Customer Reviews

Blame It On Chocolate (Hqn Romance)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was my first book by Jennifer Greene and it made me a fan!
Lucy creates a new cocoa plant and when she tastes it's first batch of chocolate, Bliss, she knows she has a winner. She shares it with Nick, the owners grandson, and soon finds herself sleeping with him.
Later she is not feeling quite right and she blames it on the chocolate. Which is partly true, since she is pregnant from that one night of passion with Nick.
This book has a lot going for it. You have the relationship with Nick and Lucy. Also there are some secondary characters with their own issues thrown into the mix to make this and exciting story. It is fun and funny. Sweet and and exciting. I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read the follow up story Blame it on Cupid!

Lucy Fitzhenry loves her job as a horticulturist working on experimental strains of cacao plants for Bernard Chocolates. She's riding high at work after a great success in developing a cacao tree that can be grown in the company's Minnesota greenhouses. The chocolate resulting from this cacao tree is the most exquisite in the world. In order to produce enough cacao for the company to launch a new line of the gourmet chocolate, Lucy is put in charge of the building of new greenhouses and growing the new trees for the project.

While Lucy's professional life soars, her personal life flounders. In addition to loving Bernard Chocolates, Lucy also loves the owner of the company, the handsome and urbane Nick Bernard. Due to Lucy's open personality, everyone--including Nick--is painfully aware of this fact. Unfortunately, Nick doesn't return Lucy's feelings, despite a night of shared passion that occurred when they were euphoric over the development of the new chocolate. Both have tried to pretend that The Night of the Chocolate never happened, but neither is able to avoid the repercussions when Lucy discovers she is pregnant w/ Nick's baby.

Things go form bad to worse for Lucy when her parents break up and her father shows up at her door to stay. He's followed by her cousin Russell who brings his problems for Lucy to help sort out. Nick has his his share of family woes when his grandfather Orson, Lucy's number one fan, becomes enraged over the situation between Nick and Lucy. Nick is also trying to smooth over a long-standing rift between his brother and Orson.

The book has a lot going for it. The storyline about chocolate production is different and interesting. The secondary characters--including Orson, Lucy's cousin, Nick's brother, the Bernard Chocolate employees, etc.--are also likable and well-drawn. (Lucy's unappealing, self-absorbed parents are an exception.)

Ultimately, tho, I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. The biggest problem I had w/ the book was Lucy herself. She's smart, hardworking, and sweet--but I just didn't like her very much as a romantic female lead. Without a baby in the mix, it's hard for me to imagine Nick and Lucy as a long-term couple. But, this may just be a matter of personal preference. While I was disappointed in the book as a whole, there were enough positive elements (Nick, chocolate) that may appeal more to other readers.

Lucy and Nick work together in a chocolate factory (Nick is the boss--or the boss' grandson anyways...). While experimenting with a new Chocolate (called 'Bliss') and celebrating, Lucy and Nick end up in bed together (but this happens before the story really starts). The story opens with Lucy getting out of bed and getting sick. Yup, you guessed it-she's pregnant, but she thinks/hopes it a stomach ulcer.

The remaining story is a nice, little story of how two people who don't really know much about one another deal with the pregnancy, work, and family issues (including Nick's old fashion grandfather who thinks if a guy gets a girl pregnant, he should marry her...).

Definitely check this book out if you're in the mood for a lite, cute, fun, and/or quick read.

I enjoyed this book it was funny and sweet.It had the right amount of steam as well.A good read.

Lucy Fitzhenry's life is going beserk; her father has moved in after leaving her mother in a fit of midlife crisis, her cousin is questioning his own masculinity, and one night of bliss has resulted in a pregnancy. The father is her boss, Nicholas Bernard, a very handsome, kind responsible chocolate company owner. Their night of passion followed her discovery of the ultimate in chocolate and the high it produced. Nick is very willing to marry her, but Lucy does not know what to do. In the meantime, she tries to keep the pregnancy secret, but when Nick's grandfather finds out, the older man wants to defend her honor. Moreover, both of them are extremely overprotective, driving her nuts with all their kindness. If there is too much of a good thing, Lucy is in the middle of it.

