The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

Tales from the Chocolate Heart #1

by Stephanie Burgis

Aventurine is a brave young dragon ready to explore the world outside of her family's mountain cave . . . if only they'd let her leave it. Her family thinks she's too young to fly on her own, but she's determined to prove them wrong by capturing the most dangerous prey of a human.

But when that human tricks her into drinking enchanted hot chocolate, she's transformed into a puny human without any sharp teeth, fire breath, or claws. Still, she's the fiercest creature in these mountains--and now she's found her true chocolate. All she has to do is get to the human city to find 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?

A classic fantasy with terrific girl power, perfect for fans of Shannon Hale and Jessica Day George.

Praise for Kat, Incorrigible
Bank Street Best Books of 2012
A Spring 2011 Kids' Indie Next pick
A 2012 ALA/ALSC Notable Children's Book
A Top 40 Pick for the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Dragons, Magic, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure

247 pages, Unknown Binding

First published February 9, 2017

About the author

I grew up in America, but now I live in Wales with my husband, fellow writer Patrick Samphire, our two sons, and our sweet (and extremely vocal) tabby cat, Pebbles. I write fantasy rom-coms for adults (most recently Claws and Contrivances and Good Neighbors) and fun MG fantasy adventure novels, too (most recently The Raven Crown duology). My next series will be the adult romantasy trilogy The Queens of Villainy, published by Tor Bramble, starting in 2025 with Wooing the Witch Queen.

To get early sneak peeks at new stories and novels, sign up for my newsletter here: stephanieburgis.com/newsletter.

To join my Dragons' Book Club and get early copies of every ebook that I put out myself (so, all of my novellas, short story ebooks, etc!), check out my Patreon page, where I also published a series of fantasy rom-coms (Good Neighbors) across 2020-2021.

I only rate and review the books that I like, which is why all of my ratings are 4 or 5 stars.

Reviews

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:

A young, golden-eyed dragon named Aventurine is chafing at the restrictions her family has placed on her: dragons aren’t allowed outside of the caverns until they’re 40 or 50 years old, when their wings are strong enough for flight and their scales have hardened enough to protect them against arrows and swords. Aventurine’s mother encourages her to “find her passion” in studying history, math or philosophy, but Aventurine just wants to go explore and be free. How can she not, with a name like Aventurine?

So one day she sneaks out of their caverns. When she finds a stray human on their mountain she thinks she’s in luck: bringing a tasty human back to the cavern will surely impress her family! The human is suitably terrified of her and Aventurine is about to pounce when … wait … what’s that delicious-smelling food he’s cooking? It’s hot chocolate, which Aventurine has never heard of before. She agrees to wait to eat the human until he can finish making the chocolate. Unfortunately for Aventurine, though not for the human, he’s a food mage, and the spell that he quickly puts on the hot chocolate turns Aventurine into a twelve year old human girl when she drinks it.

Aventurine is distraught: the mage won’t change her back, despite her (now not-so-scary) demands, and she can’t go back to her caverns in human form ― her family will eat her before she’s able to talk to them. But since she’s stuck in human form, she decides to travel to the big city and find more of this delicious chocolate stuff. Mmmmm …

Lots of adventures await Aventurine in the city: The difficulties of finding an apprenticeship at a chocolate house, Aventurine’s dream job. Encounters with a greedy, conniving woman who tries to shame and discourage Aventurine so she’ll accept a position with her as an unpaid servant. And unusual sightings of dragons in the air, which bring the king’s battle mages out in force.

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (2017), the first book in Stephanie Burgis’s new TALES FROM THE CHOCOLATE HEART series, is a delicious confection, a middle grade/YA fantasy novel that blends dragons and the art of chocolate-making with adventure and some significant life lessons. The tale started off a little slow, but gelled once Aventurine finds her place in the city. It all went down smoothly in one evening’s reading, though the wonderful descriptions of chocolate creams, chocolate tarts and spicy hot chocolate made me a little hungry by the end of it.

