Fortune Cookie

The Chocolate Box Girls #6

by Cathy Cassidy

After the amazing twist at the end of Sweet Honey, the sixth and final book in Cathy Cassidy's Chocolate Box Girls series follows Jake, the Tanberry sisters' newly discovered half-brother...

As if the bombshell that he had three half-sisters wasn't enough, Jake's life in London is turning into a nightmare. He has nowhere to run - except for maybe his new family in Somerset... But Jake knows next to nothing about the Tanberrys. Will he be welcome there? And even if he is, can anyone really help him turn things around?

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Novels

178 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 4, 2015

About the author

I was born in 1962 in Coventry (scarily ancient, I know). I wrote my first picture book for my little brother when I was eight or nine. I loved making comics, too - pages and pages of picture stories, features and competitions.

I went to Art College in Liverpool, then got a job as fiction editor on the fab and legendary Jackie magazine.

I have worked as agony aunt on Shout magazine and also as an art teacher in the local primary & secondary schools, as well as as a freelance illustrator. These days, I am a full-time author.

I love my family, I love living in the middle of nowhere and I love my work. Of all my jobs, writing has to be the best - it's the perfect excuse to daydream, after all!

Reviews

[Olivia-Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending to this series I love made my heart explode. I can’t say too much without spoiling the whole series, but do read this middle grade series for how heart-warming and lovely it is. I liked this one because we get a perspective on family that is complex and refreshing to see. This one brought together a lot of storylines and characters we have followed for quite a while in all the different books. We also focus on a new character who has a lot to deal with – in fact, I found it quite clever to see how this character’s storyline echoed some of those we have followed for quite a while. It made for easy reflective moments and it showed us how much several characters have developed. I love the setting here. I want to squeeze my way into this family and live with them in Tanglewood. I did find Jake’s mindset a bit juvenile but it makes sense with his age so it didn’t bother me too much. I am an adult reading middle grade after all. This book did feel a bit short. I think it could have been a tiny bit better if the author didn’t rush things and slowed down a little. Regardless, it was fantastic and captured my heart. The ending was perfect for this series. It was so bittersweet. Love, love, love. My heart can’t hold all of this love.

[Maddie]

And I finally finished the series, after six years of waiting. I can't believe when I read 'Cherry Crush', I knew I'd be eighteen when it ended. Will I ever stop being interested in reading Cathy's books, no matter how old I get? No, probably not!

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'adore retrouver cet univers, les personnages. J'en veux encore !

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fortune Cookie is sort of like a companion novel, but really rounded off the Chocolate Box series! Maddie had previously told me that it was bit pointless, and I think because I had such low expectations, I ended up really enjoying it. It ties up a lot of the unresolved conflict that Honey's book should've done. I loved the fortunes that Cookie made up for the girls at the end of the series; it's the perfect final closure for a series that I started reading so many years ago!

[carthi ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was such a nostalgic read! so glad to get back into a series that was my obsession at age 14. there's something about cathy cassidy that makes her books special. and the best part? ten minutes into reading i could recollect the characters! thank god or i would be so confused.

[Marine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toujours aussi mignon, une histoire pleine de rebondissement, un nouveau personnage ultra attachant, et les filles au chocolat sont toujours aussi adorables <3 UN GRAND OUI

[EmmieLouDraws · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is such a sweet cute series! I really enjoy them! I think this was the last one, it wrapped up lovely!

[Kiera · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh cookie greg isnt worth it..

[Maryam Hussain]

Had the most surreal experience reading this because I was 100% sure I hadn’t read it before (I was like, since I reread the others, might as well read this and finish the series) but as I kept reading, I somehow… just knew stuff. I’d read a random line and be like omg wait I’ve read this part before, and just before a major plot point I’d suddenly know what was going to happen, not because I could tell where the plot was going, but cause I actually DID read the book and forgot that I did 😭😭 still don’t remember when I read it, or how I completely forgot about it. I have a bad memory generally, but this is a new low. Anyway, apparently this was a reread too. With the others, I remember reading them them and remember random plot points and things, but with this book, I cannot for the life of me remember when I read it and didn’t remember a single thing before I started reading (hence why I thought I didn’t read it)

Rereading spree has now (really) come to an end… let’s hope the reading slump is over too

