Book Summary: 

Do the “Cupid chocolates” from Lucy’s shop really help people meet their One True Love? Dean, a TV reporter, has his doubts…

Lucy’s chocolate shop, How Sweet It Is, has been in her family for generations…along with the secret recipe for Cupid chocolates. Rumor has it that if you eat one on February 14, you’ll meet your soulmate. Lucy herself isn’t sure if it’s magic or just romantic optimism, but a family legend is at stake. Besides, with her grandmother to support and a rival bakery opening up across the street, it certainly doesn’t hurt to believe.

Dean, an ambitious and skeptical TV reporter, doesn’t like the idea of a business taking advantage of romantic desperation. He doesn’t count on Lucy joining him as he tracks down and interviews couples supposedly brought together by the chocolates. Together, they find that the truth can be complicated…especially when it comes to their own hearts.

My Review:

Time and time again I have said “This book is so cute, it could be a Hallmark movie!” It tickles me to no end to say this actually IS a Hallmark movie (and Hallmark published the book)! New to Lizzie Shane, I couldn’t help but adore the cover of this book and what it held – especially with Valentine’s Day being just around the corner. Pleasantly surprised by the sweetness (get it) of the story, Lizzie captivated my attention and stole my heart with a classic will they/won’t they, too stubborn for their own good strangers, to friends, to lovers story of two people who are determined to shut love out and the magic that brings them together.

Lucy lives the rich and fulfilling life of being a chocolatier. Passed down from generation to generation, Lucy now owns How Sweet It Is and is determined to keep her family’s legacy alive. This also means she has to keep her focus on the needs and survival of the store and nothing else. Easier said than done when a potential competitor pops up across the street, creating a strain to an already delicate financial situation. While Watson Corners has been the home of How Sweet It Is since the day it opened, the area is upscaling and so is her rent. Pushing worry and doom aside, Lucy focuses on what is important, the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday and preparing Cupids, the magical chocolate that once bitten on Valentine’s Day, brings you true love. Simple enough until her best friend Lena goes viral with a post sharing her engagement and a certain chocolate that made it happen. Now a local phenomenon, Lucy is panicking! Warned by her Great Grandmother Gigi of the potential curse if the Cupids were ever sold, Lucy doesn’t want the publicity, the fanfare, or the attention of a certain reporter who has walked through her door. 

Dean LOVES being a reporter but his dream is to be a news anchor, ever since he sat at the anchor desk in high school. “Champion of the little guy”, Dean is known for his hard hitting exposé of scams, frauds, and taking down business that victimize the people in his community. When his boss Nina calls him into her office to discuss the latest attention grabber – magic chocolates that cause people to fall in love, Dean is ready to do what he does best, until he finds out he is supposed to do a fluff piece! A cynic to love, romance, and all things sappy – Dean is determined to believe he is being punished but learns that acing this assignment will be the ticket to his dream job. Swallowing his pride, he walks into How Sweet It Is and can’t believe the sheer mayhem in front of him. Confiding is a beautiful woman that walks in after him, he shares his skepticism, only to realize when it is too late that he is talking to Lucy, the woman he now has to convince to do an interview after calling her a “fraudster” to her face. Never to back down from a challenge, Dean is determined to get his story and that anchor position, he just has to convince a certain shop owner that he is open to believe in love and magic, even if his heart is an iron fortress against it.

What I liked about the book: This book was absolutely adorable. The two of them together and how they fueled each other is what kept this slow burn romance alive. His grumpy disposition to all things love and her cautious approach to romance created a beautiful synchronized swim in a sea of denial. I enjoyed the additional stories about the couples on the “Wall of Love”, showing that the magic was bigger than a viral post and one shop keeper, that the importance of hope, opportunity, and openness – highlighted by the differences within each story, was what made the Cupids part of the tale, not the cause of it.

What I loved about the book: I LOVED Nana Edda. That woman cracked me up and that stunt she pulled, I knew something was up and couldn’t stop laughing – especially when she played the “I’m innocent because I old” card. That woman was sharp as a tack!

What enjoyed most about the story was the two different approaches to love that we saw with Lucy and Dean. For Lucy, love was a distraction. Sure, she wanted it for everyone else but it wasn’t worth the sacrifice for her. It didn’t mean she didn’t believe in it and didn’t consider it someday but she knew her priorities and it just wasn’t worth getting swept up only to disappointment her partner because “she cared more about the shop than him”. Seeing the relationships of her past, the love, lost (due to her father passing), and love again, the decades long marriage of her grandparents and great grandparents, she knew epic love was real – she had just convinced herself that the legacy was more important, that her own happiness could be sacrificed and the honor of that was enough to keep her going. Her hopes, her dreams – none of them compared to the idea of losing the family shop and disappointing her ancestors. What person could possibly compete with that level of potential lost? She set herself with no other options, despite what everyone else tried to tell her, including her own grandmother. 

For Dean, he saw the exact opposite. He watched love come in like a tsunami, high and strong only to crash and drag everything in its path to its doom. He watched his parents love, divorce, and love again only to divorce again. The ups and downs, the pain and anguish, the lack of stability and control – he never wanted any part in that and definitely didn’t need it – for him or his sister. For him, love was fleeting and not worth the pain in caused. It was too much work, too much effort and no one was willing to do what it took to make it last so why bother. What he witnessed as a child broke him and closed off any possibility of that changing. Even in moments there may have been a slight shift to his belief, situations only reaffirmed his stance and he was left even more jaded to what love was and what it could do. To make matters worse, he projected his vile views on anyone with an inkling towards happily ever after – determined to snuff out any light that love is ever lasting. 

I did this synopsis because it was incredibly intriguing to see such opposite ends of the spectrum on the IDEA of love in general but side by side cynicism on the idea of love in their own lives. It was an analytical mind field!     

What I don’t like about the book: I felt at times the book went around and around in order to extend the length. There was a point where Dean kept making the same declarations about love and I felt like saying “we know, we know” and finishing his thought because it was the third or fourth time he shared the same stance. The only thing that kept these moments from being a nuisance was the shift in Lucy’s reception when the thoughts were shared. Initially, she shared the same cynicism, but each time his position was declared, you witnessed cracks in her foundation.

With two people so wrapped up in their own stubbornness, their own beliefs, and their own rationale (despite how irrational it truly was), it took Dean being right to find out how wrong he really was. That is what made the story a hit for me. To watch someone who was so determined to be right about everything, to reveal the ultimate truth, to get his wish and witness the fallout. That is what made the ending of this book so good.