There are some romance novels that are soothing and comforting, like a soft quilt on a cold night. Sometimes, I need a big cushion of romance to buffer me from the world. Laura Florand’s The Chocolate Touch is pretty perfect for cushioning, buffering, and soothing.
Dominique Richard is big, rough and survived an abusive and disadvantaged childhood. He looks more like a brawler than one of Paris’ top chocolatiers. Jamie Corey has just been through a trauma and is trying to regain her strength and courage. They both need some softness and comfort in their lives, and somehow they manage to find some with each other. With Dominque’s strength and Jaimie’s recent trauma, it would be easy to mistake this for a rescue fantasy, but it is not. It is the fantasy of finding the person who is your safe place. Dominique is the fantasy of the bad boy just waiting for the right woman. The bad boy going good for the love of a good woman is one of the oldest tropes in romance. What’s nice about Florand’s bad boy hero is that he isn’t the outright rotter of previous decades, but is a man who has worked on his issues, but it takes wanting the love of a good woman for him to see that he is the good person he has tried to become. And Jamie is not the exceptional virgin who finally cuts through the hero’s jaded ennui. She is exceptional, but is looking to become maybe a little less saintly.
The Chocolate Touch is a satisfying read to curl up with when you need a little chocolate applied directly to the soul.
I did read and review this last year, but I reviewed it with another book, and I find my previous review to be entirely unsatisfactory. The Chocolate Touch is the fourth book in the Amour et Chocolate series, but I don’t think you need to have read the previous books to enjoy this one.
