Customer Reviews
Magical and mesmerising - By: Suzie, 27 Nov 2008 
The reviews on Amazon serve to illustrate just how much the enjoyment of a book is a matter of personal taste. For me, this book was magical in alll senses of the word. I absolutely loved it, & would go so far as to say that it has to be one of my favourite books of this year.
It probably helps to have read `Chocolat', as the book follows the story of Vianne, now Yanne, & Anouk (Annie) four years on, when they have moved to Paris with Rosette, Vianne's second child. Yanne takes on a rather dull chocolate shop in Montmartre. It remains dull & attracts few customers as Vianne seems to have lost the spirit & enthusiasm of her time in Lansquenet. She doesn't even make her own chocolates, & seems to encourage the attentions of Thierry, her staid & rather pompous landlord, seeing in him a secure future for herself & her children.
It takes the apparently selfless & irresistible Zozie de l'Alba to befriend Yanne & Annie & transform the shop into a colourful, thriving business where even the resistive locals congregate for a cup of hot chocolate & a chat.
The reader knows from the start that Zozie is not what she seems. But Yanne & Annie are unaware of her duplicity & trust her implicitly. As a result, the tension becomes almost unbearable as Zozie's motives are slowly revealed. Only Roux & Annie's school friend Jean-Loup seem to sense anything of the underlying treachery beneath the bewitching exterior.
What reallly makes this book so special for me though is Joanne Harris's beautiful, poetic prose. The bitter scent of Yanne's hand-made chocolate, mingled with cardamom, cinnamon, & chilli drifts from the page. Montmartre, its squares populated by artists, is so real that you imagine yourself walking through the streets alongside Annie. You sense Annie's unease & isolation at school, & feel the snowflakes, thick & silent, that muffle the sounds of the city.
It is easy to see why Zozie's glamour & contempt for convention are so seductive to the young Annie. But as the glamour increases so does the dangerous web Zozie weaves around Yanne.
I was mesmerised by this book. It's intriguing, worrying, & ultimately satisfying. Read it & see what you think.
Seductive and a little Sinister - By: booklover, 25 Nov 2008 
It starts out as Vianne (now Yanne) working in a chocolate shop buying chocolate to sell on & her daughter Anouk(now Annie) & her 4 year old daughter Rosette. Their daily lives are constant, poor, stable & boring. Along Comes Zozie & changes their existence into a more colourful life; a life to be lived! She encourages Yanne to make her own chocolates again & the Chocolaterie comes alive. Altough Zozie is not who she seems, she seduces alll the locals into the shop through Yannes chocolate & her magic. Yanne is afraid of the wind of change & trys to keep at bay alll the magic that she used to invoke; she just wants a normal life but she realizes that she cannot change who she reallly is & little by little we see the real Vianne Rocher shine through altough she doesn't reallly shine through until the end of the book. As Zozie become more vindictive & dangerous, Vianne/Yanne begins to see her for who she reallly is & her influence on her daughter. It is Anouk/Annie that reallly shows her strength in the end.
I don't know what kept me reading this book, alll in alll it was not an amazing read but I reallly enjoyed it & read it through very quickly. Harris writes beautifully & it was full of imagination, sinister with dark magic. I liked the characters & the choclaterie which was full of atmosphere & I can just imagine the little chocolate shop window coming up to christmas. It was a fun read.
A real treat, absolutely unputdownable! - By: marchgirl, 11 Sep 2008 I could not stop reading this fascinating, mesmerising, magical novel by the talented Joanne Harris. It wove a spell over me (for the 48 hours it took to read at any rate) as seductive & tantalising as a cup of Vianne's hot chocolate.
Beautifully written & characterized, I was sorry to finish it.
Another magical tale of chocolate and love - By: LM Berry, 04 Sep 2008 What an amazing follow-on from Chocolat. Set four years later, this book marks the continuing narrative of Vianne Rocher (now going by the name of Yanne). Just like in Chocolat Harris continues to write her story in 3 first person narratives, this time we see Anouk giving her account of events, along with a new character Zozie. This form of narrative is used far more successfully in Lollipop Shoes than it was in Chocolat. Seeing events from the perspective of Anouk, still a child, reallly adds flavour to the book - Harris accurately captures alll the struggles that a teen can go through with family & friends - it will have you sympathizing with her interpretation of the world.
Magic features more obviously in this book, compared to the hint of Vianne's magical abilities in Chocolat, which adds a colourful streak to the story that will leave you wanting more each time you read. The tension in the book is immediate, as you realize the significance of the new mesmerizing character Zozie, & urge those in the story to also see this. The tension continues to build as the story moves forward & makes you long to know how it will alll end & what will happen to the characters that you come to love.
I can highly recommend this to alll that enjoyed Chocolat, as it will make you see how much more Harris can amaze you with her writing.
Not amazing, not dreadful..... - By: Teresa White, 31 Aug 2008 
.....just a bit disappointing. I got reallly excited about this & bought it hardback as soon as it came out, however I don't feel it matched up to Joanna Harris's other works. Don't get me wrong, its well written, the descriptions of the chocolate still make your mouth water, & the magic is ever present, there is just something missing. I loved Vianne's unique & quirky character in 'Chocolat' but in lollipop shoes there is something that doesn't quite follow. A must if you've read Chocolat, but probably very frustrating if you haven't.
