Review: All for You by Laura Florand

Title: All for You (Paris Hearts #1)
Author: Laura Florand
Genre/Themes: Contemproary romance, chocolatiers, Paris
Release Date: 5 May 2015

Author's links:
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My rating: 4.5 Stars

Synopsis

Some crushes aren’t meant to be

When her older brother’s best friend left to join the Foreign Legion, eighteen-year-old Célie moved on to make a life for herself as a Paris chocolatier. Now, five years later, the last thing she needs is another man to mess up her happiness.

Let alone the same man.

But five years in the Foreign Legion is a long time for a man to grow up, and a long time to be away from the woman he loves.

Especially when he did it all for her.

Half strangers, more than friends, and maybe, if Joss Castel has his way, a second chance.

Review

This story is another winner for Ms Florand. I'm addicted to her writing, it's so rich and sensual, telling tender and passionate love stories.

This is book 1  in her new series, Paris Hearts, featuring female chefs. These books are sort of spin off of her Amour et Chocolat series. All for You tells the story of Celie, who is a chief chocolatier in Dominic Richard's shop (from The Chocolate Touch) and Joss!

It's a tale of second chance of love, a story of growing up. Both Celie and  Joss are young and passionate, a bit stubborn and ultimately meant to be together. She is 23 and her is 26 but they have overcome so much. Celie has had a crush on Joss since she was a teenage girl and he broke her heart when he left her and joined the Foreign Legion when she was 18.

I enjoyed the compelxity of their relationship, the constant push-and-pull and efforts they made to get together. There was a lot of growth for them both, especially for Joss who had this static image of Celie as a young, somewhat naive princess he felt he had to woo her, to take care and protect, to make himself worthy of her. In fact, in his 5-year absence she had grown into her own person, had become a successful chocolatier, a young women with a social circle of her own. 

The conflict between them is more than a simple misunderstanding. They seem to have completely opposite views on life. Ms Florand, like in her other novels, plays skilfully with traditional fairytale expectations/tropes to create a heart-warming contemporary romantic story. 

I liked how Dom and Jaime helped the younger couple find the path to being together. Dom was his grumpy, growling self and it was ironic and too funny to see him giving relationship advise. I'm excited to read the short story about him and Jaime which Ms Florand has included in her latest newsletter. 

It's one of the best books of the year for me so far, together with Ms Florand previous release, Once Upon a Rose which is book 1 in yet another new series! Recommended read for anyone who loves romance!

Purchase links: Amazon / B&N / Kobo

My reviews of other titles by Laura Florand:

Once Upon a Rose (La Vie en Roses #1) - 5 Stars
The Chocolate Touch (Amour et Chocolat #4) - 3.5 Stars
The Chocolate Heart (Amour et Chocolat #5) - 4.5 Stars
Shadowed Heart (Amour et Chocolat #5.5) - 3.5 Stars
The Chocolate Temptation (Amour et Chocolat #6) - 4 Stars
Snow-Kissed (Snow Queen #1) - 5 Stars
Sun-Kissed (Snow Queen #2) - 3.5 Stars