The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand (Chocolate #2)
December 24, 2012
Contemporary Romance
Kensington

Reviewed by Mandi

Adorable, charming, whimsical. These are the words that first came to mind when I finished this book. I read it in one sitting and was completely immersed in the world. I felt like I was in Paris, in a tiny chocolate shop. That I could almost smell the hot chocolate and see the adorable chocolate window displays the author so meticulously and wonderfully details in this book. And the let’s not forget the sexy romance that develops between Philippe Lyonnais, world famous pastry chef and Magalie Chaudron, who along with her two aunts own La Maison des Sorcieres.

Magalie and her aunts (and her aunts are wonderful supporting characters in this book) are fondly known as the witches, as they like to put spells on the customers who drink their chocolate and tea. Magalie has spent her youth traveling numerous times from America to France with her parents, and has finally found a home above her beloved shop. She never wants to move again, so when the famous pastry chef Philippe Lyonnais announces he is opening one of his stores just a few doors down from hers, she is devastated he will steal all her customers, forcing her out of business. When she sees just how grand his shop is, she feels at a loss.

She didn’t feel like Magalie Chaudron, a witch of the Ile Saint-Louis, who held the magic of chocolate brews in her hands. She felt like Cinderella at the ball, conscious that her fine dress was really ash-covered rags and intense make-believe, and wanting nothing so much as to slink out before the prince saw her.

She hated that feeling.

Phillippe fell in love with Magalie’s quaint street and her quaint little store. He doesn’t want to drive her out of business but he doesn’t lack confidence or pride in his work and shop. He knows he is the best and he expects to do very well at his new location. After these two meet, a war of sorts develops. He is famous for his macarons, and sends one to her as a peace offering. She refuses to eat it, which he absolutely cannot comprehend.

He couldn’t believe she had rejected one of his macarons. He had offered it to her fresh from his own hand. Not just his recipe, but made personally by him. And she had refused it.

His Desir. Apricot kissed by pistachio, with the secret little square of of pistachio praline hidden inside, like a G-spot. Well, he didn’t call it le point Gin his marketing brochures, but whenever he created, he knew what he was doing: every pastry had to have its orgasm, its culmination of bliss that hit like a complete surprise. That made the eyes of those who bit into it shiver closed with delight.

Throughout the book, he pushes all of his anger, lust, and desire into his macarons as Magalie does the same with her chocolate. She stirs in a “spell” into his hot chocolate and in retaliation he refuses to drink it. They go back and forth as each other’s nemesis until their anger finally evolves into a very sexy romance.

I can’t say enough good things about this book. The author brings to life this world. The charming displays the aunts and Magalie make for their windows make me almost lust to see it in real life. The chocolate and pastry creations will make you want to get on a plane and fly to Paris so you can taste them. She develops this really rich world and then gives us two adorable characters who fall in love. They butt heads, they have very cute yet enemy-filled banter, and they eventually give into their desires. I really like that this book has that very adorable, charming feel yet once these two start their romance, it becomes very, very wicked.

”Philippe….” She put all the menace a naked, involuntary clutching and writhing woman could into the word."

“Allez, Magalie.” His chin was rough against her neck. “Say it,” he breathed. “I’m begging you to say it. It excites the hell out of me when you say it.”

He was begging her to beg him.

One of my complaints about her first book was that she gave us a very sexy chocolatier but we never fully saw all his sexiness. But here she lets Magalie and Philippe slowly explore their romance. She doesn’t rush through the very hot sex scenes, which of course I was happy about.

There is not really magic in this book, at least that is how I understood it. I think if you want to believe Magalie and her aunts bewitch their chocolate, then that would be okay too. I think the act of putting wishes into their creation adds to the whimsical feel of this book.

An adorable chocolate shop and heroine, a sexy pastry chef and a hot romance set in Paris. I highly recommend this one.

Rating: A

Recent Reviews:
For What It’s Worth – 3.5/4
Sara in Bookland – 4/5
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