My reaction to The Chocolate Seduction went up and down and up and down. I started out actively disliking the heroine, Sabrina Bliss, but by the end of the book I had warmed up to her – a little. However, the hero Kristoffer (Kit) Rex was a sweetheart, the story zipped along nicely, and the love scenes were hot and chocolately. It ended up as a better than average read.

When Sabrina and Mackenzie Bliss’s parents re-marry after having been divorced for many years, it flummoxes the two sisters, especially the cynical Sabrina. They decide that since their parents have changed their lives, they will make their own lifestyle changes. Steady and calm Mackenzie will change jobs, get a haircut and dump her boring and stodgy boyfriend. Wild and crazy Sabrina will get a job and keep it, and not have sex with every man she meets. She’ll wait till she finds someone she loves and can commit to. If she can do this, she will win their grandmother’s engagement ring.

Sabrina gets a job at Decadence, a fashionable restaurant. Much to her surprise, she likes the work and gets more and more responsibility there. She also likes Kristoffer (Kit) Rex, the handsome, charming, and talented dessert chef. Since Sabrina is forced to be celibate, she needs some endorphins. Kit needs a taste-tester. But it doesn’t take too long for Sabrina to realize that chocolate isn’t quite cutting it. How about chocolate covered Kit for dessert?

At first, I really disliked Sabrina. I am no prude, but I don’t like promiscuity in either sex, and Sabrina was presented as a real wild chick. Sabrina also has absolutely no sense of responsibility, and while the footloose and fancy-free lifestyle may be fun for a few years, Sabrina is getting a bit too old for it. She owns a futon, has no savings, and is prepared to keep on like this for years. However, as the book progresses she does begin to question her life and eventually comes to see that having a home does not equal selling out to the forces of the establishment.

I loved Kit from the beginning of the book. He had a difficult life. His parents were killed in an accident when he was very young, and his only relative, an aunt, was cold and disapproving. As an adolescent Kit acted out and ended up in foster care. Luckily he eventually ended up in the care of “Ma’am,” a no-nonsense, loving woman who loved to cook. Kit helped her in the kitchen, found out he enjoyed cooking too, and polished his culinary skills in the Navy. He’s happy where he is, but he longs for a home and a family to love. So what does he see in the wild and crazy Sabrina?

I never did figure out what Kit saw in her and that was the book’s biggest flaw. That said, Carrie Alexander certainly knows how to write a love scene! Decadence is going to cater a big affair and they need lots of desserts. Kit blindfolds Sabrina and then feeds her bits of different desserts interspersed with kisses to clear her palate. After a while, she grabs a pot of chocolate sauce and… I’ll let you all read the rest… whew!!

If you like a nice quick read, if you like chocolate, if you like a truly sweet hero, I think you’ll find The Chocolate Seduction palatable. It was hot, it was sweet, and even Sabrina couldn’t ruin it for me – but then I’m not one who can resist chocolate.