The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (Tales from the Chocolate Heart, #1) by Stephanie Burgis

Posted September 25, 2021 by jrsbookr in Fantasy, Middle grade / 0 Comments

by Stephanie burgis
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (Tales from the Chocolate Heart, #1) by Stephanie BurgisThe Dragon with a Chocolate Heart Series: Tales from the Chocolate Heart #1
Published by Bloomsbury USA on May 30, 2017
Source: ARC Trade
Genres: Juvenile Fiction / Cooking & Food, Juvenile Fiction / Fantasy & Magic
Pages: 256
Find the Author: Website, Blog, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram
Format: ARC
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five-stars

Aventurine is a brave young dragon ready to explore the world outside of her family's mountain cave . . . if only they'd let her leave it. Her family thinks she's too young to fly on her own, but she's determined to prove them wrong by capturing the most dangerous prey of all: a human.

But when that human tricks her into drinking enchanted hot chocolate, she's transformed into a puny human without any sharp teeth, fire breath, or claws. Still, she's the fiercest creature in these mountains--and now she's found her true passion: chocolate. All she has to do is get to the human city to find herself an apprenticeship (whatever that is) in a chocolate house (which sounds delicious), and she'll be conquering new territory in no time . . . won't she?

A classic fantasy with terrific girl power, perfect for fans of Shannon Hale and Jessica Day George.

Praise for Kat, Incorrigible
Bank Street Best Books of 2012
A Spring 2011 Kids' Indie Next pick
A 2012 ALA/ALSC Notable Children's Book
A Top 40 Pick for the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association

Review

A story about a young dragon who has no idea what her calling or passion is. She longs to be able to fly beyond the protection of the caves where her family dwells. One day she sneaks away from home determined to prove that she can survive on her own and find her passion, only to be tricked by a food mage with hot chocolate and turned into a human. A fantastic adventure that helps adventurine really understand humans, how fighting for your passion is essential, and the many ways chocolate can be served and shared. The perfect middle-grade novel gives us insight into how we as humans can be seen by other species and treat those we do not understand. Also, we need to know why people choose to do what they do, such as the cook not wanting to talk to customers as she feels it is a waste of time. Others see this as her hiding something like her kitchen being out of compliance rather than the truth that she has anxiety about being out of her kitchen—an excellent start to a middle-grade series with a lot of chocolate and heart.

Book Sample

 

five-stars

About Stephanie burgis

Stephanie Burgis grew up in America but now lives in Wales with her husband (fellow writer Patrick Samphire), their two young sons, and their extremely vocal tabby cat. In between those two points, she spent time playing in orchestras, studying music history in Vienna, and editing the website of an opera company in Leeds.

She writes fun, funny MG fantasy adventures for kids and wildly romantic historical fantasy novels for adults.

You can keep up with her new releases, read exclusive short stories and get sneak peeks at upcoming works by signing up to her newsletter: www.stephanieburgis.com/newsletter

Her first book, A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK, won the 2011 Waverton Good Read Children’s Award for Best Début Children’s Novel by a British Author, and it was followed by two more novels and a novella (“Courting Magic”) in the Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson series. Her book THE DRAGON WITH A CHOCOLATE HEART (published by Bloomsbury in the UK, Australia, the US and Canada) marked the beginning of a sparkling new chocolate-infused fantasy adventure series for children.

She is also the author of a series of wildly romantic historical fantasy novellas for adults, THE HARWOOD SPELLBOOK (which begins with SNOWSPELLED), as well as two full-length novels for adults, MASKS AND SHADOWS and CONGRESS OF SECRETS (published by Pyr Books in the US and Canada), and she co-edited the anthology THE UNDERWATER BALLROOM SOCIETY. She has had over thirty short stories published in various magazines and anthologies.

Rating Report
Plot
4
Characters
4.5
Writing
4
Pacing
4.5
Cover
5
Overall: 5