Chocolate Wishes

Written by Trisha Ashley

Narrated by Julia Rounthwaite

Life is sweet for chocolate maker Chloe Lyon…

Business is booming at her artisan chocolate-makers 'Chocolate Wishes' in the picture-perfect Lancashire village of Sticklepond - not least because all of Chloe's sweet treats contain an inspirational prediction for each customer. If only her own life was as easy to read in the cards, perhaps Chloe could have foreseen being jilted at the altar…

But Chloe has long put thoughts of love behind her - after all, life is busy enough, especially as she tries to sort out her friends' tangled love lives and the village welcomes its new vicar, Raffy Sinclair.

However, the village rumour mill goes into overdrive when it is revealed that Raffy is the distinctly unorthodox ex-front man of rock band 'Dark Angels' - and also happens to be Chloe's first love, who left her broken-hearted…
Whilst Chloe tries to ignore this blast from her past, will she discover that wishes can come true when you least expect it…?

A charming novel for chocoholics everywhere, perfect for fans of Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell and Carole Matthews.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 2, 2010
• ISBN: 9780007398843

Trisha Ashley

Trisha Ashley was born in St Helens, Lancashire, and gave up her fascinating but time-consuming hobbies of house-moving and divorce years ago in order to settle in North Wales. She is a Sunday Times bestselling author. For more information about Trisha, please visit her website, www.trishaashley.com, join her Facebook fan page: TrishaAshleyBooks or follow her on Twitter: @trishaashley.

Reviews for Chocolate Wishes

[Jennie Hall · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

really enjoyed chocolate wishes, it was very enjoyable. enjoyed the storyline and the characters. loved the character of grumps and all about the chocolate making!!

[n.w.moors-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another funny book by Ms. Ashley about second-chance romances.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Chocolate Wishes by Trisha Ashley is first and foremost a romance novel, but along the way, there are tarot cards, Mayan charms, guardian angels, an eccentric family – and chocolate, plenty of chocolate. Chloe, who is now in her mid-thirties lives with her younger half-brother Jake and her grandfather, Grumps, who is an author and a practising warlock. They have a colorful housekeeper called Zillah and are moving to the fictional village of Sticklepond. Grumps plans on opening a museum of Pagan History while Chloe is about to expand her business of making chocolate wishes, sort of a fortune cookie but consisting of chocolate shells with little printed messages inside.Chloe has been disappointed with life and love in the past, her mother abandoned her, she’s uncertain as to who her father was, and her heart was broken by Raffy Sinclair who had a brief career as a rock star while Chloe was responsible for bringing up her younger brother. She learns that the village is excited about the new vicar who it turns out is ex-rock star Raffy Sinclair.Written in a light and breezy style, the village of Sticklepond forms the heart of the story along with its many varied inhabitants. Chloe is satisfied with her life and her successful business but running into her ex-boyfriend, who was the love of her life, brings up many old feelings and resentments from the past. It was pretty easy to see where this story was going, but the author delivers the story with a great deal of charm and this, along with its cozy rural setting, made Chocolate Wishes an enjoyable read.

[saschad-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Chocolate Wishes about a chocolate maker in a small village peopled with eccentric individuals--sounds like a win, doesn't it? While I may have been expecting the evocative sensuality of Laura Florand's chocolate novels, what I ended up reading was a book of pure tedium that relied on exclamation points so that you would know when the narrator was excited (because I sure wasn't).

While if you know me, you know that I hate writing in books, but I must admit that I was tempted to take a fat red pen to this one and edit it to death because someone had forgotten to do just that. Many passages were repeated. "Action" (there was no action, don't get all excited) scenes were repeated in dialogue. And, for a chick litty/romance book, the "love interest" didn't even make an appearance until half-way through by which point I frankly didn't care any more.

The protagonist was bland. The eccentrics were bland (which is quite a talent to make even the odd bland). I'm afraid bland and tedium cover it.

The idea for the novel was good and perhaps if the narrator had been wittier, this could have been saved.

[sunnycouger-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book took far longer to read than it should have. I chose it because I wanted something light and chick-litty for when I was away that was easily digestible, quick to read and easy to read and finish. I have no idea why this didn't happen with this book. On the surface it ticked a lot of boxes - chick lit, romance, chocolate shop = tick, tick, tick but even with that it was just hard work. The story was decent, the characters were okay and there was no reason it should have taken weeks to finish but my brain just refused to read more than a few pages at a time. Meh - it was okay for what it was I guess even though the ending was exceptionally weak. Maybe my brain was just defective about it.

It was actually a little demoralising reading it to be honest. i had hoped to cruise through the next few books as a sort of half way through present to myself but nope, didn't happen and now I'm behind but c'est la vie and all that.

[jolzyn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book tells the story of Chloe, who believe in reading card, found herself met up with Raffy, her first love who is the new vicar. One who read the synopsis, would have thought that Raffy's character will emerge at the early stage of the book but it was not. The first have of the book tell the suspense of the new vicar among the villagers including Chloe who have the shock of her life when Raffy arrived at her door step at the middle of the book. There was no dramatic suspense in the book with only some little surprises sprung out ie. when Chloe told Raffy that she was pregnant with his child but was miscarriage.

[carolee888 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book registers for me as 3.5. The story, the characters and setting were great. The problem was that the book was slow going.I thoroughly enjoyed the village of Sticklepond in Lancaster. There is description of the unique buildings. At the begining of the story, we are introduced to Chloe Lyon. She owns a chocolate shop and her best seller is Chocolate Wishes. The wishes are little chocolate eggs that have messages tucked inside like fortune cookies. Her mother left her about six years ago so she took over the role mother to her younger brother, now in high school. Also living with her was her writer grandfather who was just finishing writing 'Satan's Child' and cook, Zillah who did not have any culinary talent. Grumps decides that they should all move to Sticklepond. As Cloe is packing up her mother's things in the attic,she receives the shock of her life. She sets out to find out more of the secret. In the mean time, a new Vicar moves into town.This book has sparks of humor, interesting information about chocolate and even recipes for a chocolate spread and Chocolate Easter eggs. The only thing that it missed was the ability to move the story along. I kept laying it down. I would pick it up read some and find it interesting but it definitely not a page turner.I would recommend this book to all who love chocolate and a good story but with the warning that it not a page turner.