11 Jul 2015

CHOCOLATE WISHES.


CHOCOLATE WISHES by TRISHA ASHLEY.

BACK COVER BLURB: In the picture-perfect Lancashire village of Sticklepond, confectioner Chloe dispenses inspirational sweet treats containing a prediction for each customer. If only her own life was as easy to forecast - perhaps Chloe could have foreseen being jilted at the altar.

But when a new Vicar arrives in the village, the rumour mill goes into overdrive. Not only is Raffy Sinclair the charismatic ex-front man of rock band 'Mortal Ruin', he's also Chloe's first love and the man who broke her heart.

Try as she might, Chloe can't ignore this blast from her past. Could now be the time for her to make a wish - and dare to believe it can come true?

FIRST SENTENCE {Prologue: Mortal Ruin}: When the normally innocuous radio station she always listened to while she was working suddenly started pumping out Mortal Ruin's first big hit, 'Dead as My Love', Chloe Lyon was in the kitchen area of her small flat, carefully brushing a thick coating of richly scented dark criollo couverture chocolate into moulds, to make the last batch of hollow angels before Christmas.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 333}:I only hope Maria Minchin doesn't come after me with a steak tenderiser, but I don't really think murder runs in families, and anyway, Salford's was a crime passionnel, not a spat over a jar of ganache.

SOURCE: A charity shop buy.

MY THOUGHTS: Reading this I found my rating of it fluctuating wildly. Four, no three, actually make that a three and a half. What there are no half ratings? 

In the mood for something that was light and undemanding Chocolate Wishes seemed an ideal choice.

With more strands to it than was suggested on the back cover this was a novel that had more to it than I had expected. However that said along with 'Raffy' who only really occurred a third of the way through many of these issues took a long time to come to any fruition making this a painfully slow burner of a read.

And oh my goodness, soooo predicable, having only started reading I could have written the ending.

Amazing the power of quirky characters. Characters such as warlock 'Grumps' and the deliciously eccentric Zillah who made an otherwise fairly average read an enjoyable enough distraction.


10 comments:

Kelly said...

Ha! My thoughts on this book fluctuated wildly just based on your review!

Reading the book blurb, I was afraid it was just too fluffy and "chick-lit-y" (not a word, I know), then you said it had more layers than you expected...so my interest was piqued. That was killed with the slow burner part and I'm not sure quirky characters can make up for the down-sides. Predictable is okay at times, but it sounds like this wasn't one of those times.

Melliane said...

Too bas it was predictable, I heard nice things about it and in fact I have it in my wish-lit. I'll see.

The Bookworm said...

Too bad it was predictable. Anytime I see chocolate in the title, it grabs my attention.
I know what you mean about those half star ratings.

Suko said...

Thank you for sharing your honest thoughts about this one. I'm glad you enjoyed the quirky characters in this story. have a lovely weekend, Tracy!

Brian Joseph said...

Predictability is often a deal breaker for me when it comes to books or movies.

I know that this is a light read, but it is unimaginable how devastating being left standing at the alter would be for a person. It is difficult to imagine how something like that could be forgiven.

I do think that Mortal Ruin is a great name for a rock group.

brandileigh2003 said...

I def do half ratings, esp 3 1/2

Shooting Stars Mag said...

That's a bummer that it was fairly predictable, and a bit of a slow read. Thanks for sharing though. I hadn't heard of this one.

Charlie (The Worm Hole) said...

That's a pity it's predictable; I was all for it when I read the blurb but your thoughts have convinced me otherwise. I do like the first sentence, though. It's a bit long but quite different.

Alexia561 said...

For some reason I don't mind predictable endings in my romances. Every now and then I just want a light, fluffy, HEA story that doesn't make me think too hard! :)

Gina said...

Ah shucks. Had higher hopes for this one when I first saw it but things didn't turn out so bad really. I do like the sound of those chocolates though...