Genre: Romance/Women’s
Lit
Description:
“When Sarah Westwood’s deadbeat husband deserts her and their young
son, she takes a job at her family’s restaurant, The Three Chocolatiers,
working with her famous chef grandfather and her pastry chef cousin, Paisley.
Determined to never fall for the wrong guy again, Sarah vows to stick to
chocolate and steer clear of men, especially her delicious ice-cream supplier,
Blake Harrison. But when Paisley signs her up for a dating site, Sarah is soon
engaging in a sexy online flirtation with a stranger.
Blake Harrison wants nothing more than for Sarah to give him a chance,
but all she’ll give him is the cold shoulder. Never one to run from a
challenge, he works on becoming the kind of man Sarah can’t refuse. And since
he just happens to be on the same dating site, he’s not above using a little
cyber-intel to worm his way into her heart.
When Sarah’s grandfather collapses just weeks before an upscale
chocolate-themed wedding that could make or break the business, the staff of
The Three Chocolatiers is sent into a tailspin. With the pressure rising on
personal and professional fronts, Sarah might just have to let someone sweet
melt her defenses.”
Author:
“USA Today Bestselling author Gail Cleare used to write for
newspapers, magazines, ad agencies, Fortune 50 companies and AOL. Now she
writes fiction, and lives on an 18th century farm in Massachusetts with her
family and dogs, cats, chickens, black bears, blue herons, rushing streams and
wide, windy skies. When not on the computer, Gail is usually working in her
organic vegetable garden or absorbed in nature photography. She can often be
found stalking wild creatures with a 300 mm lens.”
To learn more please visit her website.
Appraisal:
Sarah Westwood has her professional persona under control. She is
confident, well spoken, and a quick learner. Her personal life is quite the
opposite. Her ex-husband pulled the rug out from under her and she crashed. Her
family is well aware how emotionally fragile she is. They never miss a chance
to try to bolster her with a bit too much praise, which she readily accepts.
Her cousin Paisley, who is the pastry chef at their grandfather’s restaurant,
set Sarah up a profile on a local dating site after a few too many bottles of
wine between them. You know, just for some anonymous sexy fun, never intending
to actually meet any men in person.
I thought the story started off strong with a lot of promise. Sarah
could easily speak and flirt with Blake Harrison, who was part owner of an ice
cream business with his brother, which supplied the restaurant with their
signature ice cream. As manager of The Three Chocolatiers she dealt with him
often. Then her personal relationship insecurities reared their ugly head when
she started feeling an attraction to him, and now she bolts every time he comes
near. Blake is ready for a serious relationship and not easily ignored. He
recognizes what she is doing but doesn’t understand why.
Sarah develops a relationship with a man online who is sympathetic and
easy to talk to as long as the situation is anonymous. Blake is a great guy and
I got tired of her inner dialogue with her insecurities. Time and time again I
wanted to slap some sense into her. I have little tolerance for that kind of
crap from weak characters. It becomes an endless circle and I find that tiring.
There are some interesting plot twists that will keep the reader
involved. I found the characters well developed and the scenes put the reader
right in the middle of the action. There were just a couple of plot points I
didn’t buy. If you don’t mind reading stories about women needing rescuing,
even if it is from themselves, you will enjoy this book.
FYI:
At the end of Love &
Chocolate there are four
recipes from The Three Chocolatiers Cookbook to be enjoyed.
Format/Typo
Issues:
I didn’t run across any significant issues.
Rating:
*** Three Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 65-70,000 words
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