Tales From the Chocolate Heart #2

The Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis

Publication Date: November 6, 2018

Summary from NetGalley:

Silke has always been good at spinning the truth and storytelling. So good that, just years after arriving in the kingdom as a penniless orphan, she has found her way to working for the most splendid chocolate makers in the city as a master promoter. Although Silke loves her work at the Chocolate Heart, she’s certain it’s not going to last, and what Silke wants more than anything is somewhere to call home–somewhere safe. But when your best friend is a dragon-turned-hot-tempered-girl, trouble is always right around the corner.

Then Silke gets the opportunity she’s been waiting for: the Crown Princess personally asks her to spy on the Elfenwald royal family during their first visit to the kingdom. In return, Silke will have the home she’s always wanted in the secure palace. But Silke has her own dark, secret reasons for not trusting fairies . . . and her mission isn’t as simple as she hoped. Soon, she discovers that her city is in danger–and that maybe it’s more her home than she ever realized.

Can Silke find out the truth about the fairies while keeping her own secrets hidden?

Arc provided by Bloomsbury Children via Netgalley for an honest review. 

To see my review of the first book in this series go here.

Confession:

This book was so much fun and really made me crave hot chocolate! (In fact I’m drinking some now as I write this)   It was a lot of fun reading Silke’s story.  She was one of my favorites from the first book.  I can’t remember how much of her back story we got in the first book, but this story just suited her personality so well. 

Silke continues to be a brave young lady, that can talk her way into and out of many difficult situations.  She is a storyteller and very good at her craft.  Like Aventurine, she is fiercely protective of her family and her friends.  She does have a bit of a prickly relationship with her brother, but when the stakes are high he remains protectively by her side. 

We see a bit more of the Crown Princess and her sister Princess Sophie in this book.  I liked both of them and admired how strong the Crown Princess could be.  Sophie was not always a pleasant character, but she does grow on you and you end up liking her by the end of the book.  

The Elfenwald are not a very nice group of people.  They rule with terror and by controlling others with their magic.   Their distrust of the dragons is because they feel powerless against them.  Not totally rational, but you know, sometimes that is the way people feel about each other.  Plus the dragons would just eat them when they got too bothersome. 

The plot was wonderful and full of chocolate of course.  Silke just wants to get her parents back and has trouble seeing that she needs her friends to help her.  She refuses to talk about her parents and what happened to them,  if she had been honest from the start, things might have gone a little differently though.  She goes through a journey that helps her learn that family isn’t just the people you are related to.

A very enjoyable book, especially when you count the dragons and chocolate!