Delicious Experience

Better Than Chocolate
Sheila Roberts
Released Sept 25th, 2012
400 Pages
Harlequin MIRA
Source: Little Bird Publicity

Better Than Chocolate is a sweet story about a quirky family with a dash of romance.

Blurb:

Sweet Dreams Chocolate Company has been in the Sterling family for generations, ever since Great-Grandma Rose literally dreamed up her first fabulous recipe. But now it looks as if they're about to lose Sweet Dreams to the bank—and that would be a disaster, not only for the family but for the town of Icicle Falls, Washington. Can Samantha, the oldest daughter and new head of the company, come up with a way to save it?

After Samantha does some brainstorming with her mother and sisters, inspiration strikes. They'll have a chocolate festival! Time's running out, but the Sterling women are determined and the town's behind them, so everything's bound to go smoothly…....

Or not. Events seem to be conspiring against Samantha, and her mother's attempts to help aren't helping. To make matters worse, the fate of her company is in the hands of her archenemy, Blake Preston, the bank manager with the football-hero good looks. It's enough to drive her to chocolate. But Blake's also enough to convince her that (believe it or not) there's something even better than chocolate.

Firstly, I will point out that this very enjoyable read is more of a Women's Contemporary than a Romance, so anyone who enjoyed Susan Mallery's Barefoot Season or Already Home, will truly fall for the wonderful ladies of Icicle Falls.

I don't know what it is about redheads, but they sure know how to take charge when the going gets tough, and that is exactly what Samantha Sterling did when the chocolate business that had been in the family for years and years was threatened.  With the help of her mother, Muriel, and her two sisters, Bailey and Cecily, they were going to come up with a plan to keep the business open...even if some of the plans were a little "out there".

These ladies had me cracking up at points and tearing up at others.  A lot of emotions come to head between these ladies and if you come from a family of all girls like I do, those emotions can sometimes tip the scales.

The bit of romance we do get is between Samantha and the former football god of Icicle Falls, Blake Preston, the now Bank Manager...you can already see where this is going.  Let's just say it was NOT love at first site, but Blake was a better man than given credit for and I for one think that Samantha could use more than just a kiss...if you know what I mean!!

Better Than Chocolate is sweet, funny, and will have you wishing that you had a creamy chocolate truffle in front of you after finishing this book. 

I hope you all will give this one a chance, or at least come back tomorrow when Sheila will be here for a great interview and will be giving away a Copy of Better Than Chocolate.