The Chocolate Lover’s Club

The Chocolate Lovers' Club Book Cover The Chocolate Lovers' Club
Carole Matthews
Fiction
Sphere
January 1, 2013
384

For Lucy Lombard, there's nothing that chocolate can't cure. From heartache to headaches, it's the one thing she knows that she can rely on - and she's not alone. Fellow chocolate addicts Autumn, Nadia and Chantal share her passion and together they form a select group known as The Chocolate Lovers' Club. Whenever there's a crisis, they meet in their sanctuary, a cafe called Chocolate Heaven. And with a cheating boyfriend, a flirtatious boss, a gambling husband and a loveless marriage, there's always plenty to discuss . . .

I am so happy to be writing book reviews again. It was difficult to pick which one I wanted to do first. Typically, I will be writing them as I finish what I read, however, I am far behind on my reviews and thought if I don’t get started, I’ll never get caught up. So to get the  2016 Book Club season started, below is my book review for The Chocolate Lover’s Club by Carole Matthews. 

Chocolate Lover

If there is one thing that I can’t live without it’s chocolate. I mean, seriously, who doesn’t love chocolate! If I had to, I can give up soda, and I did! I could probably give up bread, but since I consider myself a bread whore, I may have a harder time with that one. However, I could never, ever give up chocolate!

The Chocolate Lover’s Club

As a chocolate lover and connoisseur, reading The Chocolate Lover’s Club by Carole Matthews was a given. There I sat downloading the book onto my trusted e-reader, waiting in anticipation for the delectable goodness. Opening up the book, it was just like peeling off the wrapper of one of my favorite chocolates. Starting to read, I imagined myself popping that piece of deliciousness into my mouth as I dove into those first few pages. 

However, after the first chapter, I knew that the chocolate similarities ended. What I found was that I had jumped into a schizophrenic episode with too many story lines trying to take center stage. I have previously read stories where the author would rotate a single character between the chapters, but even using this style, the narrative in The Chocolate Lover’s Club was simply too long. Totaling 352 pages and 92 chapters, yes…that was 92 chapters, I found that it took forever to get into the swing of things. I finally had to speed read through the unending descriptive verbiage, just so I could get to the heart of the story. By the end, I was left with the same disappointment you have when you reach inside that bag of chocolates and find that you have eaten the last piece of the best stuff you’ve ever purchased.

Sadly, I have read other books by the widely popular Carole Matthews that in my estimation, were far superior than The Chocolate Lover’s Club. I think this one needs to go back to the editor for some serious rewrites. This is the first in a new series for her. I only hope that what follows is infinitely better.