3.5 stars - a nice read but I like my romance novels to have more flirting and passion. Does make Paris sound wonderful though! ( )

*Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

As dawn breaks over the Pont Neuf, and the cobbled alleyways of Paris come to life, Anna Trent is already awake and at work; mixing and stirring the finest, smoothest, richest chocolate; made entirely by hand, it is sold to the grandes dames of Paris.

It's a huge shift from the chocolate factory she worked in at home in the north of England. But when an accident changed everything, Anna was thrown back in touch with her French teacher, Claire, who offered her the chance of a lifetime - to work in Paris with her former sweetheart, Thierry, a master chocolatier.

With old wounds about to be uncovered and healed, Anna is set to discover more about real chocolate - and herself - than she ever dreamed.

This was a contemporary romance sweet enough to make your teeth hurt! ( )

Chocolate Shop is a darker Jenny Colgan vision of depression, cancer, and death which make it hard to connect with the main characters.

Descriptions of Paris and the amazing creation of FRESH chocolate are engaging, though readers may still wonder exactly how Anna arrived at her near perfect recipe breakthrough.
Meat, notably duck, and circus may not be to every reader's taste. Also, less humor than previous books.

Readers may like the main character even less as she 'forgets' to contact the one person who gave her this outstanding change of life. ( )

I was at the library checking out any book that dealt with chocolate for a homeschool curriculum that I'm putting together. I wanted to include some fiction titles for high school age and/or parents so I checked out this one.

I was enjoying the author's voice and writing style but then I came across a passage that I associated with a blow job and decided not to go any further. (page 3)

I kind of flipped through the book to find the main character is English and is going to France and that sealed the deal for me and I placed the book back in the bag to return to the library. The whole incident took under five minutes.

In the foreword A WORD FROM JENNY -- ...[this book is based] on the principle that when people dedicate their lives to one thing that they really, really love and learn a lot about, amazing things can happen.

Fluff book, with interesting but predictable characters. My favorite part was learning about the process of making fine chocolate. ( )