Aventurine’s dragon family members are enjoyable characters: brave, intelligent and learned, if sometimes quick to anger, as one might expect of dragons. I appreciated how Aventurine kept many of her dragon characteristics even when she was in human form. When she gets angry she roars, or tries to, and is inclined to leap at enemies with her hands stretched out like claws. Aventurine’s name is delightful: it’s a green semiprecious stone (all of her dragon family is named after jewels: Jasper, Citrine, Tourmaline, and so on), it’s reflective of her adventurous heart, and it’s also wonderfully original. Aventurine learns about friendship from Silke, a dark-skinned girl she meets in the city; about not giving up when disasters happen from Marina, a feisty chocolatier; and about finding something in life that she can be passionate about through her own experiences.

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart has been nominated for the 2018 Locus Award for Young Adult Books as well as the 2018 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature. I enthusiastically recommend it for older elementary and middle grade readers, and it’s interesting enough to engage adults who enjoy fantasies that skew a little to the younger side of the YA spectrum.

Now where’s my chocolate stash?

[Stephanie]

My new MG novel! It's out NOW in the US and Canada as well as the UK and Australia. Hurrah! I have been waiting for so long to share this one with you guys.

You can read Chapter One online now: www.stephanieburgis.com/books/the-dra...

And you can buy it from IndieBound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/978168...

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-d...

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Chocola...

Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Dragon-Chocolat...

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-...

Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Choco...

The Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Dr...

I really hope you guys enjoy this one! It was so much fun to write. :)

And can I ask a big favor? I am grateful for every single Goodreads review, good or bad (I swear this is true! EVERY review helps spread the word), but if you could possibly take five minutes to cross-post your review to Amazon as well, that would make a huge difference for me. I really appreciate it!

[Shira Glassman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this is going to be a great rec for girl-centered YA fantasy. On the page, it's written as having completely no romance, but it has great potential for f/f subtext with at least two different characters -- three if you absolutely push it. (And yes, I mean at the level appropriate to the characters' ages, before someone gets upset that I said that. If you don't like that's where my mind goes because I was that young queer teen at their age, please read a different review. There are plenty of others.)

Anyway, no romance at all is also a positive for some readers, so if that's what you want this book may be a good fit for you. It's high fantasy in a vaguely German setting but with racial diversity, both of which were super validating for me as a marginalized ethnicity with German roots. (No, there is not specific, explicit Jewish representation, but that's okay.) The setting is mostly a small city, where our dragon protagonist --prodragonist? kick me -- travels after a man she was going to eat uses his magical hot chocolate to turn her from her original dragon form into an adolescent human.

She's angry and upset, but also completely besotted with chocolate now, and still filled with the rebellious teenage angst and lust to prove her adulthood that got her out of her parents' safe cave in the first place. So she ends up in the city, learning to become a chocolatier while dodging both the kidnapping attempts of a rich woman determined to use her as a Cinderella-style slave, and political attempts to sink the chocolate shop because the proud, talented, mercurial chocolatier won't kiss ass.

The book is filled with memorable characters -- Marina, who makes amazing chocolates but has trouble keeping her emotions from eating her alive; Silke, a smartass teenage girl of color who's ready to help out with schemes and persistence and loyalty (and the main f/f potential if you want that); the princesses of the city, who far from being pretty faces under their father's thumb, are fully realized characters with different goals neither of which is focused on marrying a random prince. See how girl-centered this book is? There are still male characters and it never feels like Themiscyra, which for me is even more valuable because it reaffirms that you can have a girl-centered fantasy story without creating an artificial gender monopoly.

Can I just say again that it's nice to read about fake historical Germany? And dragons?

I like the twists and turns of the plot -- they felt original and I truly didn't know where the book was going to take me from one chapter to the next. The author's writing was so evocative that I had to buy and eat some chocolate after reading a few chapters, so be well prepared! And it's neat to see sympathetic adult characters being overemotional and flawed and realistic. This may be high fantasy in a world with dragons and battle mages but since it's so focused on relationships between characters it felt very intimate and familiar, and the adults' moods helped with that.

