Bogormen

Title: The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris
Author: Jenny Colgan
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Audiobook ~12hrs
Date read: March, 2014

As dawn breaks over the Pont Neuf, and the cobbled alleyways of Paris come to life, Anna Trent is already awake and at work; mixing and stirring the finest, smoothest, richest chocolate; made entirely by hand, it is sold to the grandes dames of Paris.

It's a huge shift from the chocolate factory she worked in at home in the north of England. But when an accident changed everything, Anna was thrown back in touch with her French teacher, Claire, who offered her the chance of a lifetime - to work in Paris with her former sweetheart, Thierry, a master chocolatier.

With old wounds about to be uncovered and healed, Anna is set to discover more about real chocolate - and herself - than she ever dreamed.

I picked up this book because I absolutely adored Jenny Colgan's Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams, but unfortunately this novel didn't come close to living up to my expectations. It was a decent chick-lit, but didn't charm me the way her other book did. Probably because I never really became fond of Anna or Claire, and therefore didn't much care what happened to them.

It had its moments, which is why I still give it 3 stars, but fell far short of what I had hoped for.

Title: Leaning on a Spider's Web
Author: Jennifer Rees-Larcombe
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 314
Date read: March, 2014

Laburnum Terrace - a closed street with its stereotypical set of characters. Through a year we get to know the people for better or for worse. We see what they build their lives upon, knowing all along that not everybody will survive the end of the book.

I reread this book on a very regular basis as a teen, but somehow haven't read it in ages, so I figured it was about time. Fortunately it completely lived up to my expectations and I enjoyed diving back into it again after so long.

It is not a book I'd recommend to a non-christian, as it does get somewhat preachy at times. Not enough to bug me, but enough that certain scenes might seem over-the-top.

Title: Seraphina
Author: Rachel Harman
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 453 pages
Date read: March, 2014

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

VERY different from pretty much all other fantasy novels I've read, but I was intrigued by the world-building, and ended up loving it :) I read it in just two sittings and it was amazing to disappear into a book again. Seraphina was a very interesting and likeable character.

"Seraphina" had a rather open ending, but not so much as to make it a cliff-hanger, and would actually work well even as a stand-alone novel.

Title: The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love
Author: Beth Pattillo
Genre: Christian fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 354
Date read: June 2009, March 2014

Six very different women meet once a month to knit, talk and socialise. Each month they try out a new knitting project inspired by one of the books the group leader and master librarian, Eugenie has picked out.

This year Eugenie thought she'd try something new. Inspired by her recent marriage, she thought it would be interesting to have "Classic love stories" as the common book topic. What she hadn't stopped to think about, was that these books of love might not seem quite as easy reads to the others... Esther, who'd just lost her husband... Camille, who desperately wants to get away from Sweetgum - even now that her old beau has returned... Hannah, the 13-year-old girl Eugenie agreed to foster after her mother skipped town... Merry, who's discovering that love can be quite overwhelming... and newest member Maria, who sorely resents having to sell her family property to a new-comer and his arrogant business partner.

Still, all six women find something to relate to in the different novels, and from Shakespeare to Brontë, they find they can apply the literary experiences to their own lives, and either learn from them... or make the same mistakes themselves.

In style as well as genre Beth Pattillo's novel most of all reminded me of the Mitford series by Jan Karon with a touch of a Jane Austen thrown in (okay... sometimes more than "a touch"... it was occasionally glaringly obvious, but I love P&P, so I'll let that slide ;) - a small tranquil town, a pastor and his wife, and the coming and goings of the people around them. The atmosphere of Sweetgum appealed to me, and I enjoyed reading about the friendships that grew between the ladies of the Knit Lit society.

The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love is the sequel to The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society, but can easily be read on its own. I didn't feel like I missed any inside information that would have been beneficial, but will go ahead and read them in reverse order - I want to read more about these lovely ladies, even though I already know "what happens next".

Definitely one of the cosiest reads I've had so far this year. I couldn't put it down, and ended up going to bed much too late in order to finish it.

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