Chocolate Roses by Joan Sowards

 

Title: Chocolate Roses: A Jane Eyre Parody
Author: Joan Sowards
My Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Content Rating: PG (no concerns, but not appealing to anyone younger than 18 most likely)

I don't generally gravitate toward romance books. And I didn't buy this book for myself. A very kind lady in my church congregation gave it to me, because she knows I love to read.  I stuck it on my bookshelf and mostly forgot about it. Then I tried to be cute for Bookstagram and read a romance for Valentine's Day. And stick with my goal to only read books from my tbr or my bookshelves. And this is how I ended up reading this book.

This book, which is said to be a parody of Jane Eyre, is about a young-ish chocolatier who is pining for one of her regular customers.  As the story unfolds, we learn his life is anything but convenient, and he's definitely not available. But somehow, our main character will find herself embroiled in the troubles of her dream-beau, and her life won't be so easy and predictable anymore.

Which can't really be said for the book.  It was quite predictable, and I had to suspend all belief while reading the story.  It's definitely for a Latter-Day Saint audience, but I felt the author's use of Latter-Day Saint culture was a bit (maybe more than a bit) over the top.

On the plus side: it's a super clean story.  There aren't any content concerns, and it could definitely be considered a palate cleanser between heavy reads.