Special note: I am not trans so I may be offshooting the mark here, but there are several places in the book where the protagonist experiences distress as a result of having her dragon body removed from her without her consent, and it's possible that some people may need to skim those passages. It isn't presented as a trans metaphor, but since her body was radically changed without her consent and she's upset about it, I figured I'd play it safe and at least mention. (In the wizard's defense, he was trying to not be eaten.) The resolution to this dilemma was truly beautiful, in my opinion.

I suppose trigger warning for the kidnappy lady (who is pretty much a textbook Emotional Abuser) and also for all the times the main character feels lonely and depressed and like she's not good at anything.

[Zyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5stars
really cute & cozy :)

[Cam (Lana Belova) · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first pages the character of Aventurine gave me anime vibes - specifically, she behaved in my mind like those anime characters with a cutest pout, which was enough to put a smile on my face. And Jasper also reminded me of someone I haven't figured out yet...
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart was such an exceptional story, a wonderful start to my early summer reading - I was literally living inside this book 😀, I wish I had friends like Aventurine and Silke as a tween -their friendship is beautiful.
Aventurine wasn't a restless hatchling after all, she was definitely wise for her age, so the fact her brother loved the philosophy books and was discussing the works he found exceptional hadn't gone amiss. Aventurine had definitely picked up some wisdom and learned from the experiences she had to deal with as being a littlest sibling.
Definitely one of this year favourites! This was one of those books where the characters learn from each other's experiences. 💗

"He was always happiest curled up in our cavern with a book, or scratching out long, wordy treatises with one foreclaw dipped in ink.
I was the one who loved pushing the boulder free and taking deep, tingling breaths of the fresh, outside air and watch the clouds float through the sky overhead."

"So in the last twenty-four hours, while I hadn't been paying attention to the world around me, something had definitely changed."
"Humans have something better than scholarship. They have chocolate."
"Something in her words - and tone - made a tickling sensation start up between my shoulders."
"It seems to me, hatchling, that you haven't done so badly for yourself after all."



Images: 1. GOSICK -ゴシック(2011)
2. by 上的. A mental image of Aventurine, only her scale pattern was her own :)

[TheBookSmugglers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally adorable story of a fierce young dragon and her passion for chocolate! I'm just mad that I didn't think of this myself!

I am also going to need to make some hot chocolate from scratch ASAP.

[Serap(Agresif Spoiler Kraliçesi)]

Tabiki benim için çok çocuksuydu,1-4.sınıflar için olabilir ancak.guzeldi bir çeşit masal işte,içerik uygun...puan vermeyeceğim.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a pretty good story about a dragon who after getting her first taste of chocolate which she loves is turned into a human girl and must try to live in the world of humans while wanting to live somewhere she could eat chocolate all the time. Definitely check it out at your local library and wherever books are sold.

[Laura Florand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable. It has my two favorite things in it combined into one--a dragon chocolatier. A delicious, fun read with a dash of fiery dragon temper to spice things up. :)

[The Captain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahoy there me mateys!  This series deals with dragons and chocolate so of course I had to read it.  I binged this series and loved it.  Who doesn't love the themes of embracing who ye are and finding yer own inner strengths.  Here be me thoughts.

the dragon with the chocolate heart

This book made me salty heart sing with its awesomeness.  This is the story of young dragon Aventurine who is determined to prove how fierce she is by sneaking out of the family cave.  Only the first human she tries to catch turns her into a human girl!  Using enchanted hot chocolate!  Aventurine's inadvertently discovers that chocolate is her passion but then has to figure out how to survive the new world she finds herself in.

I adored Aventurine.  I adored her dragon family.  I adored her found family.  I loved watching her navigate the human world and her very dragony thoughts about it.  I loved the ending.  Basically this was a perfect read for me.  One of the best parts about it is a scene where an adult takes responsibility for problems that occur and apologizes.  Children take responsibility for things outside of their control sometimes and this book deals with that in a lovely way.  I just loved this moment of reality in a book where children still save the day.  And I wanted to eat all the chocolate.

the girl with the dragon heart

The second book follows Silke who is Adventurine's best human friend.  Silke is a natural born storyteller who likes to adopt other roles.  She is brought in as a spy to the royal family when fairies come along.  But she has a mission of her own when it comes to dealing with the fairies.

