Sweetly

Gr 7 Up—What makes this title different from other books involving werewolves and modern teens? Perhaps it's that the protagonists have left the woods in Washington State for the woods of South Carolina. Or maybe it's that they're named Ansel and Gretchen, which is supposed to remind us of Hansel and Gretel, but doesn't really. Instead of an old crone in a house made of candy, there's a nubile young beauty who is a chocolatier, which maybe reminds us of a movie entitled Chocolat, and whose goods seem to have interesting psychological effects on those who consume them. It's probably unnecessary to say that Ansel falls under her spell. The witch doesn't eat him, though. Or any other humans. She leaves that to the werewolves. Thank goodness that Gretchen befriends a young man who's been living in the slave quarters of a nearby former plantation because he knows how to kill werewolves and he teaches Gretchen so they can go hunting together. That's romantic, too. This is more of a mash-up of the fairy tale and some recent best sellers than a reframing of the story in a deep Southern setting, and Pearce's writing is too long on breathlessness and suppressed anguish and too short on actual plot. Will any of this pull readers in? Make them want to read 300 pages? Highly unlikely.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY