Review: Better Than Chocolate by Sheila Roberts

Better Than Chocolate by Sheila Roberts

Harlequin MIRA

September 2012

Format: Paperback ARC, 400 pages

First line: Manage your relationships well and your business will go well.

From the back cover: Sweet Dreams Chocolate
Company has been in the Sterling family for generations, ever since
Great-Grandma Rose literally dreamed up her first fabulous recipe. But
now it looks as if they’re about to lose Sweet Dreams to the bank – and
that would be a disaster, not only for the family but for the town of
Icicle Falls, Washington. Can Samantha, the oldest daughter and new head
of the company, come up with a way to save it?

After Samantha does some
brainstorming with her mother and sisters, inspiration strikes. They’ll
have a chocolate festival! Time’s running out, but the Sterling women
are determined and the town’s behind them, so everything’s bound to go
smoothly……

Or not. Events seem to be conspiring against Samantha,
and her mother’s attempts to help aren’t helping. To make matters
worse, the fate of her company is in the hands of her archenemy, Blake
Preston, the bank manager with the football-hero good looks. It’s enough
to drive her to chocolate. But Blake’s also enough to convince her that
(believe it or not) there’s something even better than chocolate.

My thoughts: I love chocolate so when I was asked to read and review Sheila Roberts’ newest book, called Better Than Chocolate, how could I resist? It’s a quick read set in a quaint little town and hopefully this will not be the only book set here.

Better Than Chocolate takes us to Icicle Falls, Washington, where Samantha and her family run the Sweet Dreams Chocolate company. Having just found out that the bank is calling in their loan, Samantha is desperate to find a way to survive. After a brainstorming session with her two sisters and mom, they decide to hold a chocolate festival – seriously? I wish I could find a chocolate festival to attend – I’d be there in a heartbeat! 

Armed with a plan to save her company, Samantha gets the whole town on board – afterall, not only would this festival help her raise the money she needs to prevent shutdown, but it would bring business to the whole town. And after a less than spectacular snow season, they are all hurting. But, things don’t go smoothly at all. More and more roadblocks keep popping up – some nature-created and some due to people trying to prevent the event from happening. And, Samantha is positive that the bank manager, Blake, is determined to see her fail, but could it be that he’s really her knight in shining armor?

I loved all the characters that we get to meet in this book. From Samantha’s mother to her sisters to the other residents of Icicle Falls. There’s a little bit of everything here – from learning about the workings of a chocolate factory, to seeing a whole town come together in support of each other, to romance lost and newly gained, to even the resident ghost of the area. I certainly hope we haven’t seen the last of these residents. I know that Sheila Roberts’ next book, Merry Ex-Mas, due out this November, is also set in Icicle Falls, but hopefully there will be more after that one. 

Be sure to check back tomorrow when Sheila Roberts stops by with a chocolate recipe and a chance to win a copy of Better Than Chocolate.

I received a complimentary copy of Better Than Chocolate by Sheila Roberts from Katie at Little Bird Publicity.