This was very enjoyable but me least favorite of the bunch.  I just wasn't as thrilled with the fae aspects and Silke's bumbling around.  Silke was just a little too focused on her own quest to the detriment of others.  In the first book she seemed so capable and this book seemed to go against the character traits of the first book.  Of course it all works out.  I loved Adventurine in this book too.

the princess who flew with dragons

This was me second favorite of the series.  Princess Sofia is coerced into a diplomatic mission in a neighboring kingdom.  She doesn't want to go.  Sofia has always had problems fulfilling her royal duties and relating to others and the events of book two have made her terrified to face the larger world.  And of course, her mission goes wrong right from the start.

And how it goes wrong is so delightful that I was laughing out loud.  The first carriage ride is stunningly horrible and funny.  Of course with her mission in tatters, Sofia decides to use the time to do what she wants to do.  And what she wants to do it be a student at university.  It is there that Sofia is exposed to bigger ideas about the world and the people in it.  And how her life of privilege has kept her blind despite all the books she has studied.  Then ice giants attack and Sofia has to save the day.  This book had lovely messages about friendship, forgiveness, and working together.  I loved it.

the short stories

I was delighted to find that the author has three short stories set in the world available on her website.  Of course I had to read these too.  One is a prequel about Citrine , Aventurine’s disapproving older sister!  Citrine gets revenge for her younger siblings trick.  Short and fun.  Another is a story about Marina and Horst , the chocolatiers, and how they met and started their future together.  It was sweet.  And then Silke's brother, Dieter, got his own mission.  It was lovely to see what happened to Dieter after his world was turned upside down by the events of book two.

I loved this series and need to read more of Stephanie Burgis' work.  Arrr!

[Kathryn]

DNF before due back at the library. The premise is great but I just could not get into it as much as I'd hoped. I got about half way and felt that not enough was happening. The dragon-turned-girl desiring to make chocolate just wasn't enough of a page-turner for me. Also, while I thought it was really neat to imagine a dragon turning into a human (what that would feel and be like, what the human world would look like to a dragon experiencing it) some of it got a tad annoying. For example, this is cool: "In dragon culture, bright colors were a source of pride, but human males seemed to be positively afraid of them. They might have been born with different-colored skin, head-fur, and eyes from one another, but they'd all chosen exactly the same type of plain, dark clothing, as if they were trying to blur together like herd animals." Or this, "As I looked into her eyes, I realized something that I'd almost forgotten on our long journey; even without any claws or scales, humans had always been predators, too." Yet, other parts were just annoying. Like how she knows what bricks are, but doesn't know what carriages are -- or continually referring to eyebrows as face-fur (for some reason, that went on chapter after chapter: "The face-fur over his eyes lowered, making him look oddly nervous again.") Maybe I'll try it again sometime if any of my friends recommend it heartily enough. Does it really pick up in the second half? I'm baffled how there could be a sequel when it seemed so little has happened (or is even foretold to happen) in the first half of this.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this story about a preteen dragon who gets tricked into drinking a pot of hot chocolate by a food mage and turns into a girl. That bad news is that she can't go back to her family, but the good news is that she has found her passon: CHOCOLATE. The descriptions in the book of the chocolate confections being sold were mouthwatering and how perfect that Aventurine finds the hot chocolate with chili pepper accents to be her favorite drink ever. Looking forward to reading the second installment in the series and finding out if Aventurine gets the opportunity to face the food mage who transformed her to save his own life.

[Simona Stoica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oamenii au ceva mai bun decât erudiția. Au ciocolata.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Очарователно детско фентъзи, финалист за наградата „Локус” и начало на многообещаваща трилогия, „Дракончето с шоколадово сърце” на Стефани Бърджес е новото предложение на изд. „Ибис”, което просто нямаше начин да подминем! Готови ли сте? Поемаме заедно на ароматна авантюра, история по-сладка от шоколад, която гарантирано ще сгрее сърцето ви. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле": https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Brandy Painter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.

Stephanie Burgis became an auto-buy author for me because I know I can always count on her books to be both well written and the among the best of whatever fantasy angle and age category it falls in. Her newest release, The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart, is a perfect example of this.

