In the Age of Love and Chocolate

By Gabrielle Zevin

Series: Book #3 Birthright/Anya Balanchine
ISBN: 9780374380759
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: October 29th 2013
Number of Pages: 304
Source: Local Library

Goodreads Summary: All These Things I’ve Done, the first novel in the Birthright series, introduced us to timeless heroine Anya Balanchine, a plucky sixteen year old with the heart of a girl and the responsibilities of a grown woman. Now eighteen, life has been more bitter than sweet for Anya. She has lost her parents and her grandmother, and has spent the better part of her high school years in trouble with the law. Perhaps hardest of all, her decision to open a nightclub with her old nemesis Charles Delacroix has cost Anya her relationship with Win.

Still, it is Anya’s nature to soldier on. She puts the loss of Win behind her and focuses on her work. Against the odds, the nightclub becomes an enormous success, and Anya feels like she is on her way and that nothing will ever go wrong for her again. But after a terrible misjudgment leaves Anya fighting for her life, she is forced to reckon with her choices and to let people help her for the first time in her life.

My Rating:  

For readers of this series, I believe most will be happy with this conclusion. What I like most about this series (and specifically this last book) is that we really see our characters grow as people. There is a chapter entitled "I AM WEAK; REFLECT ON THE TRANSFORMATIVE NATURE OF PAIN; DETERMINE THAT MY CHARACTER IS BUILT" that really shows how far Anya has come. At the end of this chapter, we have a conversation between Anya and Mr. Delacroix:

"’One year, I came close to going to Teen Crime Scene Summer, a program for budding criminologists in Washington, DC, but I struck a deal with the acting district attorney that landed me at Liberty Children's instead.’

‘I imagine the experience was character-building for you.’

‘Oh, it was. Enormously.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Though I have had no shortage of character-building experiences in my life.’

‘At this point,’ he said, ‘I think we can safely consider your character built.’”

- In the Age of Love and Chocolate, 219

One thing that separates this series from others is the span of time the books cover. We follow Anya for six years. She starts off as a teenager (16 years) in All These Things I've Done and we stay with her until she really is a young adult - 22 years old. I enjoyed this, as I mentioned above - we are able to watch her grow as a person. Your teenager years up until you become an "adult" at 21 - these are your formative years. This was truly a coming-of-age story. (Because of the age of Anya in this book, I have classified this book as New Adult too).

Anya - I've already touched on her a bit with my "coming-of-age" talk. She certainly makes mistakes as a person, but what young person doesn't?? She learns from her mistakes and moves on. All that she has accomplished at such a young age - truly inspiring. She's very mature for her age and enjoyed her voice in this book (including the asides she includes to foreshadow for the reader).

Loved book 2's cover much better than this one:

Maybe they should have come up with a different cover for Because It Is My Blood since it relates more to this book anyway.

Now, I don't want to give anything away, so I'm not going to include spoilers in this review (until the timeline at the bottom). I must sound like a broken record - I just think almost all of the characters in this book have really grown up. Leo and his wife Noriko take over one of the clubs on the other side of the country and succeed. Little sister Natty even grows up (though there is that silly business with Win). Speaking of Win, man does he change. I was quite upset with him at the end of book 2 (Because It Is My Blood) and about the first half of this book. I couldn't get past his selfish ways in breaking Anya's heart and not supporting her. I have come to terms with this - they had to break up and go their separate ways in order to find themselves. Anya hardens herself and became an international successful businesswoman. More on Win to come.

Yuji's story was heartbreaking and Sophia is truly a sociopath. Poor Theo - I really liked him in book 2. Throughout this book I was rooting for him, but towards the end we don't see much of him (understandable given what happens...) but still sad because he is so lovable and I think he became jaded. 

Think Anya made an excellent decision regarding The Family and Mouse. :) 

One character I have come to really like is Mr. Delacroix. He is able to prove that people can change. His friendship/partnership with Anya is portrayed beautifully and even he gets a happy ending! 

Now for the that half a star away from a perfect score......the relationship between Win and Anya. Just couldn't get over the about face Win does. Some people compared their relationship to Romeo & Juliet and being star-crossed lovers. I didn't really buy into that. 

"Bad girl meets good boy. Ambitious father gets in the middle. Girl chooses business over boy. That kind of thing." - In the Age of Love and Chocolate, 157

That quote describes the relationship better.  To not give the ending away, I find that Win and Anya's interactions seemed unnatural and the ending doesn't really do justice to Anya.  She deserves a strong man that is his own person and can meet her as an equal. I personally don't think that guy is Win. 

One character I don't think we saw enough of was the best friend - Scarlet and her son Felix. Would have liked more on her struggle being a single mom and trying to make it as an actress to boot. 

As everyone probably knows, chocolate is used as an euphemism for a certain illegal drug in our day and age. I personally think it was ingenious: 

"a bit of chocolate never hurt a soul, and I'll sign my name to that on as many prescriptions as you want...Cacao could be used to treat everything from fatigue to headaches, from anxiety to dull skin." - In the Age of Love and Chocolate, 37

Sound familiar?? I'll let you draw your own conclusions. 

A spoiler timeline of the series:

Book 1:
2082 - 16 years old - Anya meets and dates Win; also serves time at Liberty

Book 2:
2083 - 17 years old - Anya is released from Liberty; she then hides out in Mexico and meets Theo

Book 3:
2084 - Anya turns 18 and opens a cacao nightclub 

2085 - She opens more nightclubs; enters a "relationship" with Theo; he proposes & she refuses

2086 - Anya turns 21; marries Yuji and is widowed when he dies shortly after; almost dies herself at the hands of Sophia

2087 - Anya recuperates and spends a summer in Niskayuna with Win & her sister;  The Dark Room is shut down and she wins in court; attends wedding of Mr. Delacroix  to his ex-wife AWWW!