The Lollipop Shoes (Chocolat 2): the delightful bestselling sequel to Chocolat, from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris

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Chocolat had only good intentions but Lollipop Shoes shows that the world has evil in it too, even if it is the form of the very glamorous Zozie de l'Alba. Unlike in Chocolat, The Lollipop Shoes sees a more vulnerable side to Vianne; tired of having spent years moving with the wind she is now trying to conform in the hope of providing both her daughters with a stable and safe home. For some time her influence is benevolent, and extends not just to Vianne and her daughters, but to the whole neighbourhood. This has to be one of the best books I have read in a long, long time and I don't think I can rave enough about it.

To me the story is a darker and sadder tale than it's predecessor and while it ends on a realistic enough note, it doesn't completely satisfy you. The gradual build towards the denouement was elegantly done and the magical elements woven in beautifully.Jeane-Loup miraculously figures out the mystery regarding Zozie, a teenage boy, as opposed to a learned witch. She lives in Yorkshire, plays bass and flute in a band first formed when she was sixteen, and works in a shed in her garden. She has many personas, but the one she uses to seduce Vianne and Anouk is charming, bohemian and free-spirited.

In this novel, however, we see her succumb to the inevitable power of the Kindly Ones, having left the French village Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, now she lives in the hub of Paris, amidst the cold hearted conservative Parisians in Montmartre. And I teach Spanish/Latin American cultures, civ's, lit's, so I'm always annoyed when authors "dabble" in those areas--I still haven't really forgiven the author of the Celestine Prophecy. The novel as a stand alone book, works well, it’s an easy read with nothing particularly difficult to understand, but as the second novel of a pre-established book it’s a bit too easy of a read. The tension builds up and up, then all sorts of things start happening, but at a certain point the whole thing seems to get stuck in molasses.There were a few other things that I wasn’t all that fond of, but I’ll keep it short so it doesn’t end up being a list of dislikes, because as much as I do complain, I finished the book which usually means there was something worth reading in it.

This time she has cast herself as Zozie de l’Alba, a suspiciously charming woman who sees in Anouk the simmering powers of a child on the edge of adulthood and rebellion. As a reader, you certainly need to be prepared to 'suspend disbelief' in relation to the magical elements of the book but personally I found myself totally invested in the story from the outset. It's five years on, and Vianne Rocher and her two daughters, Anouk and Rosette, have moved into a flat above a chocolaterie in Montmartre. She also spends too much time on Twitter; plays flute and bass guitar in a band first formed when she was 16; and works from a shed in her garden at her home in Yorkshire. In The Lollipop Shoes, Vianne and her two daughters Anouk and Rosette, are now running a Chocolaterie located on a cobbled street of Montmatre; the last village in Paris.So all else I can say is that there is more magic in this book, but it is darker magic, not the fey goodwill from the first book.