From [b:Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot|64207|Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)|Patricia C. Wrede|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388180354l/64207._SY75_.jpg|505] to [b:Kat, Incorrigible|6609744|Kat, Incorrigible (Kat, Incorrigible, #1)|Stephanie Burgis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348200525l/6609744._SY75_.jpg|6629179], I feel like I've been very loosely following [a:Stephanie Burgis|2172337|Stephanie Burgis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1493999709p2/2172337.jpg]'s novels here and there, not because I don't enjoy her work, but because I love the way they find me (or I find them?). If you've followed me up till now, I guess, you would know that the books I enjoy the most revolve around: magic and romance. When I wander aimlessly around my public libraries' aisles (back before the pandemic), or its websites, those and how intriguing the summary is at the back of the novel are usually the things I look out for when deciding to take a book. All of Stephanie Burgis' books, I have found this way, and I quite enjoy it. For this particular book, the titled piqued my curiosity, and the fact that it was an audiobook with a waiting list my public library offered did not deter me from putting myself on that waiting list.

After listening to someone as masterful as [a:Jim Davis|56083|Jim Davis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208722170p2/56083.jpg] narrating the Harry Potter franchise, it was very difficult to have a voice like [a:Jill Frutkin|17118834|Jill Frutkin|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] narrating Aventurine's thoughts. I thought she (the main character, not the person narrating!) was very haughty more times than she wasn't, especially when she was a dragon. It was difficult not to roll my eyes at her pride. Then, as she moved on with her adventure, it became bearable. The slow realization that she was more than what she had always thought very much reminded me of [b:Howl’s Moving Castle|6294|Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1)|Diana Wynne Jones|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630502935l/6294._SX50_.jpg|2001] where Sophie slowly learns of her own powers, etc.

It was a fun adventure to read through. I don't want to spoil for anything else. I really want to have the rest of the books of this series to devour through, especially as my summer vacation stretches to its end, but I'm not sure I will be able to. I even realize now that there were more books after Kate, Incorrigible, that I MUST read, and I feel very blessed that I will have these for next year if I cannot have the privilege to read through them this week.

I loved everything about this book and can’t wait to read it to my Grade 4 students- adventure, humour, female (and child) protagonist, friendship, rich language, making mistakes and never giving up! Looking forward to more :)

3.5 stars. This was a fun and original read about a dragon who is turned into a girl and becomes a chocolate maker’s apprentice. A little bit of magic, but mostly friendship and self-discovery.

This book is such a fun read. Love the fact that the dragon became a human and her hunger for chocolate and wanting to make the best hot chocolate ever by being an apprentice for a perfectionist chocolatier. She met a few great people and felt that humans are not that bad as what her grandfather told her. I can't spoil to much. You will all have to read it to find out.

Really wanted to like this one. Magic? Dragons? Chocolate? I love all of those things! But this book.... the writing just didn't do it for me. Maybe it was the first-person narrative? Maybe it was just a few too many moments where I thought she was foreshadowing something that never ended up happening? Maybe it was all of the times she says things like "a tall redbrick building, with scattered squares of clear glass dotted around its front..." because apparently she knows the word for "buildings" but not "windows"?

I loved it, or most of it for what it matters. The protagonist is just awesome, strong but not in that cliché way that "strong female characters" can easily fall into, she is strong because she is discovering who she is, what she wants and respecting it rather than hiding it, and this, my friends, is awesome. Beside... she is making hot chocolate. So. Dragons. Hot chocolate. I challenge anyone to find a better combination of wonderfulness!
(It's for middle grade, so... don't expect the complexity of Lord of the Rings, the intended audience shows, for me it is in no way a problem, but I suppose it could be for some people).