Aventurine is a young dragon who has yet to find her passion in life. All dragons have them. Her brother studies philosophy. Her sister is an oh so perfect epic poet. Adventurine doesn't want to study books and she doesn't want to stay safe inside her family's mountain. Knowing she is old enough and just needs to prove herself, she sneaks out of her mountain. In doing so she finds her life's passion: Chocolate. Unfortunately for her, the chocolate comes from a human who enchants it. Aventurine finds herself in a human body quite incapable of avenging herself on the Food Mage she was planning to take back to her family as a treat. Alone and forced to find her way in her new state, Aventurine makes her way to the city of Drachenburg where she manages to force her way into an apprenticeship at a chocolate house. As she learns the ins and outs of working with her passion, she also learns a lot about humans. When her family come to the city, and both the dragons and humans she loves are threatened, Aventurine must find a way to save both and learn how to balance her two natures.

Aventurine is the best. She is determined, stubborn, brave, and reckless. As a dragon, she is loved, sheltered, and adored. As a human, she has to learn to survive, make allies, and navigate a strange world of feelings. It is no small feat to write a well developed and rounded personality of a single species. That Aventurine is very much a dragon and very much a human at the same time is a marvel. At times her dual natures are in conflict. Watching her find her way as a human, is a fascinating study in nature and character dynamics. I enjoyed how much of a dragon she remained. I read for pages getting used to thinking of her as a girl and suddenly there would be a line like: "I just wished that all the horses I passed didn't look so delicious." It is delightful. The way Aventurine boldly finds her way in life is wonderful too, but I love that there was a flip side of this. As a dragon, she did something reckless and paid a high price for it. As a human, she makes mistakes too and learns how her actions as both dragon and human affect all those who love her. (And eventually the whole city of Drachenburg.)

Joining Adventurine, is a wonderful cast of supporting characters in a novel that is packed full of girl power. Silke is a savvy city girl who takes Aventurine under wing when she is newly arrived in the city. The girls develop a business partnership based on mutual respect that blossoms into a great friendship. Marina is the prickly, artistic, driven yet recovering from a failure she finds difficult to move on from mistress of the chocolate house Aventurine works at. Aventurine and Marina learn mutual respect and assist each other in facing down their fears and achieving their goals.

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart will appeal to those who love fantasy and magic. It is a comforting sort of read (at least for me) that was reminiscent of the Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles. It had the same sort of humor mixed with empowerment. I think this novel will appeal to a slightly younger audience, but is certainly for people of all ages.

Warning: Have chocolate on hand. You will want it.

I read a copy made available by the publisher, Bloomsbury Children's US, at ALA Midwinter. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart goes on sale May 30th.

[Y.S. Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this novel! Specifically, I love its bold, flawed, impetuous heroine, Aventurine. I love its gloriously playful humour and adventure. Most of all, I love how Aventurine's dragon sensibilities reveal so much about human behaviour and motivation - the hideous, the good, the indifferent. It's an utter delight.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw this book in the shelf in the children's section, it called out to me. The gorgeous cover, the fun description--finally another dragon book to quench my dragon lover thirst.

This book is a super cute read. It's about a dragon named Aventurine who just wants to explore the world outside of her family's cave. But the world is dangerous: it's full of humans who find dragons to be a threat and wish to kill them. When Aventurine has a run-in with a man in the woods, she's frightened, but she's a dragon, so she threatens him. The man attempts to stall for his own life by offering the dragon chocolate, something she has never heard of before. Little does Aventurine know that the chocolate had a spell cast on it, turning her into a human!

To survive, Aventurine must make her way into the human world and find her place, or she may never be a dragon again. Of course, Aventurine has a special draw to chocolate, and wants to be the best chocolatier she can be. All the while, she learns to make friends, and what it means to fit into the human world, and the struggles being human comes with.

Overall, a great edition to the world of children's literature, especially that involving dragons. This is a book I would have in my 7th or 8th grade classroom, and even recommend to some high school students. Even as an adult, it's always fun to revisit childhood through the fantasy adventures of books.

