I am happy to feature Isabella May's The Chocolate Box onto the blog today. I'm sure you'll agree that the cover is particularly mouthwatering!
Ellie Sanchez wants revenge. Spurned during her school days
at prestigious Monty’s academy when she was plain Eleanor Finch, and played
second fiddle to her idol, Barnaby Westwood, and his show-off sister,
Clementine, Ellie will stop at nothing to turn the tables now she’s all grown
up. The siblings and their snubbing have been the catalyst for everything
that’s gone wrong in her life, from parental neglect to her divorce.
When the Westwood travel merchandise company advertises for
a new HR manager, Ellie decides her unique combo of karma and Law of Attraction
has finally come good. And she’ll be bagging herself a cherry-on-the-cake,
second, and richer, husband in the process - once Barnaby sees how much she’s
changed, anyway.
Fast forward two years and he STILL doesn’t recognise her!
Fast forward two years and the company is in a financial
mess.
Last Chance Saloon-style, Ellie coerces the siblings and
their older sister, Brooke (the perpetual spanner in her works) to a rustic
gîte in Normandy for a spot of team-building… over a very ‘special’ box of
artisan chocolates.
Cue ALL the fireworks in the cocoa bean version of
Jumanji...
My Thoughts
This is a romcom with a bit of attitude! Ellie is far from your run of the mill romcom heroine. She is set on a mission and has a devious and manipulative side. Blaming the Westwood family for much in her youth when she feels she was ill-served by them, she has reinvented herself and gone to work for their firm, with an agenda firmly in her mind. The team building meet-up offers her the right opportunity to get her revenge and she employs some unexpected means.
Despite the darker themes of revenge and subterfuge, this is written in a light and at times, amusing way. Scattered throughout the story are snippets of advice from Ellie's mother and you are also given not just Ellie's but the Westwood sibling, Brooke's perspective. You find yourself turning the pages, a little intrigued to see where Karma is going to fall.
In short: Life is not a box of chocolates!
About the Author
Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with
her husband, daughter and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the
sea. Having grown up on Glastonbury's ley lines however, she's unable to completely
shake off her spiritual inner child, and is a Law of Attraction fanatic, as
well as a Pranic Healer.
After a degree in Modern Languages and European Studies at
UWE, Bristol (and a year working abroad in Bordeaux and Stuttgart), Isabella
bagged an extremely jammy and fascinating job in children's publishing...
selling foreign rights for novelty, board, pop-up and non-fiction books all
over the world; in every language from Icelandic to Korean, Bahasa Indonesian
to Papiamento!
All of which has fuelled her curiosity and love of
international food and travel - both feature extensively in her cross-genre
novels, fused with a dollop of romcom, and a sprinkle of magical realism.
You can follow her Foodie Romance Journey series at the
following hang-outs:
Website| Twitter| Facebook
| Instagram |
Check out the rest of the tour!
Comments
Post a Comment