The Chocolate Diaries - A Book Review

Are you a chocolate lover? Do you crave it when you're under stress? Author Karen Scalf Linamen can relate to you.

In The Chocolate Diaries, Linamen tackles some heavy topics with a light touch. She addresses some of her own difficult seasons in life using the chocolate analogy of a rocky road. Throughout the book, others have contributed to the call-out boxes with advice about how they handle their own rocky roads. Each chapter contains part of Linamen’s story, some practical wisdom for someone else in the same situation, as well as a section called “food for thought” that helps the reader process what she has read. Plus, each chapter ends with a recipe for some chocolate concoction.

Linamen writes well, and she does a good job of addressing something specific in each chapter. Much of the book is devoted to processing life as a divorced woman and the challenges of starting over as a single mother. The author talks quite often about dating. I think if I were in a similar situation to the author, I might perceive the book differently.

Some readers will think the book sends a message that drowning our sorrows and stresses in chocolate is okay. In many ways, it does. But it does include biblical counsel as well. There were a few places where the humor crossed a line. For example, on page 104, the author mentions her dog running through the room with a specified birth control device in her mouth. However, the author isn’t clear about whether or not this incident occurred when she was married or single. Since most anecdotes in the book occur when the author is single, this doesn’t come across right.

I know there is an audience for this book, but I just didn’t connect with it. However, I recommend the book for anyone who needs a lighthearted approach to life’s little disappointments and stresses.

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for review purposes. My reviews are objective and honest.

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