[Artemis Crescent · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021 EDIT: 'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart' is such a fun book to read in one day! It's colourful, cosy and chocolatey stuff! It's as addictive as it's ever been. Life lessons can be learned from this all-ages book, too - it's not all sweetness and fantasy.

I'm still waiting for that animated film to be made.

See my original review below for more.

Final Score: 4/5





Original Review:



Who knew that dragons and chocolate could mix so well together? For an adorable, luxurious, fire-breathing and mouth-watering recipe of a children's book?

Welcome to this generation's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. 'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart' will make you want to eat every chocolate in every chocolate shop you see. It is inspirational, imaginative, clever and joyous. There is a pinch of 'Oliver Twist' to it as well, with its "outcast-on-the-streets-guided-by-poor-rascally-urchins" plot.

Aventurine is a young and restless dragon living in jewel-hoarded mountains with her territorial family. She is too impatient to think of a clear life goal or passion, unlike the other dragons, who are passionate about things like poetry and philosophy. Not wanting to wait thirty years for her scales to harden and her wings to develop fully for flying, Aventurine sneaks out of her mountain and, on her first hunt for humans, she is tricked by a food mage into drinking a cauldron of his wondrous, aromatic hot chocolate. It is an enchantment made in fear for his life at the hands of the naïve beast. Aventurine was never as ready, nor as knowledgeable about humans, as she once thought - for on her first day of freedom, she is transformed into a human herself!

The hot chocolate gives her a twelve-year-old girl's body, and when the food mage leaves her to her own devices, she finds she can never return home under threat of fireballs to warn puny humans away from dragon families.

But through all the hardship, this life-changing experience has helped Aventurine to finally discover her passion - chocolate! "Please sir, can I have some more?" became additionally badass. So she sets off for the nearest town of Drachenburg to become a chocolatier's apprentice, and build her own territory. Nothing is going to stop this fierce dragon heart...

Aventurine is a strong, determined, snarky and funny heroine. Unusual in that she is a dragon in a child's body - only her golden eyes and dragon-skin cloth are what remain of her old self - it is just one of the many characteristics that make her extraordinary. She is like a feral girl raised by dragons, always thinking about biting and clawing at people whenever they annoy her. She knows what she wants and she will take it, and after her encounter with the food mage she has learned her lesson of being too trusting of humans, and so she is cautious, and plays them at their own game in the impoverished streets of Drachenburg. She won't become the prey.

Money means nothing to her, and typical human behaviours of blending in, following the leader, and not standing out in bright colours baffle her.

Nobody is going to take advantage of Aventurine, or stomp on her dreams. By the end of the second act of her story, as it were, she feels at her lowest point and begins to allow herself moments of weakness, and the reader feels it with her, because they've grown to care for her deeply. Anybody who is unused to failure and learning that life isn't as straightforward as one hopes will understand Aventurine's journey, and identify with her, scales or no scales. Terrible, unfair stuff happens sometimes, and we move on from it. We keep going, because what else are we to do? Self-pity never helped anyone. It's not all fantasy, chocolaty-bliss in 'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart': it is an emotional, social, and intellectual study that is much appreciated in children's literature.

Other characters are equally colourful and memorable, like Silke, the dark-skinned, cunning-as-hell street rat girl who easily fills the Artful Dodger role in this 'Oliver Twist' retelling. In fact, quite a lot of people are described as having dark skin, which is great. Marina is a stout, golden-skinned chocolatier who makes the best chocolate in town, but has the worst people skills and business sense, caring only about making her chocolate taste perfect, much to her partner Horst's distress. Aventurine warms up to Marina immediately, and loves being her apprentice.

The only things I don't particularly like in 'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart' are what I've noticed in Stephanie Burgis's previous book, 'Kat, Incorrigible', which I wholly dislike. Both these books contain a twelve-year-old rebellious, ahead-of-her-time heroine who hates older, snobby women, with far more vehemence than how she views snobby rich men. And in 'Kat, Incorrigible', the main character, Kat, punches a woman so hard on the nose she breaks it, and doesn't regret it; in 'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart', Aventurine kicks a nigh-indistinguishable woman-from-high-places in the shin - the only time she actually attacks someone in the story. These instances of physical violence are seen as normal, with barely any repercussions. Both girls also dislike their successful and beautiful older sisters. Overall there is the stereotypical envy, condescension and competitiveness between females.

