I just love Jo Thomas's books and can never get enough of them, the pages of this book whizzed by and before I knew it they had come to the end. Loved the story and the bravery of Clara moving to Switzerland with a new love and then it all falls apart. Clare is determined and wont give up and the chocolate's well I tasted every one on each step of the course. Will Clare find happiness ? well read it and see.
Loved it
My thanks as always to Netgalley and Publisher Random House UK, Transworld Publishers | Penguin of course the lovely Jo Thomas who makes dull day bright with her amazing stories.

The perfect combination of romance, chocolate and the beauty of Switzerland! I loved every page.
This looks at the scary but exciting leap of moving somewhere new with someone new and finding out what's most important

Another fantastic read from Jo Thomas combining romance and culinary delights . Be whisked CV off to the Swiss Alps where Clara , looking for a different life, embarks on a course to become a chocolatier. It is not without its ups and downs as you would anticipate. Come smell the chocolate and taste the experience. It will have you reaching for the chocolate box

Another brilliant Book from Jo Thomas!
40 year old , newly redundant HR manager Clara is fed up of her old life. A relatively new boyfriend Daniel is moving to Switzerland with his job and on a whim she decides to go with him. Enrolling on a chocolate making course at a renowned chocolate school she soon finds she has joined a very different chocolate course.
This is the perfect Christmas read, beautiful scenery , plenty of snow , interesting characters and a storyline with plenty of twists and turns .
Full of friendship, community, love, and a bit of cheese !
Highly recommended, I couldn’t put it down
Thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House Uk and Jo Thomas for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

At 40 years old, redundant HR manager Clara takes a leap of faith and decamps to Switzerland with a man she barely knows, enrolling in a chocolate course until she decides what to do next with her life. But both her new relationship and her course prove more challenging than she is expecting. Will either work out for her?
This was a typical Jo Thomas Christmas book, full of warmth, passion and flavour as she explores the world of the chocolatier in the crisp, snowy setting of Switzerland. There is a lovely range of characters, from Clara herself, to focused Fleur and selfish Sebastien, from forlon Ferederic to Gabriel, local god of the chocolate world, mentor to the schools' pupils, and a man with some challenges of his own.
The setting is wonderful, transporting us to a world of fondue and raclette, ski-ing and sledging, cowbells and churchbells, and, of course, chocolate! It's also a very fast=paced plot, with plenty going on in and out of the chocolate school, including a spot of sabotage.
But in the end, friendship, loyalty and kindness win out.
If Jo Thomas's new novel were a chocolate, it would be silky and rich with an aftertaste of spice, melting in the mouth to leave the reader's heart warm and happy at having sampled it.
There are already Christmas chocolates in the shop - grab a box, grab this book, and get yourself in the mood for a wonderful festive read.

As usual Jo throws all of her magic into a book and makes it sublime. What a read. This is beautiful and a chocolate lovers dream make sure you have some to hand whilst reading this because you will crave it!!

A Recipe for Christmas by Jo Thomas

A perfect read for this time of year.
If you like chocolate & romance ( who doesn't ? ) than you will love this . Great characters , a lovely setting , girl meets boy , and you have a perfect read.
Great.

Clara has never really liked change, but when her boyfriend, Daniel, takes a new job in Switzerland and asks her to go with him, she agrees.
Enrolling on a chocolate making course, she loves chocolate how hard can it be, Clara embraces her new life.
On her first day at her course, Clara feels she may just have bitten off more than she can chew. Chocolate is much more complicated than she thought and the others on the course all seem to have a head start on her. Added to that her home life isn’t what she expected either, Daniel isn’t the man she thought he was. Throw into the mix enigmatic chocolatier Gabriel, and Clara finds herself with a stark choice. Accept that her leap of faith didn’t work out and go home or stay and take yet another chance to change her life for the better.
This is basically Christmas wrapped in a book. It’s got snow, chocolate and a dash of romance. The characters are relatable, the setting is stunning, and you can almost taste the chocolate!

Fed up of her life seemingly going nowhere, Clara makes a decision out of the blue to move to Switzerland with her newly found boyfriend!
What follows is a lovely, wintery tale of friendships, relationships, Christmas and chocolate!
The setting is magnificent, the author describes everything so very well that you will feel you are right there, sipping hot chocolate with the characters.
I love how the friendships develop in this book and the sense of sticking at something, even when it seems the last thing you should be doing.
This book will make you feel happy, it won’t let you put it down. It will make you want to move to Switzerland to make chocolate (or just try all the delicious sounding dishes mentioned in the book!)
A beautiful, heart warming book which you will not want to end (please can we have a sequel to this one!) A story you can totally loose yourself inside and pretend the real world does not exist.
The cover should read: enjoy this book with a delicious hot chocolate and a box of chocolates!

I really enjoyed this book. It was a nice feel good Christmassy book and it involved my favourite thing, Chocolate! I feel like this book was different from others I’ve read and I found it quite interesting. I love Clara’s love for chocolate. I love how the friendships develop in this story, I’d love another book to see how the friendships and relationships develop. I also now want to take a chocolate making class and develop my own box of signature chocolates!

A Recipe for Christmas is a heartwarming Christmas romance that takes readers to the snowy mountains of Switzerland. The story follows Clara, who has always dreamed of a perfect Christmas filled with warmth, loved ones, and delicious food. When her new boyfriend invites her to move to Switzerland, she eagerly agrees, envisioning an idyllic holiday in the Alps.
However, things take an unexpected turn when Clara signs up for a chocolate-making class, only to find herself in a rigorous chocolate-making bootcamp. To add to the surprises, her boyfriend isn’t quite what he seemed. Despite these challenges, Clara begins to make new friends, including the intriguing Gabriel. With all the ingredients for a magical Christmas at her fingertips, Clara sets out to create her dream holiday.

