It’s always lovely when Laura Florand does a giveaway to celebrate the release of a new book – because there’s often chocolate involved, and today is no exception!
To celebrate the release of All For You and the launch of her new series set in Paris, Paris Hearts, Laura Florand is offering a box of delicious French chocolates that she says are, “worthy of her chocolatier heroine CĂ©lie.”
Information about the book? But of course! Here is the cover copy:
Some crushes aren’t meant to be
When her older brother’s best friend left to join the Foreign Legion, eighteen-year-old Célie moved on to make a life for herself as a Paris chocolatier. Now, five years later, the last thing she needs is another man to mess up her happiness.
Let alone the same man.
But five years in the Foreign Legion is a long time for a man to grow up, and a long time to be away from the woman he loves. Especially when he did it all for her.
Half strangers, more than friends, and maybe, if Joss Castel has his way, a second chance…
But wait, there’s more:Â Chocolats du Cali Bressan was born out of romance when French chocolatier Jean-Michel Carre moved to California for the sake of his homesick American wife and they founded this shop. Laura has been hooked on his chocolates and his ever-amazing caramel Buddhas ever since her brother discovered the shop on a bike trip and sent her a box.
Laura says that it’s a pleasure to share his incredible chocolates with readers, so she’s giving away a box to one lucky person, along with a copy of her new book, All For You.
(Wow. Those are gorgeous.)
Standard disclaimers apply: I’m not being compensated for this giveaway (I do get to look at the picture and try to control my stomach growling, though!). Void where prohibited. Must be over 18 and prepared for decadent treats to win.
As usual with chocolate giveaways, this is only open to US residents (sorry, y’all) since fine artisan chocolates like this are very dependent on an individual chocolatier’s belief that they can be shipped in good condition to your address (and on no personal emergency interfering in his own chocolate making). Laura Florand reserves the right to replace with a box of similar value from a different chocolatier if it becomes necessary.
But for international residents outside the US, we have a prize for you, too. Laura will send a copy of All for You, print or digital, to you wherever in the globe you are! Alas, we cannot send chocolate, too, but we don’t want to leave you all out – that’s no fun.
To enter, please leave a comment below! Comments will close Friday May 8 at 12pm ET, and winner will be selected by random integer that same day.
(I’m still looking at that box of chocolates. How are the lips so shiny? How does that work?)
(I think I just gained a pound. Or three. Just from looking.)
Now Laura wants to know: What are some of your own favorite chocolates? Do you have a good chocolatier in your area? She’s always eager for more recommendations.
We have winners! The winner of the box of chocolates is Stephanie B. and the international winner of a copy of All For You is Tarja! Congratulations to the winners, and thank you for entering!
We are starting to get more chocolatiers in the City where I live, but my favourites are still in Toronto, Soma (specializing in bean to bar and their Mexican Hot Chocolate is sinful), Stube (their shop smells like heaven) and Odile (especially the caramels) are among my favourites. Every once in awhile my husband and I go into the City on a chocolate tour to stock up on supplies :-).
Love all things Laura! Super generous and a great author to boot. We have a local family owned chocolate shop called Jo-mart…and Jacques Torres!
Lindt makes (used to make?) these chocolate and cardamom truffles during the holidays. So good. Also good – tootsie rolls!
Who doesn’t love a good romance and some chocolate? My two favorite things!
My favorite local chocolate maker went out of business recently. The horror! Now I just have to wait for the Easter season to roll around again for Zitner’s Butter Krak eggs.
I like the Godiva truffles! Can’t wait to read the book, Laura!
I’m easy. I’m good with a Hershey bar.
There’s a chocolate B&B on a nearby island (yes, really) and they had a booth at a Christmas market last year, with jars of gorgeous homemade chocolates. I asked the vendor to tell me her favourite, and she picked one and told me to stand by myself while I ate it so I could savour it. I was like, Er, okay… and wandered off, chocolate in hand, then found myself alone in a corner. I ate the chocolate and she was right – it was one of those “I need to think about nothing but this” moments, it was so good.
I regularly pick up one of the dark chocolate bars in the shiny purple wrappers at Trader Joe’s…we also like Ritter chocolate bars with hazelnuts.
YUM! Chocolate and Laura Florand is always a winning combination.
William Dean in the Tampa Bay Area makes wonderful chocolate but you can’t beat Fresh Market for a quick fix (Teuscher! Madecasse!)
