I thought i’d take a break away from the Vic Lit and dive into something a little more contemporary, and i wasn’t disappointed.

This one has only been sat in the ‘To Read’ folder for just 4 months, so it’s jumped the queue by quite a bit (the other books will undoubtedly be feeling a little annoyed). Someone posted a review of this on Instagram and i took that as a message that it was time to read it – can you think of a better way of choosing what to read next when you’re looking through your ever expanding ‘To Read’ folder?

So yeah, where to start with a review. Well, the obvious one is, don’t read this if you’re a devout catholic. There’s a fair bit of catholic bashing in this book – which one might say is well deserved.

Mostly, this book is a criticism of the old ways of the catholic church and the sanctimonious, holier than though hypocrites, who sit in self appointed, holy judgement over us heathens. And i must say, Joanne does a wonderful job of it, and some might say, a much needed job considering the recent past.

All in all, a delightful story set in a small French village whose inhabitants were in desperate need of some good chocolate and an alternative view on life, other than the miserable one being suffered at the behest of aforementioned, sanctimonious crowd and their church and priest. And what better way of telling that story than setting up a chocolaterie directly opposite the parish church in the centre of the village.

I especially enjoyed the way Joanne alternates throughout between 2 completely separate protagonists’ narratives from 2 very different opposing protagonists, the chocolatier and the priest, and she makes that work really well, although it does make you pause a little when they swap over on occasion.

At the end though, am i going to read the next books in this series? As soon as Bookbub tells me they’re on a good deal at Amazon i’ll definitely be adding them to my ever expanding ‘To Read’ pile. What hope is there when i read a book off my ‘To Read’ pile and all it does is inspire me to add more books to it?

Did the book inspire to consume more cocoa products? No, i already consume too much already. #chocolatelove

Too many good writers and never enough reading time – or chocolate. All good fun though! 😀 ( )

BOOK MADE INTO THE FILM . A LOT OF FUN.

The thing I like most about this book is the style in which it's written. It would be hard to tell if you'll like it or not in advance; but I would strongly recommend getting a copy and trying the first few chapters.

If you are familiar with the film, the book is sufficiently familiar to be comfortable, yet tells a story distinct enough to make it worth the read. ( )

Well, it's always extra nice when you go into a book with very low expectations (just not a fan of magical realism as you may know), and then surprise, surprise, the book turns out to be a treat.

This book isn't a big, important book, but it is a charming one with so many delightfully drawn characters. The story is about Vianne Rocher and her daughter starting anew in a small town. Unfortunately, the priest, Father Reynaud, in the town isn't terribly amenable to strangers in general (an understatement) and especially strangers that don't attend church. This tension sets up the whole story, with very sympathetic Vianne on one side and the-villian-you-love-to-hate on the other. The book is also populated with a number of supporting characters, each of whom is interesting and a bit quirky in their own way.

My favorite aspect of the book was Harris' prose - - easy to read, but loaded with wonderfully rendered detail. And when that detail is about my favorite food of all time, chocolate, believe me, I was loving it. She described food with real love, and I ate it up!

On the negative side (for me), the story has a bit of a fairy tale quality to it in that Reynaud isn't very multi-dimensional (he's bad), and Vianne has some kind of never exactly explained magical powers that allow her to know things about others. I liked the book in spite of those quibbles, but not because of them. Others might really be intrigued by the magical components, but I don't think the book would have been less without them. ( )

Chocolate , witchcraft , religious town , crazy old ladies what else do you need?? ( )