Here's comes Christmas!!🎄

A Recipe for Christmas is utterly gorgeous, it's heartwarming with the most delicious chocolates, yup I'm completely hooked!!

I am a big fan of Jo Thomas's writing, I love her feel-good stories which are always full to the brim with romance and friendship and this is no different, I loved the story of Clara starting again and taking chances, she is proof that you can start again no matter your age. Her journey is one of following your heart, finding your true self, learning to love and respect yourself and taking a step out of your comfort zone which leads to new beginnings and love.

It's a beautiful story and very inspiring, and there is a sweetness and kindness to Clara that you can't help but like, she has a good heart and is supportive though I do feel her kindness wasn't appreciated and even taken for granted at times, and I adore her

There is a lightness to this, especially with the Chocolate BootCamp, which brings a lot of fun scenes which will make you laugh and wonder what on earth Clara has got herself into, It's so much fun to read!

A great feel-good, beautiful book, with the most amazing setting sweetly lovable and very relatable main character and all the joys of the season, a definite must-read!

Another lovely festive book from Jo. I love chocolate too and this book was a much enjoyed fusion of new beginnings, friendships and the creation of all things chocolate.

I love all Jo’s books. It’s always a treat when a new one is published. This one is exceptional and a must for all chocolate lovers. After a whirlwind romance Clara decides to move to Switzerland when her boyfriend is offered a job out there. She manages to be accepted on a course for apprentice chocolatiers. She is desperate to make a go of it but there are challenges which make life complicated for her. While reading this it felt necessary to eat chocolates to live in the moment. Enjoy.

Aww I have the biggest smile on my face after reading this book. It is literally perfection. Christmas and Chocolate.. what more can you want! It's definitely the best combination. Loved this character. Such an easy book to read.

This book is making me crave chocolate so badly. It's a brilliant story.
The views sound amazing and where the writer has described them you can see them in your mind.
I love the idea of 12 dates with another person being like a box of chocolates.
So glad that the person got their sense of taste back.
But I'm sad now that I've finished it can't wait till I can buy it and read it again.
I love the recipes in the back. And look forward to trying them especially the hot chocolate.

“HOW MANY LINDOR CHOCOLATES CAN YOU FIT IN YOUR MOUTH AT THE SAME TIME?”

Clara is feeling stuck. She’s determined to not let her recent redundancy right before Christmas affect her vision for the year ahead, yet she still feels a loss of connection and appreciation after 23 years in the same job. When she examines her life she realizes that she’s just existing instead of living and she’s determined to change and do something adventurous before her 40th birthday in January. Perhaps it was fate to be let go!

Suddenly, Clara finds herself in a new country, in a new apartment and with a new partner facing a very different Christmas. For the first time in 39 years, Clara feels like she has a future.

She enrolled in Ecole Chocolate, hoping new skills would launch her into a new career, but soon discovers that “sometimes things, like chocolate, are not always what you think they’ll be.”
She’s stuck again.

In a desperate attempt to free herself from this familiar feeling, Clara presses the reset button on her new relationship and decides to take each day at a time, chocolate by chocolate. With the help of her mentor, the two realize that they are hiding from something and encourage each other to face the past so that they can move forward.

Armed with all the ingredients for a successful Christmas, can Clara move forward with this new information? Can she whisk up a sweet Christmas?

I loved this exploration about how we consciously and subconsciously hide from things we don’t want to deal with and the danger of thinking we’ve ‘swept them under the carpet’. I was inspired by Clara’s willingness to make changes, ‘pull the plug’ when she discovers that things aren’t as she imagined, and forge ahead when she’s feeling sidelined and bullied. We could all learn from Clara’s determination to carve out the life we want. I also appreciated that the male main character in Switzerland was also flawed and needed Clara to hold a mirror up to his life so that he could see that he was stuck and hiding, too.

Jo Thomas knows exactly how to connect with her readers. Allow yourself to be swept up in this sweet story about taking stock of one’s life and making changes.

I was gifted this copy by Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Oh my, what a wicked combination. Chocolate, friends, romance and Christmas. All rolled into one fabulous book. If you are going to chose only one novel to read this Christmas, make it this one!

This book was a joy to read. Clara goes from novice chocolate lover to apprentice chocolate master, or at least that is the course she signed up for. The descriptions of the mountains in the snow and the clear bright air are beautiful, along with the delicious alpine food and cheese. The chocolate is the star if the book, following Clara and her fellow students through their chocolate lessons was eye opening and so entertaining. Clara breaks down barriers by her joy and tenacity and her kindness thaws the reserve in her flat mates and colleagues. Romance is there, although doesn’t jump off every page - it didn’t need to.

Oh my goodness I am hungry after reading this book! Gorgeous scenery, gorgeous food and gorgeous writing, a Jo Thomas book at Christmas is always a lovely treat!

A Recipe for Christmas is a gorgeous book. It contains all the things you need for a perfect Christmas read - snow, mountains, chalets, chocolate, cheese, friendship and love.
When Clara from HR leaves her long-term job, she takes a leap of faith and moves to Switzerland with Daniel, a man she barely knows. Enrolling on a chocolate school course, she quickly falls in love with all things chocolate.
This book should come with a weight warning. I just wanted to eat chocolate and raclette all the time I was reading it!