Review: How Sweet It Is by Bonnie Blythe

Book Cover and Synopsis:

"Embrasser" means to kiss in French. Delphine D'Arleux, traveling in Belgium for a candy-making class, doesn't expect to have the word demonstrated to her, especially by a stranger. Brad Larsen, an avowed chocoholic, knows he behaved badly by kissing the pretty French girl, but he can't quite regret his actions. Can he show Delphine that a longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul?

My Thoughts:
Stories about chocolate are usually just too sweet for me to pass up, and initially this one started out fairly fun. Though a bit unrealistic in spots, I still found it amusing to watch as Delphine tried to dodge and hide from Brad--a basic stranger who had kissed her on the street--and then ultimately ended up on a plane with a ticket purchased for her by Brad's parents!

I do have to admit that it seemed slightly odd for Brad--a guy--to be such a hopeless chocolate-lover...but this probably stems from the guys in my life being just "so-so" about sweets. Regardless of that, I found it quite interesting when Delphine tried to teach Brad about higher grades of chocolate and the fine quality differences. However, much to my chagrin, every time chocolate came into the scene Brad managed to end up with some on his face. I'm sure this is meant to be endearing, but I just wanted to give him a stack of napkins and tell him to clean up.

Despite a few nitpicks, I honestly enjoyed the first half of the story, but at roughly the half-way point things started to changed. Suddenly the plot's main focus seemed to be about Delphine and Brad both doubting and fearing their affection wasn't mutual. Even after they'd said "I love you" multiple times, they both still continued to wonder if the other was truly earnest in their feelings. This got rather old, and ultimately after so many repetitions of doubts and confirmed feelings, more doubts and more confirmed feelings, I was just ready for the story to be done so I could move on to something else.

Overall, I feel the story would be much stronger if it was shortened up and condensed, mainly in the latter half when the redundancy of doubts begins. If you're looking to try a book by Bonnie Blythe, instead of How Sweet It Is I would recommend checking out Claire's Not-So-Gothic Romance, which I found to be very entertaining from beginning to end.

My Rating: 3 stars

Review: Claire's Not-So-Gothic Romance by Bonnie Blythe

My rating: 5 stars!

Claire Parnell has always equated herself with Jane Eyre, being of the "plain" variety of women. Her eccentric mother has decreed that Claire should marry a doctor and settle for nothing less, but it's not like Claire has even had a chance to "settle". When she wakes up at the hospital with a foggy brain, Claire frantically believes she's dying and decides her last act will show her mother she at least "tried" to honor her wishes. Impulsively kissing the first doctor that approaches her bedside--and watching him back away horrified--she soon finds out death is actually not in the foreseeable future. (Unless you count death by humiliation.) Oh, and the doctor she kissed? He was actually only a nurse. Let the humiliation, and this enjoyable story, begin!

My thoughts:

This book was an absolute blast to read! Claire is such a real character, I could totally relate to her. I loved how she acted when Sam (the nurse) kept showing up everywhere, her actions were so realistic and humorous. Claire's eccentric mother is completely strange and adds tons of awkward humor. Sam was also a great character, his relentless pursuit of Claire was very charming. It was cool to see that such a nice guy can come from a rough background. 

Being a fan of Gothic romance novels, Claire has a very wide vocabulary and often uses large and obscure words to convey her feelings--both in her speech and also in her thoughts. It took me about the length of the first chapter to get accustomed to her "voice" and use of such words... by that point I had gotten so sucked into the story that it no longer mattered. Some of the words gave me a chance to use the dictionary feature on my kindle, which always makes me feel rather cool. :)

Though a totally fun and light-hearted read, there are some tougher issues tackled here as well, such as a Christian dating a new believer with a past that's not so pure. This is something I haven't seen a ton of in Christian fiction, but I have to applaud the author for her delicate and appropriate handling of the issues. There were several twists that caught me off guard and left me saying "Really!?", but it kept things fresh and several times had me staying up way too late to read "just a little more!"

This is the first book by Bonnie Blythe that I've read, and I have to say I'm impressed. If you're a fan of Christian chick-lit/romance, do yourself a favor and check this one out. It's just too fun of a story to let slip by!

My rating: 5 stars! 

As of this writing, Amazon's price for the kindle version of this book is only $1.00, an absolute steal for such an entertaining book! :)