the author is reasonably talented, but she would do a little better if she wasn’t blatantly copying Twilight. It would only be a complete and total ripoff if the girl was named Stella, and she lived in a town called Sporks, and she had two friends named Edward Pullen and Jacob Stack.

The main thing that bugged me about this book was that none of the characters had real personality, except for Bradley, who is the bad guy, which is kind of sad. Though Quincie has a spine, unlike Bella, she has almost no personality, like Bella.

The author, as I believe I already stated, is pretty talented. The writing is pretty descriptive, even though Quincie’s appearance is never adequately expressed, which left me guessing, and I hate when that happens. None of the other characters have enough personality, and therefore I will not discuss them.

It is evident that the author tried to craft a twisty plot, full of deception, seduction and double-crossing, but many of the plot twists are predictable. The book falls flat simply because it is a character-based story with poorly developed characters, that and the fact that it is a Twilight Ripoff.

Overall, Tantalize is a not-so-original addition to the vampire genre. There are moments where the author’s ingenuity is apparent, but these moments are few and far-between. It is not a complete failure, but it fails in the departments of originality and character building.


Recommended to: Vampire fans who aren't tired of Twilight ripoffs, teens 14+