Review: The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris by Jenny Colgan (audio)

Title: The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris

Author: Jenny Colgan

Narrator: Beverly A. Crick

Published: Audio – January 2018, Tantor Audio / Print – February 2014, Sourcebooks Landmark

Length: 10 hours 49 minutes / 384 pages

Source: Audio – Borrowed via Library / Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley

Summary:

Inside Paris’s premiere chocolate shop, sometimes dreams really can come true.
It’s
true that Anna Trent is a supervisor in a chocolate factory…but that
doesn’t necessarily mean she knows how to make chocolate. And when a
fateful accident gives her the opportunity to work at Paris’s elite
chocolatier Le Chapeau Chocolat, Anna expects to be outed as a fraud.
After all, there is a world of difference between chalky, mass-produced
English chocolate and the gourmet confections Anna’s new boss creates.
But with a bit of luck and a lot of patience, Anna might learn that the
sweetest things in life are always worth working for.

Hopeful, laugh-out-loud funny, and irresistibly addictive, The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris is a novel worth savoring.

My thoughts: This is the first book I’ve read by Jenny Colgan and it certainly won’t be the last. I fully admit I was drawn to this book because of the title alone – Chocolate and Paris – completely sold…and luckily, the story was charming and had just enough substance to keep me entertained.

I adored the characters in this book. They were charming and quirky and kept the story from becoming too predictable. I loved how Anna and her high school French teacher, Claire, are thrown together in quite an unusual circumstance and strike up a unique friendship. I think that is what they both needed at the time and it gives Anna just the push and some direction in her life that she needed at just the right time.

Having the story move back and forth in time from the present to the past was a bit confusing at first, but then when I finally figured it all out – the past is Claire’s story of when she used to live in Paris as a young girl – it all made sense. I did like how it all comes together at the end – and as I mentioned above, this story does have substance. It has some feels to it, and it has chocolate. It had me craving chocolate while I was reading it like there was no tomorrow! 

I definitely enjoyed this book and will certainly be looking into Jenny Colgan’s other books, especially if she combines food and a fun story like this one. If you’ve read her other books, do you have a favorite one to recommend?

Audio thoughts: This was the first time I’ve listened to this narrator and I thought she did a good job. I had no problems with her differentiating the voices and thought her pacing and tones were spot on. This was a fun book to listen to and if I do pick up another book by Jenny Colgan, I would definitely consider listening to one.