I hope this unchecked internalized misogyny isn't a pattern in Burgis's other books.

But at least 'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart' has much more happening in it, and more positive female relationships, than in 'Kat, Incorrigible'. The less-obvious, not-cartoony villain roles are a welcome surprise, too. Really, all Aventurine does in her book is live her new life, loving the rich smell and taste of cocoa, mixed with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, spices, and chilli; reminding her of the dragon breath she once felt in her throat.

'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart' is similar to 'Kiki's Delivery Service', both the book and the film; in fact I can clearly picture it as a animated film. Make it happen, Hollywood! Think of all the chocolate and dragon plushies it'll help sell!

'The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart' is a delightful treat. It is a well-cooked, well-prepared, dark and light sugary tart: full of the delicious, grounded taste of family bonds, sweets that will change the world, humour and, of course, heart. I cannot recommend it enough. My compliments to the author.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to buy more chocolate.

Final Score: 4/5

[Kalina Mincheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Еха! Пет звезди без изобщо да се замислям - толкова приятна, консистентна и шоколадова история не бива да получи по-слаба оценка по мое мнение. Съвсем сериозно след стотина страници четене станах и си намерих шоколад за хапване, защото просто няма как иначе да преживееш всички тези описани вкусотии. А освен шоколад историята носи в себе си и темите за порастването, за намирането на истинското ни призвание сред света и семейството, за намирането на собствения глас, за силата и куража да отстояваме позициите си дори и всичко да сочи срещу нас. Чудесна детска книжка, която с удоволствие ще наредя в библиотеката си. И която горещо ви препоръчвам. С горещ шоколад 🙂

[Hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just utterly adorable!

[Siv30 · Rating 4 out of 5]

לסקירה מפורטת בעברית ואנגלית, קישור לבלוג שלי -

https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/דרקו...

[La Coccinelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so cute and so much fun! I wish it had been around when I was younger (but I still enjoyed it very much as an adult).

Aventurine is a great character. She has a distinctive voice, and we never quite forget that she's a dragon trapped in a "puny human" body. I love the message about finding your passion--the thing that makes you so happy that you want to do it all the time--and being true to who you really are on the inside, even when that might be difficult. There's no romance in this book; instead, we get some great friendship and family themes. And the dragons themselves are wonderful characters; instead of mindless beasts, they're actually quite scholarly (did you know dragons debate philosophy and write epic poetry?) and they even think humans are the stupid ones!

I've barely seen this book mentioned, and it's a shame, because it's a well-written story with a good message, a fun plot, and unforgettable characters. It hasn't gotten nearly the amount of attention it deserves.

Quotable moment:

When I passed a waffle stand two minutes later, I didn’t even let out the snarl of desperation that wanted to rip itself from my throat.

If all I had were five marks, I would not waste them. I was a fierce, powerful dragon despite my current body problems, and I could control myself, no matter what Mother or Jasper thought.

I just wished that all the horses I passed didn’t look so delicious.

[The Librarian Witch · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adorably delicious feast of a book!

- Dragons
- Magic
- Friendship
- CHOCOLATE

What else could you possibly want in a book???

The story follows Aventurine - a very independent and capable dragon, thank you very much! - as she sneaks out for a bit of an adventure and accidentally gets herself turned into a human.
This unexpected twist to her adventure takes us into the nearby city where we meet a whole host of wonderful characters and spend time in the most wonderful of chocolate houses!

WARNING:
Stock up on chocolate before you start this book.
You will crave it like a dragon craves gold!

The characters and plot were both so enjoyable.
From the diverse range of humans Aventurine got to meet, to her wonderful family of dragons back under the mountain. Every single person was fleshed out and interesting to learn about!
The city felt full of life, and I'm dying to visit The Chocolate Heart and sip a warm cup of fiery hot chocolate!

The themes of friendship, family, and being true to yourself were lovely to read about, and really well done.
I loved following along as Aventurine learned about her passion, started to trust people more, and decided who she really wanted to become.