[Mintti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vielä löytyi yksi suklaamurunen, eli tyttöjen velipuoli Cookie. Hän päätyy erilaisten onnettomuuksien ja sattumusten seurauksena siskopuoltensa luokse juuri suklaafestivaalien kynnyksellä ja sekoittaa koko perheen pakkaa kunnolla. Ihan kiva lopetus sarjalle, ellei jostain löydy vielä lisää salaisia sisaruspuolia :D

[Robyn Thomas-Beswick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it! Cried at the end.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une belle série jeunesse aux sujets variés, qui rejoint assurément autant les garçons que les filles. En plus d'être zéro banal même quand on est adulte! 🍪🥠

[Maya Sensier · Rating 5 out of 5]

real literature.

[tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolute favourite of the series

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book series is so sweet it’s such a delightful reprieve from real life. The families are so raw but they’re so happy. Time to get back to big girl books now, this week’s book club is a-calling.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

honey and cherry finally accepting each other... I almost cried

[leila x · Rating 5 out of 5]

Childhood me is so happy that I got to finish this series

[Karine SIMON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je pense que je n’ai plus vraiment besoin de vous présenter cette série ! Qui ne connait pas Les filles au chocolat de Cathy Cassidy, cette célèbre saga jeunesse mettant en scène une famille recomposée très attachante. Coeur cookie est le 6eme et dernier tome de cette série.

Il va être difficile de parler du tome 6 sans spoiler les autres tomes, alors je préfère vous prévenir que si vous n’avez pas encore lu Cœur Vanille, il vaut mieux passer votre chemin et reprendre votre lecture de ma chronique beaucoup plus bas.

Dans Coeur Vaniile, Honey, l’ainée des sœurs Tanberry, s’envole pour l’Australie pour y retrouver son père. La-bas, elle va découvrir que celui qu’elle a toujours idéalisé n’était pas l’homme qu’elle croyait, mais surtout que ce dernier avait un fils caché, Jake. Ce dernier se révèle donc être le demi-frère d’Honey, Skye, Summer et Coco. C’est ce personnage qui est donc mis en avant dans ce dernier tome.

Fin des spoilers

Jake vit à Londres avec sa mère et ses deux demi-sœurs. Ils habitent un tout petit appartement meublé au-dessus d’un restaurant chinois, où la mère de Jake travaille. S’ils ne sont pas très riches, ils sont néanmoins heureux même si ce n’est pas facile tous les jours. Jake a toujours été un peu rebelle, ça n’est pas un garçon facile, et il a souvent l’impression de gâcher tout ce qu’il entreprend. Un soir, Jake provoque non intentionnellement une catastrophe. Il se sent responsable et décide de prendre les choses en mains pour réparer les dégâts. Pour cela, il utilisera le billet de train envoyé par Honey, une fille qui se dit être sa demi-sœur, pour essayer de joindre celui qu’il n’a jamais connu, son père !

Comme d’habitude, j’ai adoré cette histoire et j’ai eu plaisir à retrouver les personnages attachants qui font le succès de cette saga familiale. Mais ce que j’ai encore plus apprécié, c’est qu’il mette réellement un point final à l’histoire, le cercle étant bouclé. Plusieurs points en suspend sont ainsi résolus dans ce tome, notamment en ce qui concerne l’avenir de Summer où le conflit qui a toujours opposé Cherry et Honey.

J’étais un peu nostalgique à la fin de ma lecture, en me disant ça y est c’est terminé, il n’y en aura plus. Mais en fait, j’ai lu ce bouquin en VO, oui c’est une première pour moi. Mais ensuite, quand j’ai eu le livre en version Française, car il a bien fallu que je l’achète pour ma fille, j’ai découvert à la fin, après les recettes et tests habituels, que les éditions Nathan allaient publier en octobre 2015, un nouveau roman de l’auteure, Miss Pain d’épices, et que nous avions les deux premiers chapitres en bonus. Je n’ai donc pas pu résister à cette lecture, et je peux vous dire que c’est très prometteur !

Je suis donc bien contente de ne pas devoir attendre trop longtemps avant de découvrir un autre titre d’une auteure que j’adore.

Cœur Cookie est disponible depuis juillet 2015 aux Editions Nathan.

http://milleetunepages.com/2015/07/19...

