In The Age of Love and Chocolate

Zevin, Gabrielle.  In The Age of Love and Chocolate (series Birthright: Book 3).  Macmillan/Farrar Strauss  2013  286p  $17.99      ISBN 978-0-374-38075-5  ms/hs  Conflict  VG-BN       

This is the finale in the Birthright series, about Anya Balanchine, who tries to make chocolate a legal business.  This book picks up the story of Anya at eighteen years old.  She has had a hard life as a teenager, and more than her fair share of trouble with the law.  In this story we find Anya trying to turn her world around and establish herself in the work world while still parenting her younger brother and sister as they mature.
    

Chocolate is in her family’s blood. (Her father controlled the family business of dealing in illegal chocolate.)  Anya decides to open a nightclub that features chocolate-flavored drinks with her boyfriend Win’s father (Charles Delacroix). It is a decision full of pitfalls that Anya must navigate.  Nothing is easy in New York City in the 2080s.
  

Anya’s rise to prominence causes family dissension and a break with her boyfriend.  Misjudgements are made, leaving Anya in serious trouble.  When the misfortune escalates it forces her to depend upon others to solve her problems.
    

Readers will enjoy the final saga of Anya’s story. They will find a good story line as well as romance and a sense of satisfaction for Anya as she proves herself to the world.

Summary: This is the finale in the Birthright series, about eighteen-year-old Anya, who tries to make chocolate a legal business.  She has had a hard life as a teenager, and now she is trying to turn things around and enter the work world while still parenting her younger brother and sister.
           

Chocolate-Fiction                                     --Linda McNeil