The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

 

The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
Cover Art by Freya Hartas
Published by Bloomsbury Childrens
Date: 9 February 2017

 

 

This book…it engaged and delighted my senses. Chocolate and dragons, what’s not to love?  Especially when Adventurine experienced chocolate for the first time.

“Lucious, sweet, exotic flavour. Rich and blooming and steaming just beneath my nose. I snaked my long neck towards the fire with lethal speed. ‘What is that?’ ‘Wh-wh-what?’… Bliss exploded through my senses. I reeled with pleasure. Chocolate chocolate chocolate – ‘Ahhhhh!’ and then everything exploded inside me, and the world went black.”

This middle grade book is the story of Adventurine, who is a very interesting, feisty and courageous dragon, who finds herself becoming human.  The experience of this brave dragon becoming a human and discovering chocolate gave Adventurine a new purpose…to become a chocolatier, no matter what it took.

Along the way, Adventurine discovers friendship especially with Silke who is much like Adventurine herself, and Marina the blustery and dedicated chocolatier that takes Adventurine on as an apprentice.

A must mention for me is that I love the names used in the book…Adventurine, Silke, Jasper, and Citrine to name a few.  I think the names add to the overall whimsical, adventurous feeling of the book.  There is so much the author got right in this book and truly made it a book that was hard to put down.

I think this middle grade novel is a fresh take on dragons, an old-world town and chocolate and will no doubt become a favourite of many children…and perhaps adults too.

If you didn’t love chocolate before reading this then there is a good chance that you will be tantalised by it when you have finish reading it…and perhaps dragons too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book.

*The image was used from the authors website both on here and my social media.