Blood & Chocolate

by Mark Zero

When Marnie Hawthorne inherits her family fortune: a candy empire built on the world-famous Hawthorne Toffee Bar, she also inherits the dark secret her reclusive grandmother concealed for half a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933975008
• ISBN13: 9781933975009
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Giant Publishing
• Length: 364 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Blood and Chocolate

This book was very interesting. I happen to know the author so that makes it more intereting. It is also "loosely" based on a town that I know. I really enjoyed the book and could hardly put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone. Mark Zero is a very good author.

Fine yarn that carries you along

Blood & Chocolate is a superb story about a toffee empire and the cursed Hawthorne family to whom that empire is tied. The novel is full of things like extra-marital affairs, murders, family secrets, shady inheritances, insanity, etc., however it is not to be mistaken for a cheap mass-market thriller. The writing is at a pace that matches the setting and allows the reader to be swept away by the story. There are several classic film references dotted throughout the text which for me was a special treat. Marnie Hawthorne could not really be called the protagonist but she is by far the most interesting character in the story. She lived a quiet life in England until her grandmother Dorothy passes and leaves Marnie the Hawthorne Toffee empire. I'm always fascinated by stories of people whose lives changed drastically and how they react to that change. The way Marnie deals with this new phase in her life is by no means predictable and she will keep you intrigued like she does the members of the small community she is now a part of. I recommend this story to anyone who likes a fine yarn that is well-written and interesting.

a sumptuous feast of love and mystery

Blood & Chocolate is a gripping story of love, obsession and the mysteries of the human heart. The novel's tense, unpredictable plot made it hard to put down and its beautiful language swept me into the complex lives of its characters. As a fan of classic American literature, I appreciated the richness of Blood & Chocolate on many different levels: like the best romances, it's a tale of crossed destinies and passionate longing. Like the best mysteries, it keeps its secrets until the very end, and when you do learn the secret at the heart of the novel, it becomes even more mysterious in your memory and imagination. I couldn't wait to get home from work and read another chapter, and I was sad when it ended. Even after I finished the novel, it gave me a lot to think about and enjoy. I recommend it highly.

an epic that feels intimate

Blood & Chocolate is a beautiful, provocative and moving book. It tells the story of the Hawthornes, the most prominent family in the small town of Templeton and the inventors of a world-famous candy bar. The head of the family, Henry, is just a chocolate shop owner till he hits on the recipe for a delicious toffee that catches on like wildfire and makes him millions of dollars. His wealth transforms his family and the town, as Hawthorne Toffee becomes Templeton's largest employer. However, the Hawthornes have a closet full of skeletons that complicate matters, both for them and the people who depend on them for their livelihood. The story begins when Marnie Hawthorne inherits the family fortune. Jon, a reporter from the local paper, is sent to interview her, and what happens between them unexpectedly changes the course of their lives and affects almost everyone in Templeton. Meanwhile, Jeremiah, an old codger who knows all about the Hawthornes' dirty laundry, watches the drama unfold, and it's through him that we get the full depth and richness of the Hawthorne family saga, a fascinating story of four generations of intrigue, affairs and secrets. Blood & Chocolate is an extension of the literary tradition of Poe, Melville and, of course, Nathaniel Hawthorne (unlike Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing, though, Mark Zero's prose is compulsively readable, witty and engaging). It's a portrait of small town life, as sharp in its observations as Sinclair Lewis's "Main Street." Finally, it's a very moving romance, and the care the novel takes in describing the town so vividly and exploring the internal lives of the characters so realistically is amazing. One of the best books I've read this year.

engrossing and hard to put down

The thing that most affected me about Blood & Chocolate is how alive and real the characters and settings are. When you're reading it, you feel like you're actually living in the town of Templeton: you can see the strange ghostly decor of the Hawthorne Mansion and smell the chocolate from the toffee factory and it begins to seem like you have your own memories of walking around the town square. The plot is gripping and the ending is spooky and great, but it's the kind of book i didn't want to end because i didn't want to leave Templeton