*** This is a fun book, with heartwarming characters all over the place and no bad guys. Although you will finish the book wanting to find either Nick, the chocolate, or both, it's well worth the temptation. ***

Amanda Killgore

BLAME IT ON CHOCOLATE is a perfect book for this time of year--warm, friendly, it makes you feel that you'd like to spend long, comfortable hours w/these characters.

The premise of an unplanned pregnancy is merely the coathanger for the real issues: how do real people deal with a very difficult, life-changing situation. It deals honestly with their emotions, with the reactions of decent people to a major speed bump in life.

And...it's sexy!

Greene writes the most decent, likable characters. I swear, nobody does it better. Her characters have heart, character. They're not two-dimensional chess pieces moved through the maze of a plot. In short, they're real, they become people I like to spend time with.

Greene writes the loveliest stories. I always feel better after I've read one of her books. Of course, this one made me go to the store for a box of chocolates--but I'm weak!

"The guys were gathered around a big burl oak table, and at a glance, damnation, she could see they were all suits.

Page 330, 2nd paragraph.

Don't editors check these books for typo's and grammar errors???????? Word processors can't correct grammar.....
Sonoralady

Any book with the word chocolate in the title is bound to grab my attention. Thankfully, Ms. Greene's BLAME IT ON CHOCOLATE lived up to my sweet-tooth cravings! This is a story that's actually nice-in the true definition of nice-in that there are no bad guys, no cheating, no broken hearts, and a happy ending. The characters are truly believable, the dialogue is funny, and the situations this couple find themselves in are ones anyone can relate to.

Lucy Fitzhenry loves her job at Bernard Chocolates. She gets to spend her days working in the greenhouse, developing new species of plants for the company's newest brands of chocolate. She knows she's found a real winner with Bliss, and eagerly awaits the reaction of the bosses-owner Orson Bernard and his grandson, Raul Nicholas "Nick" Bernard. Lucy was right-her new plant has a direct effect on the future of Bernard Chocolates in that it could end up making them millions. When the first batch of Bliss chocolate comes off the line, Lucy decides to give it a taste test. Who knew chocolate could taste so heavenly, or that it would turn this shy woman who only fantasized about Nick Bernard in private into a sex-starved woman who lets a kiss lead to "the Night of the Chocolate." Suddenly, one wild night of passion turns into a whole lot more, when the nausea Lucy starts experiencing turns out not to be an ulcer, but a pregnancy.

Nick Bernard has always done the right thing. So when he learns that Lucy is pregnant with his child, he's determined that they'll get married. Unfortunately, the quiet, shy Lucy has a whole lot to say about marrying the boss's grandson-and none of it seems to be good. Somehow, Nick has to convince Lucy that he cares for her, that he is, in fact, falling in love with her, and wants to marry her for more than just the sake of their child. Bliss chocolate is a huge success, and Nick wants nothing more than to make his relationship with Lucy a success, too.

BLAME IT ON CHOCOLATE is, in a word, charming. A down-to-earth romance with likable characters who find themselves in a situation that many people deal with in the real world, Lucy and Nick are a couple that everyone can relate to. Nick tries so hard to be nice that he doesn't realize that Lucy needs to know he loves her, and Lucy is just naïve enough to think that what they have isn't strong enough to keep them together. All in all, BLAME IT ON CHOCOLATE is a sweet indulgence for a satisfying afternoon read.

Blame it on Chocolate by Jennifer Greene was fun romance novel. Lucy is a developer at a chocolate factory and finds her life in chaos ~ is it the new chocolate or her handsome boss? I read this book in a day and it pure chocolate bliss. If you enjoy this genre, I would also suggest, Falling For Gracie by Susan Mallery,The Care and Feeding of Unmarried Men by Christie Ridgway and Underfoot by Leanne Banks.

I don't get this book as a romance. Nick explains several times how he would never be interested in Lucy. She says several times how Nick would never be interested in her. I kept reading hoping that the author would make this believable when they finally get together. She never did although I learned a lot about making chocolate.

It's just no fun starting a book from the first knowing that the characters are so totally miss-matched!

Even the secondary characters are boring. Her father, a brilliant surgeon who can't do anything in the real world. A cute cousin who needs her to tell him he is not gay. Her mom who no longer is interested in her brilliant husband the surgeon.

Weird triangle between Nick's older brother & grandfather. The same story plays out with the older brother not marrying the mother of his child. Grandfather loses all respect. Nick doing the same thing with Lucy. Surely we can come up with something more original.