The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

Recommended via Anne Nesbet's The Long Way Around

What a perfect middle grade fantasy! Dragons! Chocolate! A fierce and fiery heroine who finds humans she can trust, and those she can't; one who finds her passion and fights to hold on to it.

"There's no one who can do everything right all the time, Aventurine. No one! And there are some moments in our lives that we'd take back if we could...I'm telling you that sometimes, when you've failed before, it feels impossible to see past that failure. It can leap out at you when you least expect it. But...that's no excuse not to keep trying!" (Marina to Aventurine, 166-167)

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this one, but it was lots of fun -- especially Aventurine's tendency to roar and gnash her teeth. Hooray for plucky girl adventurers, hooray for clever marketing, hooray for chocolate! This is a great choice if you like Jessica Day George (either Tuesdays at the Castle or Dragons Slippers) or Patricia C. Wrede (Dealing with Dragons).

Aventurine is a headstrong young dragon who doesn't understand why she should have to stay in the family cave for another 30 years waiting for her scales and wings to grow strong. When she sneaks out one day in search of a little adventure, she gets more than she bargained for: a food mage gives her a cup of hot chocolate that turns her into a human girl. Being a human makes her feel both frightened and angry, but on the other hand, she has discovered her passion: chocolate! Since she feels that she can't go back to her family in her new condition, she makes her way to a human city, and seeks out a chocolate house where she can learn more about her new obsession. Of course, it's not as easy as all that -- and what will happen when her show more family discovers that she is missing?

Guaranteed to make you crave chocolate in all its forms, this book is much more about chocolate than about dragons, though of course they do play a key role, and I'm guessing that they will feature more prominently in the sequel. This book wraps up the story without major cliffhangers, but there's definitely more to be discovered in Aventurine's world. Recommended to readers of middle grade fantasy. show less

The dragon of the title is Aventurine, the fiercest creature there is! or so she says. Her mother says she isn’t allowed outside at all until her wings can carry her and her scales have hardened. But Aventurine is a dragon who loves adventure, she isn’t going to sit at home for another thirty or so years, she wants to get out. So she finds a secret way out, and sets off hunting. But her mother’s warning was not in vain, and Aventurine finds herself transformed into a puny human girl! Outrageous.

This book is really excellent. I loved it. Aventurine is a great character, she’s young and naive and her lack of judgement shows. But she’s also passionate and smart and quick to learn, once she sets her mind to it.

And especially where show more chocolate is concerned.

In some ways this book reminded me of some Georgette Heyer books, not because there is any romance in it, but because the author really manages to make the characters come alive and you feel with them. Plus there are mix-ups and misunderstandings which are the staple of any good romance novel.

I loved it, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun light-hearted read, especially one focusing on girls and friendships, and finding your way in the world. show less

Gosh, this was a lovely middle grade book. Aventurine had a lot to learn about the human world, but she wasn't stupid. And oh, the descriptions of chocolate... heavenly.

Started out seemingly kinda predictable, almost tropey, but got better, especially at the end as our hero figured out who she is and what she wants. I particularly loved that there wasn't a boy who was sidekick, and that two of the three members of human royalty we dealt with were young women. There were plenty of nuances and surprises, especially given that it is, after all, still a light & fun MG read. I will look for the sequel.

Aventurine is a young dragon turned into a human girl by a food mage. Unable to return to her dragon family and with a newly discovered passion for chocolate, she sets off for the city to get a job in a chocolate shop.

I've just noticed that the blurb describes it as “A pinch of Ella Enchanted, a sprinkling of How to Train your Dragon and a generous helping of Eva Ibbotson”, a fairly accurate description of what the book is like, although none of those comparisons occurred to me while I was reading it.

(Instead I was reminded a little bit of R.J. Anderson’s A Pocket Full of Murder, because of the combination of magic, kitchens and a twelve year old girl having adventures in a city, and Laura Florand’s adult romances, because of show more the chocolate shop setting.
I was then surprised -- and amused -- to see both Anderson and Florand amongst those thanked in the acknowledgements, for having critiqued “all or part of the finished manuscript”.) show less