Most young adults and older readers will find Blood and Chocolate an absorbing and delightful story with good moral values. However, a few teens or their parents might be bothered by the story's straightforward treatments of sex and of some bodily matters. These are not explicit, but are reasonably realistic. During one of Aiden's kisses, for instance, Vivian thinks: "It's a game... a game of pretending we don't want sex so badly." It is obvious that Esme appreciates male bodies and wants a new lover for sex as well as for interpersonal sharing. Vivian also comments on Gabriel's smelliness when he was sleeping on other people's floors or in the woods, without a place to bathe. None of these thoughts or terms loom large in the story, or go beyond what young people may hear or think themselves upon occasion.

The connection between mating choices and...