Just as the year wound to a close and a new one began, it was time for the winds of change to bring Vianne Rocher, Anouk, and Pantoufle back into my life. With them this time, they bring a new child, completing the traditional witchy trio with the arrival of 4 year old Rosette. Yet missing initially is the chocolaterie that captured our hearts in Lansquenet, and even the quiet charm of Montmartre and its Parisian characters can’t quite make up for it. Yet Vianne can’t avoid the rich temptation of her soul’s calling, and it is only a matter of time before she becomes the target of a grifter - a woman who doesn’t really have a name, but who we come to know first as Fracoise and then more memorably as Zosie - and we are surrounded by the rich scent and memories of chocolate once again. We the reader recognize Zosie for what she is from the beginning, as it is she who opens the story with a harmless enough yarn about collecting letters from the dead and making old lives useful once again. This may not seem harmful on the surface, as she paints herself as a woman just trying to make her way in the complicated world, but the longer she speaks the more danger she reveals, and once we realize what her plan for Vianne and Anouk is we are firmly against her. As she works to ingratiate herself into Vianne’s carefully constructed life, we are also shown what a façade the whole thing is: they have been running ever since Vianne discovered her pregnancy in Lansquenet and continued to run as baby Rosette’s condition (cri-du-chat syndrome) and Anouk’s magic start to raise questions. They’ve built a small life for themselves in Montmarte, as it is easy enough to live a non-magical life in this pocket of the big city, but Vianne is fooling herself if she thinks she can hold off from the magic finding Anouk and Rosette. Zosie’s plan may be to take over Vianne’s life and steal Anouk from her (for her magical abilities, not for any sense of love or care), but the fractures that she creates only work to destroy the fragile tower of Vianne’s stifling life and reunite her with her true path, Roux and her newly found mother by her side. While it is unlikely they will be able to salvage the Montmartre chocolaterie from the rubble, the effects of this little shop will be felt by its patrons for many years to come - love, balance, and new truths are hard to shake once found - and we know that Vianne and her little family are once again to be swept away on their next adventure by a friendly wind. ( )

Hmm, I'm still debating about giving this book 4 or 5 stars. I loved The lollipop shoes. It continues the story of Vianne Rocher and her children from Chocolat. The atmosphere is great. Again, there is a chocolate shop in France, this time in Paris. Vianne, unfortunately, has lost herself, but her daughters Anouk and Rosette are delightful, and so is Zozie in the beginning. Zozie brings all the charm and magic that Vianne did in Chocolat. However, it becomes more and more clear as the book progresses that Zozie is not particularly scrupulous. And in order for Vianne to hold out against her, she needs to find herself again...
Even though it becomes clear after a while that Zozie is not a good Samaritan, she is still intriguing to read about. I liked reading her bits as much as I did Vianne's and Anouk's. When Zozie's intentions come out in the open, the book even becomes exciting. The only reason I'm debating about the stars is that I put it away halfway through the book and didn't start it up again until I had a long train journey ahead of me. I think this was more my mood than it was the book, though... I'd go with 4.5 if I could, but I think 5 is overdoing it, so I'll go with 4. ( )

This is the follow on from Chocolat and set 4 years later. When reading C, I hadnt realised how modern the setting was - it was only in this book and the talk of Euros, that I realised it was an early 21st century story, rather than set mid 20th.[return][return]Lots more magic in this book, both of European and South American. It is the story (in part) of Vianne and Zozie, and what Vianne is prepared to lose in order to gain what she believes is a normal life for her and her two daughters. Zozie starts taking over Vianne's life, building up the chocolate shop just as Vianne had done in Chocolate, and winning over Vianne's older daughter. Finally Vianne has to decide on what she wants in this world [return][return]Agree that it's perhaps a little long, and the main disadvantage when reading Harris' books - I have a near overriding urge to Bake! (I've even hunted out the cookery book and may inflict the results on people!). ( )

Book two of the Chocolat series.   I really enjoyed Chocolat. so this is another one of those sequels in the unenviable position of having a lot to live up to.   Did it?   Well, it didn't do too bad a job.

I would say my only real criticism of it was that it went on for far too long.   Chocolat was a mere 359 pages whereas The Lollipop Shoes is 594 pages, and while reading it one gets the feeling that it could have been trimmed down a fair bit and the story would have benefited.

As i say, that's my only real criticism.

I certainly enjoyed knowing that there are two further books in this tetralogy, as one can't be certain how this is going to end.   Is Vianne going to be left high and dry with the further two books dedicated to her fighting back, or is Vianne going to triumph here and now and we'll move on to some other tale in the next book?   We're also not even sure who is going to be Vianne at the end of this book as it's mostly about identity theft and Vianne becoming the target of an identity thieving witch: can chocolate witchery save the day again?

At the end, the only real judgement one can pass on this book is: am i going to read Peaches for Monsieur le Curé?   Not straight away.   As i said, this went on for a bit too long and i have a few other books i've been looking forward to reading, but i already have Peaches for Monsieur le Curé on my Kindle ready to be read at some time in the not too distant future. ( )

Another delicious book in the Chocolat series by Joanne Harris. This book has the same magical, life of a free spirit to it ... only this time it isn't because of Vianne. A new magical girl is in town ... an old town in the city of Paris that's acting as a safe haven for Vianne and Anouk ... who are now Yanne and Annie ... and the new girl who is the free spirit is Zozie. But her brand of magic isn't the kind to bring happiness like what Vianne conjured in Lansquanet, it's something more sinister but it is well blanketed in lightness and goodness and kindness so you don't see it for what it really is. What will come of this magic, the changing of the wind, and the new life Vianne is trying to build for her family? You'll have to read this wonderful book yourself to find out. ( )