DISCLAIMER: Way before Twilight and all the copycats, there was this book. It’s OG. In my opinion, it’s much more thoughtful and original than the YA romance fantasies that came after it. I used to read it over and over in Jr High. Now, as an adult, I reread it just to see how it holds up. So, bear with me because this is super nostalgic for me and I’m 100% biased. It’s such a guilty pleasure. Now that that’s out of the way...Vivian, the main character, is a “pirate of the night”, a teenage werewolf, with a strong sense of community, purpose, rebelliousness, and confidence. This book always gets criticized for being too sexual for YA, but honestly, who doesn’t remember having a one-track mind as a teenager? More importantly, the book is much more sensual than sexual. Vivian is real, well fleshed out character. She makes real actions/decisions/mistakes, but she takes responsibility and her actions eventually show that listening to her gut in the end will always guide her straight. Her self-image of her body is very healthy, a wonderful role model for a teenager (the message seems to be: if she can accept herself as beautiful as essentially a monster or as a girl, why can’t you?) She glorifies how good it feels to run through the woods, delights in her senses of taste, sight, sound, hearing and touch that gives readers a great impression of how to live intensely in the moment. Sure it’s because her senses are highly attuned as a wild animal, and, sure, a lot of the things she enjoys might be uncomfortable to a human (such as when she’s chewing a piece of meat while staring at a human thigh) but what’s to stop your average human reader from being inspired to also revel in the little things? The book offers a wonderful sense of freedom: freedom to experience, to fail, to risk, to love. Most of all it stresses the ever-important more that when you accept yourself, you are your strongest self.The writing style is just superb. All killer, no filler. The jokes are great. It is dense with sentiment, and you never forget whose eyes you’re looking though. Almost every move a werewolf makes - even in their human form - is described in the most animal-like way possible: lots of “snarling”, “bristling”, “ears pricking up”, “nuzzling”, “clawing”, “howling”, etc. Furries take note - you’ll probably like it. They even say “love gift” to describe a necklace given as a present - you know, those dead “gifts” your cat or dog leaves on your doorstep!Though a short read, it’s high quality, and gives it an elegant feel, but with plenty of action and dialogue. There’s a ton of great one-liners in here, and not a single line is wasted fluff. For example:“He was a human after all: a meat-boy scantily furred, an incomplete creature who had only one form.How sad, she thought.” As a teen, when everything felt new and unknown, this book taught me that to truly enjoy and engage in the unknown, and that to be able to grow from it, you must first accept yourself. I know that sounds corny, but every young adult should receive this message. And, to any Christian fundamentalists reading this, calm down: when I say the “unknown”, I don’t mean the occult (in the context of MY life anyway). Maybe it’s just adventuring outside of your comfort zone, like choosing a career in architecture or hacking, or maybe it’s befriending someone with different political viewpoints, or finding a sense of community in an edgy hobby like skydiving, or listening to a new music genre, etc. The point is to embrace the unknown as authentically as possible to get the best results.TL;DR: Is it a little trashy? Yeah. Is it fun? Absolutely. Is it meaningful? Of course. The story is truly about the exquisite beauty of the everyday, and how knowing yourself can lead you to find truly precious things in this very short time we have on Earth.