****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Laura Florand writes romances for Foodies. I mean, golly, the decadent descriptions, the mouth-watering flavors, the sensual slide of....you naughty people, I was talking about the desserts in this book!Laura's Chocolate series features extremely handsome chefs/patissiers in Paris (one would think that all chefs in Paris are handsome, emotionally vulnerable gods if one read too many of her books in a row) who find their love match...usually an American, or half-American, or American-educated woman.This book is a bridge between her Chocolate series and a new series featuring a dynasty of rose-growers in Southern France.The hero is a big, growly (literally his growls make the heroine stand at attention, so to speak) intense patissier who makes magic out of chocolate, nitrogen, gold dust, and pistachios. The heroine is a food writer who happens to be the daughter of the patissier that fired the hero and stole some of his recipes.Sparks ensue. And kissing in jasmine-laden arbors in tiny alleyways, and desserts are described, and of course the main issue of contention is a fabulous-sounding rose-chocolate dessert that the hero hasn't made since leaving the heroine's father.I don't know reading Florand is more fun because of the whole-hearted way the heroes woo the ladies, or because of the foodie descriptions and depictions of the hectic, cutthroat world of patissiers and chefs after Michelin stars.I just know that when I open a Florand book, I'm going to be entertained, I'm going to fall in love with both the couple and their food, and I'm going to get a glimpse of other characters both featured in prior novels (really, one would think Paris is entirely populated by patissier/chocolatier/chefs and their American wives) and soon to be featured in their own novels.Delicious.