If you're looking for a heart-warming tale of friendship, bravery, adventure, and growing up, then look no further!

[Cristina Braia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi-a placut foarte mult aceasta poveste!❤️❤️
Dar sfatuiesc a nu se începe lecturarea ei fără a avea ciocolata (multă ciocolata) prin preajma. Descrierile rețetelor de preparare a fericirii ciocolatii sunt atât de vizuale, încât cititorul este invitat la o degustare de arome de ciocolata.

Aventurina nu mai are aripi. In locul aripilor are niște degete mici și delicate. Dar asta nu inseamna ca nu mai poate zbura.
Nu mai are solzi. Pielea ii este acum fina și expusă pericolului emanat chiar și de razele soarelui. Dar asta nu inseamna ca este vulnerabila.
Nu mai are gheare. Unghiile ii sunt mici și nu o pot ajuta. Dar asta nu inseamna ca este lipsită de apărare.
Nu mai are colți. In locul lor sunt niște dinti tociți, inofensivi. Dar asta nu inseamna ca ea nu mai e puternica.
Nu mai are familie. Dar asta nu inseamna ca este singura.
Asta nu inseamna ca ea nu mai este dragon.

Aventurina chiar și acum, când trupul ei este mai fragil ca niciodată, știe un lucru sigur: Este cea mai feroce creatura din orașul oamenilor. Ea este un dragon.

https://cartideciocolata.ro/2019/01/2...

[Carolyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like this at all. I had it shelved as a "really excited for" and boy was that a mistake. There was no real bad guy, and the twelve year old spoke with MUCH higher intelligence than she should have. At less than 250 pages I struggled to finish, wanting to quit when I had 100 pages left.

Aventurine wasn't likeable at all; she was moody and pissy and not a character to look up to or learn anything from. The setting was confusing, and there was no real backstory to the dragons or the so-called fancy chocolate houses. The old couple were cruel, and Marina was a stupid adult, leaving the chocolate house in a time of need. There was no real story here. It wasn't magical, or uplifting, or anything but a boring read.

And her turning out to be a food mage in the end? How? Can dragons even do that? It was just bad.

[Sandra Deaconu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am râs, m-am întristat, am gustat multe delicatese dulci, am zburat pe aripile unui dragon, i-am mângâiat solzii și l-am scărpinat pe aripi. Vreau să fiu iar copil și să-mi citească cineva din ea în fiecare seară. Însă Dragonul cu inima de ciocolată nu este doar o carte pentru copii, este rețeta perfectă pentru o lectură savuroasă. Se iau o cană de ciocolată, o eroină curajoasă, neîmblânzită și isteață, câteva bucăți de aventură, un strop de magie, linguri de emoție în funcție de gust, un vârf de pericol, se toarnă în cana preferată și se servesc într-un fotoliu confortabil. Să aveți poftă...de lectură! Recenzia completă aici: https://sandradeaconu.blogspot.ro/201...

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aventurine is my kind of hero -- hot-tempered and passionate, brave and sometimes foolhardy. I was rooting for her on page one, even before the chocolate came into the picture. But oh, the chocolate! At one point I had to put the book down while I was reading it (a mighty sacrifice) and make myself a cup of hot cocoa. I love all the behind-the-scenes details of the chocolate shop and the great group of characters that form the created family at the center of this book. (Silke is just amazing!) This book is trademark Stephanie Burgis: fun, fast, and full of heart. I can't wait to start giving this as a gift -- it's going to be amazing paired with a cocoa mug or bars of local chocolate.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just fun. And sweet and full of family and friendship and discovery.

Aventurine was just the right amount of lost as she is thrust into the human world, but clever and crafty and quick to learn and adapt. Marina was delightful - prickly and fiercely kind. Silke became such a good friend. And poor Horst dealing with these three.

The ending was so much happier than I was expecting! I thought Aventurine would have to choose between human or dragon...

I didn't think this would have a sequel as it wraps up nicely, but I saw there is to be one so I will be sure to check it out.

[Mimi 'Pans' Herondale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!! I love this, such a cute and funny story and I can relate to Aventurine's love for chocolate!