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of all of the books this one was my favourite. I found it hard to put down. Jake is 14 and he receives 3 letters from his half sister Honey Tanberry. At first he dismisses it as spam but then Honey sends pictures of her and her sisters and Jake realises that they look alike and he starts to get curious. In another letter Honey attaches a train ticket to Somerset in case Jake wants to visit them at somepoint. Meanwhile Jake lives in London with his mum and his two younger half sisters Maisie and Isla who are younger than him. One day the roof breaks at the restaurant that Jakes family work and live at and the owner Mr Zhao gets angry . When things start to go wrong for Jake he escapes to Somerset to meet his sisters and try and find out more about his father. He also wants money off his father as he’s never had anything off Greg Tanberry before even though he’s Greg’s child and he wants the money to try and fix the flat at his home in Chinatown because Jake believes that Mr Zhao wants to evict the family which isn’t true. When he meets his sisters only Honey recognises who he is and the other sisters Skye,Summer, Coco and Cherry are shocked by his arrival as well as their mom Charlotte who drops boxes of chocolate on the floor. Soon her reveals who he is and the family all start getting to know him. Soon Jake starts to enjoy being at Tanglewood and forgets about his family back at home. One day he Skypes his father Greg with the other 5 girls and it all goes wrong, Jake run out of the house and is chased by the sisters. Cherry falls down a cliff but Honey grabs her hand and she and Jake lift her up safely. Cherry and Honey resolve their feud and Honey apologies to Cherry for her nasty attitude towards her in the 3 years she’s lived with her. When they are walking back into the house Jakes mum arrives with her new partner Sheddie who Jake hates and they all go in the house to meet Paddy and Charlotte whom Jakes mum doesn’t know until they find out that the are connected to each other. In the end Jake finds out that Mr Zhao wasn’t going to evict the family at all and that he misheard what was said, in reality Jakes mum wanted to go and live with Sheddie in his yurt which was what Jake didn’t want. Mr Zhao gives Jake and his family some money for their new home and Jake says goodbye to his new found sisters and promises to see them again. This is the end of the chocolate box series and i was super impressed by this book and the storyline, I thought it couldn’t end in a better way than this.

[Galleane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dans les bons moments ou dans les moins bons, dans les moments d'incertitudes ou de certitudes, il se dégage de ce tome beaucoup de jolies choses, sans compter les quelques leçons de vie auxquelles on a droit et qui sont une des forces de cette série.

Mon avis complet : https://bloggalleane.blogspot.com/201...

[Ambryarock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un tome aussi bon que Cœur Vanille, si ce n'est meilleur! J'ai adoré le personnage principal de ce tome! Ça fait du bien d'avoir un point de vue autre que celui des Filles au chocolat et en même temps de toutes les retrouver pour ce tome final qui clôt à merveille la série! Sans oublier les nouveaux personnages qui deviennent attachants en peu de temps. Je lirai avec plaisir Cœur poivré c'est sûr!

[Lilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was great to read. I think Jake struggled to cope living in the upstairs of a cafe with his family. He soon finds out that his step sisters live in Somerset so he goes to live there. Things get better and his sisters are really kind. But his dad who lives in Australia wants nothing to do with him. Jake tries to contact him but he won't reply. This isn't my favourite Cathy Cassidy book but I do recommend it.📝

[vilma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It felt really nostalgic reading a CBG book again but I'm sad this is the last one. I've loved this series and this book - yes, it was kind of different than the others - tied the story into a happy end. I can't say anything else without spoiling anything but let me say I loved this one, it's worth reading and this series is one of my favorites ever.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cathy Cassidy has done it once again. Tanglewood is the best fantasy place ever and this story proves it. Learning about the girl's half-brother and his way of being was awesome and I love how his story wrapped up the mysteries of the Tanberrys. Would recommend to anyone and everyone!!! :D <3 <3

[Hymaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dans la lignée des précédents, une très bonne lecture jeunesse. C'est plein de bons sentiments, mais j'aime beaucoup retrouver les soeurs Tanberry et leurs amies.

[Hiba · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the first time I read a story about a boy and I actualy liked and I loved the way the sisters, half sisters and the stepsisters are together and accepting each other <3 <3

[L'Abri des Pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Tanglewood is a little paradise where I’ll be safe for a few days."

