The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop (Kindle Edition) by Caroline Roberts

Title: The Cosy Christmas Chocolate Shop   
Author: Caroline Roberts 
Length: Novel 
Source: Netgalley 
Reviewed by Laurie
Rating: 2
Sexual Rating: 1

Emma is the proud owner of The Chocolate Shop by the Sea, nestled in the heart of the cosy seaside village that’s become her home. With Christmas right around the corner, she and her assistant Holly are busy cooking up the locals’ festive favourites.

From cinnamon hot chocolates to reindeer lollipops, Christmas wouldn’t taste the same without a little cocoa magic. And for Emma it’s the perfect distraction from her romantic pains of the past. So when the shop’s miserly landlord threatens to hike up the rent, Emma’s Christmas and New Year suddenly look a lot less cheerful.

With the whole village rallying behind her – and loyal spaniel Alfie by her side – Emma’s determined to hold onto her chocolate-box dream.

The chocolate calendar countdown is on. Can Emma rescue her business and her broken heart?

Review 

I wanted to love this one, but it just didn’t happen.

First I was sadly disappointed because it was listed under Netgalley as a romance book, but it’s not. In order for a book to be romance the romance has to be the main focus of a story and in this story you don’t even get to know the hero name until after chapter 20 and you still never get his background other then what he did for a living, his little detail of an x-girlfriend a few other likes and dislikes. One could say well, he was there is over 20 so that would even it out right? Not really because even after she meets Max, he still wasn’t the main focus, her business was first and far most Max was second and you can see that with the on again off again and her mindset still on her business. Also, keep note when she was off with him the story of her business just kept going so he really wasn’t there that much.

My other big disappointment was after Emma finally got with max they were on again and off again several times. They would go out one night and she would just decide this wasn’t for her and didn’t want to see him anymore, got rather annoying after a couple of times

The main focus of this story is Emma, her chocolate shop ups and downs and her assistant. I was very impressed with the detail of the chocolate making and ownership of the shop, the author must have done a lot of research for the story.

This is a sweet romance so no sexual rating for this one. I want to also note the majority of the story is in first person and it’s Emma POV unlike the majority of romance stories being third persons.

I was going to rate this book a three star because it got rather good after she meets Max, but her on again and off again relationship just put me off and it seems to just drag the story out way too much for my taste. The main focus of the story was not romance and to tell you the truth it didn’t have much Christmas to the story and that is what I look for when Christmas is in the title so I settled for 2 stars. 

For you, America readers beware this book is by a British author so, you’ll find some words spelled differently, mention of British holidays that you may not know and there is no reference to help readers that don’t know about the holiday she is talking about.  I’m lucky I have an English gamer friend, so I could easily understand the holiday and spellings, but if it wasn’t for him I would have had no clue what some of it was. I want to mention this because I see so many readers get upset because of things like this when they really shouldn't. 

If you're looking for a great heartfelt sorry about a struggling lady trying to keep her candy shop and a touch of romance, please give this story a try. The authors writing style is great, but for a romance reader, I have to have the romance as the main focus. 

I almost forgot to make mention there are a couple of truffles recipes in the back of the book, Festive chocolate-orange truffles, and Emma's Boozy truffles.

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