In the Age of Love and Chocolate

The first two books in this heart-stopping trilogy by Gabrielle Zevin, All These Things I've Done and Because It Is My Blood, introduced us to timeless heroine Anya Balanchine, a plucky sixteen-year-old having to deal with the problems and responsibilities of a grown woman. Losing her mafia-boss father, her mother and then her grandmother, and being responsible for her sister and brother - not to mention a prison stay for a crime she didn't commit - have taught Anya a lot about life.

Now eighteen, Anya finds that against all odds the nightclub that she opened with her old nemesis, Charles Delacroix, is a huge success and she is on her way to shedding the constraints of her family's criminal past and finding a way to legalize the supplying of chocolate. But Anya has lost Win - the love of her life - as a result of her partnership with his father, Charles. In typical fashion Anya puts the loss of Win behind her, focusing instead on expanding her business. But soon a terrible misjudgement leaves her fighting for her life and for the first time Anya is forced to let people help her.

In the Age of Love and Chocolate showcases the best of Gabrielle Zevin's writing. Full of all the heart of Elsewhere, this is the perfect end to a brilliant romantic dystopian trilogy.