No really good local chocolates here, unfortunately. But, I am very fortunate in that my husband likes to keep me supplied with a box or two of See’s chocolates at all times (sometimes I share). See’s butterscotch are my favorites! 🙂
Fannie May’s Chocolate covered cherries. YUMM! And their Easter eggs used to be the best. They’ve changed hands and aren’t made locally (Chicago area) anymore so they’ve declined sadly but there is something about biting into a chocolate and getting a mouthful of gooey fondant and cherry. Sigh.
I need to find a good chocolate shop now! I love the See’s California Brittle and anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate.
Those chocolates look like delicious works of art! Looking forward to reading the new book!
So many good chocolatiers! So much chocolate! I recently discovered Chocolati – their drinking chocolate is delicious.
Jacques Torres, but I like Lindt too.
A new Florand book is always a cause for celebration!
This sounds like the recipe for the perfect weekend- a good book and a box of chocolate.
I used to drive through Asheville on my way to my parents’ house, and I’d always stop at The Chocolate Fetish. While I love living near them again, I miss stopping there on a regular basis….
When I lived in New Orleans, I used to bring back chocolate from Sucre for my mom and sis. My sister LOVED the dark chocolate with candied violets. They are a little pricey (for my grad student budget anyway), so definitely a gift item. But those chocolates above look DIVINE. My breakfast oatmeal is all sorts of inadequate now.
I have had those chocolate Buddhas from Cali Bressan! Yum!
The book would get high numbers of comments alone, ditto the chocolates. So together? How high can we count?
Those chocolates look divine. I usually eat 85% dark chocolate, but something different every now and then is fun! And the book looks like something I could devour in a day.
Chocolate!
I think my Swiss heritage means that technically there is chocolate in my blood! My favourite chocolates are Swiss of course, in particular those made by Cailler and Frey (sorry Sylvain). Truthfully though I love Laura’s books as much as I love swiss chocolate. Thanks for this giveaway!
A box of chocolates and a second chance story. Yikes! Count me in.
I live in a small town now so there are no chocolate shops. It’s terrible.
But we get to Asheville pretty often and when there I get stocked up at the French Broad Chocolate Factory.
We have a lovely little chocolate shop in our town next door to the library. Lucky me!
My favourite chocolates come from Laderach http://www.laederach.com/ch-en/ (super expensive so mostly I get these on my birthday) and I have a fondness for the beurre de sel and the champagne truffles.
I love Munson’s, a local Connecticut chain. They’re not as fancy as Godiva, but tasty. When I can find them, I love Salazon dark-chocolate bars with their sprinkle of sea salt. They’re made from organic, Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade certified. I’m supporting the planet by eating chocolate — definitely a win/win!
Gorgeous chocolates and a new Laura Florand book? YES PLEASE!!!!!!!
(p.s. Choosing a favorite chocolate is like choosing a favorite child – just plain wrong. I love them all. 🙂 )
I believe Abdullah is in the Minneapolis area, have not tried their chocolates but had a caramel once and it was very good.
I know not chocolate, but I love the jars of salted caramel from Trader Joe’s.
congratulations on the release! Thanks for the opportunity!
We have a great local chocolatier. However, my favorite of her confections is actually her caramel. She makes a sea salt, chocolate covered caramel to die for! Special occasions only or I would go broke buying them (and a larger wardrobe)!
My favorite is always the Dark Chocolate Truffle filled with Chocolate Ganache, dusted with cocoa powder.
Locally, we have Urban Dwellers Chocolates, Fancy Moose Chocolates and brought in from Seattle: Seattle’s Best Chocolate-an excellent chocolate with plenty of variety.
This story sounds so very good…it might linger in the mind the way a good chocolate does on the tongue!
So many good chocolatiers in Minnesota. I especially like Chocolate Celeste and BT McElraith
I have hardly met a chocolate I didn’t like, as long as it was dark. I often gift people with Lake Champlain Chocolates from Vermont when I want to make a “local chocolate” statement. Very local to me is Tazo Chocolate; one can even tour the factory. So far they seem to make flavored solid chocolate bars in some very interesting flavors.
My absolute favorite is Wittamer in Belgium, although Mary’s and Pierre Marcolini don’t far fall behind. I end up lugging tons of chocolate back every time I visit!
In the States, I love Chocolati cafes in Seattle for their sinfully rich and decadent hot chocolate. Try the Dark Vader with raspberry!
There are several chocolate shops in my town, plus some grocery stores carry gourmet chocolate made in Switzerland.