Скачать книгу

p>

      SHEILA ROBERTS is married and has three children. She lives on a lake in the Pacific Northwest. When she's not hanging out with her girlfriends or hitting the dance floor with her husband, she can be found writing about those things dear to women's hearts: family, friends and chocolate.

      You can visit Sheila at her website, www.sheilasplace.com. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

      Better than Chocolate

      Sheila Roberts

       www.mirabooks.co.uk

      Hi, one and all!

      Welcome to Icicle Falls, my ideal town. This place has it all: breathtaking scenery, quaint shops, people who understand the importance of pulling together when the going gets tough, laughter, romance and, best of all, a chocolate factory. (Does it get any more ideal than that?)

      I hope you'll enjoy your time with the Sterling women and their friends. These are my kind of women—women who dare to dream and then work hard to make those dreams come true—because where would we be without dreams? And where would we be without our mothers, sisters and girlfriends, those special people who understand us and love us in spite of our flaws? I don't know and I don't want to know.

      I dare you to get all the way through this book without eating so much as a bite of chocolate. I couldn't! I hope you'll find me on Facebook and Twitter, and stop by my website, www.sheilasplace.com.

      Happy reading!

       Sheila

      For Lilly-Anne, Pat and the gang at

      A Book for All Seasons in Leavenworth, Washington

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      Sometimes when we think of an author writing a novel we envision the poor thing hunched over a keyboard for hours on end, staring at a computer screen, all by herself, consuming vast quantities of chocolate, growing fat on her hips. Oh, my gosh, that's me!

      Except writing isn't always a solitary pursuit. After all, a girl has to do research. And this is the part of the book where I get to thank the people who helped me with that research. I owe a big thank you to my long-suffering husband for sharing his banking expertise and doing copious research to help me try and get my business details correct. Also, a huge thank you to Laura at Bainbridge Island City Hall for explaining all the work that goes into putting on a community event. When it comes to community events, Bainbridge knows how to do it. Big thanks to Brett at Theo Chocolate in Seattle for being so willing to answer all my questions about what goes into running a chocolate company. They do it right over there. Thanks to my Facebook friends and fans who sent me recipes—wish there was room in this book for every one of them. To the brain trust—Susan Wiggs, Anjali Banerjee, Kate Breslin and Elsa Watson—you girls rock. And finally, huge thanks to the gang at the Chamber of Commerce in Leavenworth, Washington, for making their resources available to me—the history of how your town built itself into a charming alpine village and successful tourist destination is truly inspiring. Icicle Falls is the closest I can come to a tribute.

      Contents

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Chapter Twenty-Four

       Chapter Twenty-Five

       Chapter Twenty-Six

       Epilogue: Dreams Coming True

       Extract

       Recipes from the Sterlings

       The Chocolate Rose White Chocolate Truffle

       Bailey’s Chocolate Truffle Trifle

       Icicle Falls Moose Munch

       White Lavender Fudge

       Bear Droppings

      Chapter One

      Manage your relationships well and your business will go well. Because what, after all, is business but a relationship with some dollar signs attached?

      —Muriel Sterling, Mixing Business with Pleasure: How to Successfully Balance Business and Love

      Samantha Sterling sat next to her mother in the first pew of Icicle Falls Community Church and fought back the urge to jump up, run to the front of the sanctuary, grab her stepfather, Waldo, by the neck and throttle him. She didn’t, for two reasons. One, a girl didn’t do things like that in church. Still, she could have overcome her reservations if not for the second reason—God had already taken Waldo out. Waldo was

Скачать книгу