Chocolicious: A Review

Geraldine Solon -  Chocolicious

When Was It Released?: 7th July 2011
Where Did I Get It From?: Geraladine Solon was kind enough to send me a copy in return for an honest review
Who Published It?: Solstice Publishing
Number Of Pages?: 288 pages

When I first heard about Geraldine Solon’s new novel Chocolicious there was only one thing that came to mind; my love of chocolate. The cover instantly had me running to my cupboard to crap a chocolate bar before settling down to devour this novel (almost as fast as I devoured the chocolate bar!). Chocolicious is about much more than chocolate though, and predominantly centres around going through hard times in life and coming out the other side.

Blair Nightingale is devastated when her husband Larry dies. Her life is turned upside down again when she learns that she is about to lose everything due to a mistake that Larry made. Blair’s life is transformed from rich, Silicon Valley trophy life to a poor widowed single mother. She must now find a way to provide for herself and her daughter. As Blair tries to put her life back together again, George, Larry’s best friend, always seems to be around. Blair finds comfort in baking rich, three layered cupcakes that her grandmother taught her to make. Little does Blair realise that these cupcake could change her life forever.

I really enjoyed the way in which Geraldine wrote the storyline of Chocolicious. At many times you may think you know exactly how the novel will pan out and then Geraldine will throw an element into the works which will leave you intrigued and in suspense. I found that because of this, it was difficult to put the novel down, and I just wanted to keep reading to find out exactly what happens. I found the storyline to flow easily which made the characters come to life. I fell in love with the character of Blair, feeling her emotions throughout the hard times that she suffers and routing for things to work out for her in the end. I’m sure many people will be able to relate to the hardships faced by Blair in the economy that we now live in, therefore I felt as though this was a great time to create this very current storyline. I absolutely love the cover of Chocolicious and it defiantly made me want to just dive into the book. The cover art is unique and inviting and which I’m sure will attract the attention of many readers.

I only had a couple of small issues with Chocolicious. The first being that I thought the birth of Blair’s daughter at the beginning of the novel was a little unrealistic. Blair seems to give birth really quickly and the man she hates, George was there to help her deliver. I understand that many births can happen that quickly but just from my point of view I didn’t enjoy this. Secondly, and I don’t want to give too much away here, but there are moments of infidelity between characters within the novel which I felt were swept under the matt a little too quickly and cleanly. Characters forgave where I felt that there should have been a little more turmoil with their decisions.

Overall Chocolicious is a delicious captivating novel which will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions and leave you feeling satisfied at the end. The messages of being independent, strong and trusting your family in hard times is a heartfelt one which will stay with you long after you have finished the book. Like the tempting chocolate three layer cupcakes in the novel I would happily devour this novel again.