Book Review: The Chocolate Kiss, Laura Florand

Kaitie Clink
3 days ago
6 min read

The Book

Title: The Chocolate Kiss

Author: Laura Florand

Cover Art: Kristine Mills

Publishing: Kensington Books 2013

Type: Fiction

Pages: 338

Series: Amour et Chocolat (2/6)

Genre: Romance

Subgenres: Chick-Lit, Contemporary, Adult, Enemies-Lovers, Billionaire Romance

Audience: Adult, Young Adult

Content Advisory: Sex, Explicit Sex, Aggressive Sexual Actions

My Details

Purchase Date: 2024

Purchased At: Dollar Tree

Cost: $1.25

List Price: $14.00

Version: Paperback

Read: February - June 2025

Rating

4/5

Quick Overview

"The Chocolate Kiss" by Laura Florand is a light-read romance with good character growth. It is the type of book you can curl up with and escape into a stress-free romance with a happy ending. Florand does a good job at crafting a magical chocolate shoppe and blending a touch of witchery to draw the audience into the world of La Masion des Sorcieres. While it's spicy in content, the sex and sexual content do not overpower the plot or the storytelling. It is the 2nd book of a series, but can easily be read as a standalone. The characters of book 1 are only casually mentioned in The Chocolate Kiss and are gently placed to link the stories.

Publisher Synopsis

Welcome to La Maison des Sorcieres. Where the window display is an enchanted forest of sweets, a collection of conical hats delights the eye and the habitués nibble chocolate witches from fanciful mismatched china. While in their tiny blue kitchen, Magalie Chaudron and her two aunts stir wishes into bubbling pots of heavenly chocolat chaud. But no amount of wishing will rid them of interloper Philippe Lyonais, who has the gall to open one of his world-famous pastry shops right down the street. Philippe’s creations seem to hold a magic of their own, drawing crowds of beautiful women to their little isle amidst the Seine, and tempting even Magalie to venture out of her ivory tower and take a chance, a taste . . . a kiss. Parisian princesses, chocolate witches, pâtissier princes and sweet wishes—an enchanting tale of amour et chocolat.

Welcome back to fictional romance!

I haven't read a romance novel since I was about 19. So, for context, it's been about 19 years.

Why?

I grew up reading fictional romance and loving the love in those books. As I grew up, I realized most of those books were not reality - not that they ever were meant to be realistic; they're fiction - but once I experienced heartbreak and then finally found real love in my life, the romantic books ceased to be entertaining to me.

Now, in my late 30's I feel secure and happy in my life, and within my relationship. I had toyed with reading a romance novel from time to time over the last decade, but never ended up pursuing it. It always came down to the thought that I would not finish reading it out of annoyance -my 20's still protruding in my thoughts.

In late 2024, I realized I was enjoying romance on TV and in movies. Specifically, I had become a fan of the Netflix version of Bridgerton. So, I thought I could handle love novels once again and then I found The Chocolate Kiss at a Dollar Tree. I love chocolate and I am always intrigued when it comes to magic and witchcraft. I choose to read this book on my trip to the Philippines this year and it did not disappoint!

The magic, the wishes, and the kisses.

This book is charming from the start. Laura Florand does an excellent job at carving out a piece of Paris where women become princesses, served by witches, with magical wishes and curses brewed into chocolate. Florand keeps this theme throughout the book and weaves the sentiment of the the witches work and way of life, as well as the fairytale essence, into the story to keep the reader floating on clouds and chocolate until the end. I enjoyed the fact that the protagonist even opened himself up to the magic and curses from the women at La Maison des Sorcieres.

All of the characters have their own personalities and with the main characters - Magalie, Philippe, the aunts - you see growth. I found myself enjoying the dialogue from Aunt Genevieve and Aunt Aja just as much as Magalie's; the confidence and self-made poise of Genevieve, mixed with the wisdom and peaceful Aja, was a great addition to the story. Not to mention the casual normalcy of the aunts being a lesbian couple.

The piece of Paris that Florand carved out for the story actually exists, and without knowing she had lived in Paris until I reached the end of the book (where she tells us this is so), I could tell she had by the way she wrote about the city and culture, and the type of people who pass through. There was a touch of realism in the little details of the book that made it believable, including the witches chocolate shop - which, it turns out, is based on a real chocolate shop that used to exist in Paris.

Sugar and spice, and everything nice.

The book is spicy, but while the sexual content gets a bit explicit in a few parts, it doesn't overshadow the story and it doesn't take away from the plot. I personally appreciated that the story didn't gives us a slow burn; I'm not a fan of that, because I don't feel like they're delivered properly most of the time. Because there is actual growth in the characters, the relationship both develops and unfolds quite well, with the spiciness adding to it (not distracting from it).

The roar of the lion.

I don't have much to criticize about this book. My only real critique is that it felt a bit too long. Part of this lies within the nature of these types of books; the predictable ones. We don't read books that we already know the happy ending is coming for the I-knew-it factor; we read them to wrap ourselves up in a story for comfort. It's in these types of books that the details really matter and that's what sets them apart from similar ones. However, at times (specifically in the beginning), the details in The Chocolate Kiss felt like the brushstrokes of the story that were being painted went off the canvas, giving us unnecessary details. The climax of Magalie's internal turmoil played out a little too long, as well. It felt like her turmoil was supposed to be the "plot twist", but it just added an extra pages. -But these are my personal preferences that are obviously not going to 100% align with the author's.

Curses

There will be some points in the book that seem outdated for some readers. There is the Billionaire Romance trope that plays out; with Philippe obviously having more money and gifting Magalie constantly. The sexual tension also plays out in a stereotypical heterosexual convention. As mentioned before, it's predictable- we know Magalie and Philippe are going to end up together; we can tell from their first meeting it's going to be an enemies-to-lovers plot with a tension-fueled romance; and we know what has to be done in order for Magalie to reach this happy ending. - Personally, none of this bothered me and I felt Florand did a great job with giving readers, like myself, a girly romance in a modern age.

Amour et Chocolat

Unbeknownst to me when I picked this book up. it is actually part of a 6 book series called: Amour et Chocolat. The Chocolate Kiss is book #2. I found it was not necessary to have read #1 - The Chocolate Thief - prior. The main lovers from #1 are casually sprinkled throughout The Chocolate Kiss to link the 2 books together.

I was really glad to be able to read this book as a standalone and not have to stop and pick-up another just to finish what I had already started.

Movie? Series?

As I was reading this book, I couldn't help but think: How has this not been made into a movie or a limited series?

I'm looking at you Netflix!

This book would fit perfectly with their Gilmore Girl's fans and Bridgerton fans. Not to mention the fan wave from Prime's, The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on the novel series by Jenny Han.

With 6 books in total, they could easily make 6 movies or 6 series, and we would all be there for the love, fights, and spice!

I have to add that specifically, if The Chocolate Kiss is ever a movie/series, only Hannah Waddingham could be Aunt Geneviève. Not only does Hannah speak perfect French, but who else could be that headstrong and display such badass-ery! She would be perfection!