There are a couple of book blogs that I follow. Every now and then, they share special offers – when a book is off at Amazon, for example. I buy wayyyy too many of these recommendations. The majority of them just end up hanging around on my Kindle app, in the event that I will read them. (I have a very full Kindle app.)
But I do read them, eventually.
One of those offers ended up with me buying the first book in Laura Florand’s Amour et Chocolat, The Chocolate Thief
Every now and then I read a series that I think – more people should know about this. Amour et chocolat (don’t worry, the books are originally in English) is one of those series. I bought the first book in October last year, and by the time Christmas came around, I had read all the books in the series twice. Granted, I read fast, but that is still a very quick re-reading of a series, even for me.
The Chocolate Thief is the story of chocolate empire heiress Cade Corey who goes to Paris to hunt for a chocolatier who would like to sell his name/recipes for a high end line of (mass-produced) chocolates. Her first stop is Sylvain Marquis, a world renowned chocolatier.
The story is delightful in its cultural misunderstandings, and… well, it is chocolate and Paris.
The chocolate Kiss is the second book in the series. In the beginning it does read a bit fairy-tale like, with Magalie Chaudron and her two aunts operating a hot chocolate place where they sell their magic hot chocolate with wishes. (I made the recipe in the end of the book, back when I read it in January. It is insanely good.) A hot-shot chocolatier moves into the neighborhood with his fancy reputation, which worries Magalie.
This is really a) the book that made me crave hot chocolate and b) that made me crave going back to Paris.
The third book is The Chocolate Rose, also a good read.
The fourth book in the series is The chocolate touch, and it is really my favorite among the lot. Basically because there is a wounded heroine, who is the sister of Cade from book #1, a brusque Chocolatier hero… and amazing writing.
I reviewed The Chocolate Heart back in November last year, after I had glommed my way through all of the previous books in almost one sitting. It is really a book that could have gone very wrong for me, but didn’t. An apparently spoiled hotel heiress, a chocolatier who misunderstands…
This is actually also one of my favorites, but I think that mainly is because Florand started the two main characters in this book in the previous one, so I did not have to spend as much time getting to know them. The antagonism from Sarah, the main character, towards the hero is actually pretty interesting.
For someone who has watched a lot of cooking shows, it seems that the route Sarah does in this book going to work in Paris for a world renowned chocolatier is more direct than heading for television. Maybe more work as well.
