About

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart is the first novel in the Tales from the Chocolate Heart series written by Stephanie Burgis. Can be read as a standalone too.

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart book cover

Blurb

Aventurine is the fiercest, bravest dragon there is. And she's ready to prove it to her family by leaving the safety of their mountain cave and capturing the most dangerous prey of all: a human. But when the human she finds tricks her into drinking enchanted hot chocolate, Aventurine is transformed into a puny human girl with tiny blunt teeth, no fire, and not one single claw.

But she's still the fiercest creature in the mountains -- and now she's found her true passion: chocolate! All she has to do is get 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?

Review

Having a never ending TBR came in handy here. I desperately needed a comfort read, especially after the last two books turned out to be not-my-type-of-comfort books. So, I went digging deep into my TBR and came across this title. Having read Snowspelled before and this being shelved under middle grade, I was fairly confident this would work for me. And it did!

The book was fast paced, which helped a lot. I started reading in the afternoon and midway through the book I realized I have to finish it before sleeping (thankfully it was only half an hour past my usual schedule).

I don't have a particular craving for chocolate but I did wish for some while reading (made worse since I couldn't have gone out to buy due to lockdown).

The author did a great job of moving the story forward and mixing it with character growth. I quite liked how the secondary characters were handled. I looked up the series info after finishing the book and I was delighted to know that those secondary characters will have their own stories to tell.

Oh, and the illustrations were nice too!

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

What others are saying

From Georgia Erwin's review on goodreads:

Holy mackerel! I left this book feeling just...so very very happy. So very in need of chocolate. And with an urgent desire to give a copy to everybody I know who might enjoy it!

From Sarahz's review on goodreads:

The Dragon with the Chocolate Heart is a whirlwind of adventure that I devoured in one sitting. Curl up with your brightest-colored blanket and something sweet to savor this fun fantasy middlegrade with.

Bingo

/r/Fantasy/ 2021 bingo categories:

  • First Person POV
  • Backlist Book
  • Comfort Read (HM)