Chocolate Beach [Kindle Edition]

As soon as I picked up this book, I felt whisked away to the sunny coast of California. Julie Carobini's debut novel will warm you to your toes with quirky dialogue and characters you want for your new best friends.

Married for 14 years to a handsome, rising-star attorney, Brianna begins to suspect that her flip-flops and microwaved cuisine are no longer capturing the heart of her husband. He's starting to work longer hours and travel extensively, leaving Bri alone to raise their surfer-dude teenage son. Still deeply in love, Brianna sets out to reinvent herself.

Readers who love extreme makeover TV will get a kick out of the interior design drama and Bri's new wardrobe and glamorous hairstyle. But will it work?

Encouraged by her longtime friend, Gaby, Bri learns to trust God with the details. The rich enjoyment of chocolate bonds their friendship throughout, making Carobini's first book pure delight to read.

--Christian Women Online Book Buzz

This book is a fresh breath of air in the mom-lit genre. It starts with a classic chick-lit scene. Guy meets girl, who is a crazy barista. They fall in love even though they are extreme opposites. Fast forward about fifteen years to the first chapter.

That young man is now an attorney who rarely makes it home, and Bri wonders if it's her. Have their differences finally reached the point where they've driven them apart? Maybe the pressures of being the parents of a teenager are too much for them? Could there be someone else coming between them? The rest of the book frolics through her attempts to change and recapture her husband's attention. Some of her attempts are more successful than others, which left me groaning even as I knew I'd try the same things. Throughout it's a fun read.

This is the author's first book, and it has a light, fun voice. I don't read a lot of mom-lit, I guess I'd call it, but I loved the voice! Bri is a fun character and someone that I imagine I'd love as a best friend. The whackiness in her life is fairly true to life but just enough away from mine to make it fun to read.

CHOCOLATE BEACH by Julie Carobini

May 23, 2007

Rating *** ½ (3.5 Stars)

CHOCOLATE BEACH is Julie Carobini's first novel, and it centers on a Christian woman, Bri Stone, who lives in Ventura County, California working as a bus tour guide. She's married to a wonderful man, Douglas, who lately seems to be so busy with work he is hardly ever home. Together, they are raising a teenage son who loves the beach, as does Bri. Bri's life seems idyllic, living along the coast of Southern California, but she's becoming frustrated with her home life, wondering when she'll ever have any quality time with her husband.

In the meantime, her boss and good friend Rita decides to retire and hands over the reins of the company to her son, Ty, a man that Bri can't quite figure out. He SEEMS to be a good guy, nice-looking with a solid head on his shoulders. Bri decides to set him up with her best friend Gaby. While Bri hopes that Gaby and Ty hit it off, she tries her best to accept him as her new boss. They seem to be getting along OK, but there is something about him that sometimes bothers Bri. And although Rita says she's retiring, she still manages to come to the office often enough that it doesn't seem like she's really left. It's almost like she's checking up on things.

Bri's becomes suspicious about her husband when she sees Douglas in his convertible with a fellow lawyer, Kendall, and Bri's not exactly happy because she thought Douglas was supposed to be hard at work in the office. Instead, he's riding around town with a beautiful woman. One thing leads to another, and soon she is wondering whether Douglas is being unfaithful to her.

Besides wondering what her husband is up to during the day, Bri is also dealing with Doug's mother. Bri finds a fax from her mother-in-law hidden in Douglas' junk drawer, making Bri believe that Douglas is about to make a major house purchase without Bri's knowledge. Bri doesn't know what to think anymore; it seems as if her marriage is falling apart, and she doesn't know how to fix it.

For those who enjoy Christian Chick Lit or books that have a similar feel to it, CHOCOLATE BEACH is for you. The main characters are all Christians who live their every waking moment trying to emulate the words of Christ. Characters quote the bible every now and then, and even the teenage son Nathan tries to help out his friends by quoting scripture. Unfortunately, this reviewer doesn't feel that anyone that is not a born-again Christian will enjoy this book. One may feel that it is a bit much to have someone quoting the bible in an every day situation outside of Sunday school, and many will not feel very comfortable with it. On the other hand, the target audience is definitely the Christian woman reader, and Julie Carobini's debut novel will charm these readers to wanting more.

The strength of the book is the characters, although one will notice that while Bri and Gaby are the main characters, they do feel somewhat one-dimensional. But the characters serve their purpose, to help tell the story of a Christian woman who feels her husband is not being himself, and she wants to find out why. This reviewer did get caught up in the story, wanting to know what Douglas was really up to, and if he indeed was having an affair with his fellow lawyer. (The reader does not find out until the very end). The subplot of Bri's mother-in-law's attempts to the remodel Bri and Douglas' house was amusing, adding to the humor to the story. Gaby, Bri's best friend, was a minor character that was a little irritating at times, although she too added to the comedy relief. Ty, Bri's new boss, in some way is more important a character than Gaby, because he's the catalyst that helps Bri realize what she really has in Douglas.

This reviewer recommends CHOCOLATE BEACH only to those who truly enjoy reading Christian Fiction and are comfortable with this genre. Non-Christians may enjoy the antics of Bri and her coworkers at the Bus Tour company, but it definitely is not for anyone outside this group of readers, unfortunately. -- Courtesy of Love Romances and More - M. Lofton