The Chocolate Heart

Starred review from October 28, 2013
Florand outdoes herself with this exquisite confection. Luc Leroi, a driven perfectionist, is legendary, even among his fellow Parisian chocolatiers, for his creative desserts, decadent pastries, and delicious bonbons. Summer Corey, cousin to Cade (The Chocolate Thief) and Jamie (The Chocolate Touch), immediately falls for Luc’s dark looks, but is wary of hoping for anything more than a meaningless fling. Wealthy Summer has been given plenty of material goods but is starving for affection. Luc is only too happy to provide it, but both of them have so much baggage that misunderstandings abound. Naturally, Luc works around their troubles by creating mouthwatering desserts that will tempt Summer to stay with him forever. This contemporary romance is as painstakingly crafted and decadent as the sweets it portrays, leaving the reader longing for just one little taste.

Starred review from December 1, 2013

Taking the handsome head chef patissier for a bellboy, demanding he show you to your room, and then propositioning him is probably not the best way to meet the culinary icon whose restaurant is in the luxury hotel your controlling daddy gave you for Christmas. But when travel-weary Summer Corey does just that, Luc Leroi decides to teach her a lesson. VERDICT A Paris-hating, sweets-averse heroine who is not always as shallow as she seems and a self-controlled perfectionist hero who's out to prove a point send the verbal darts flying in this smart story that is just the thing for Valentine's Day. Chocolate, Paris, and a Greek god for a hero; this delectable confection has it all! World traveler Florand (The Chocolate Touch) now lives in Durham, NC.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2013
The latest in Florand's (The Chocolate Thief, 2012) Amour et Chocolat romance series about Parisian chocolatiers is set at a luxury hotel and features its sexy and controlling pastry chef, Luc Leroi. Summer Corey has been summoned to Paris by her mogul father to temporarily oversee the hotel in exchange for him funding a satellite for the remote South Pacific island where she's been teaching and hiding out for several years. Sparks fly between Corey and Luc from the moment she arrives at the hotel, but she is so broken by being called a spoiled brat her entire life that she's not willing to relinquish her heart. Luc, meanwhile, must check his ego to win her trust. The book's theme of submitting to sweets and other seductions makes it racier than Florand's previous novels. But all the elements of her successful recipe for reading pleasureheadstrong heroine, dashing hero, sinful desserts, and sultry situationscome together in another deliciously entertaining offering.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)