"Tanglewood has magical powers."

Since book 5 on Honey, no doubt about the purely unhealthy and devastating side of Greg Tanberry, the ex-husband of their mother Charlotte. Poor Jake realizes his father’s notorious inability to perform his role, not like Honey who just idolized him. He never ceased to flee from stability, like a coward always looking better elsewhere, a poor fellow. Now it’s over for these two who decide to leave their father behind.

Jake has something in common with each of the five girls in the family and immediately feels drawn to the atmosphere in Tanglewood. It feels good to have an external "consistent" point of view, so more than 50 pages, on the Tanberry family. This 6th volume on Jake "Cookie" is the only volume that is not a special series, to come out of the main family, except Cherry of course. But it was the first one, so Tanglewood still seemed like a stranger, or at least a brand new place for us readers.

As in all the other books of the saga, everything ends well for each of the characters, Jake of course, but also for Cherry, Honey and Summer. No spoil! 😁

French version: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsMbvTJtcf4/

[G Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super super cute book to finish off the series. Did I love it as much as all the other books in the series? No. But it was still enjoyable.
I did like Cookie’s character and his family but I just wasn’t too interested in them unfortunately. I loved all of Honey’s cameos though, particularly her finallyyy healing her relationship with Cherry 🥺 Also her bf coming to surprise her at the end was super cute.
Not enough Skye for my liking though! Why does my girl always get forgotten about. I seriously think they mentioned Alfie more than her. I was also confused about Lawrie and his family - do they live with the Tanberry’s? or just work there? I can’t remember for the life of me. Very happy for Summer getting her teacher scholarship, I have the biggest soft spot for her.
I also loved how they continued to drag Greg through the dirt in this book as well. If Greg has no haters I’m dead.
Overall, a nice, satisfying way to finish up the series. Loved the growth of all the girls, especially Honey and Cherry. I’m unashamedly so attached to these fictional sisters. Couldn’t really ask for much more I just didn’t really love the book that much for some reason.

[Anu-vinkkari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hiukan tässä oli jo sellaista ylimääräisen jatko-osan tuntua, mutta tarina on ihan herttainen ja uppoaa varmaan kohderyhmään. Kevyenä ja nopealukuisena (2h) kirjana tämä sopi mainiosti myös katu-uskottavaksi yökirjasto-luettavaksi.
Onnellinen perhe kasvaa kasvamistaan ja kauan sitten kadonnut velipuoli on juuri sellainen ihanan romanttinen heikoista oloista ponnistava ja vilpittömästi hyvää tarkoittava mutta jatkuvasti väärinymmärretty "pikkupahis".
Tämä nyt on niitä kansia myöten viimeisen päälle suunniteltuja, lajissaan laadukkaita ja helposti myytäviä kirjoja, joita ei oikeastaan tarvitse edes vinkata. Sarjan ykkösen kun lukuvuoden alussa esittelee muutamalle potentiaaliselle lukijalle, niin sana kyllä kiertää ja sarja pyörii lainassa ja varaushyllyssä koko vuoden. Tähänkin osaan on jo valmiiksi jonoa.
Ja siitä jonostahan heruu koulukirjastotädiltä aina iso plussa.

[Elina Mäkitalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarja jatkuu ilmeisesti viimeiseen osaan yllätysveljen tarinalla. Tämäkin osa on hyvä ja puhutaan tärkeistä asioista. Teksti on sujuvaa ja mukaansa tempaavaa ja kepeää. Olisi ollut ehkä ihan hauskaa että lopussa olisi ollut joku pieni osa jossa olisi kerrottu jokaisen sisaren kuulumisia koska muut sisaret jäivät muiden tarinoissa vähän sivuun, ehkä odotin enemmän sitä että hekin olisivat enemmän mukana toistensa tarinoissa vaikka toisaalta olikin hyvä että keskityttiin yhteen kerrallaan. Siksi joku yhteenveto olisi ollut hyvä.

Kirja ei mahtunut 2023 Helmet- haasteen ensimmäiseen suorituskertaan, tai en löytänyt sille enää hyvää kohtaa johon laittaa joten kirja menee sitten toiselle kierrokselle ja sopisi kohtiin numero: 4, 13, 18, 29 (muistaakseni), 39, 40, 45.