ARC Review: Vanilla Clouds by Roe Horvat

Blurb:

Sex and chocolate are the two pleasures Michał enjoys most in life.

His sex life has been nonexistent for some time, though. After a particularly bad hookup, he keeps mostly to himself. That leaves chocolate. Luckily, he works surrounded by the most delicious, extravagant produce in Gothenburg. Beside his job at the chocolaterie, his main source of excitement is his online friend, Magnus, whom he stubbornly refuses to meet in person.

A customer turns up at the chocolaterie one day—tall, shy, and charming. He could be just the right man. If Michał can step out of his overly safe shell, there might be not only chocolate, but sex, too. Maybe chocolate-flavored sex. And if he’s lucky, maybe even love.

Dani's rating:

I'm a big fan of Roe Horvat's work. Their voice is unique and true; something about their writing feels ... foreign, different, other. And that's great praise, not criticism. Why sound like everyone else when you can sound like you? I love Horvat's vision, the way pain and happiness mingle mere breaths apart.

Vanilla Clouds is the fluffiest story Horvat's written thus far, and it's beautiful.

I loved absolutely everything about this book:

- Swedish setting (Any time a M/M romance is set somewhere other than the States or UK is like the first day of a tropical vacation for me. I get so fucking excited, I want to scream and run around naked.)

- Polish MC with parents who aren't homophobic bigots (Yes, they exist, my parents being a prime example.)

- Swedish MC with a beard who falls head over heels for a man he's never met—not physically anyway, because Magnus knows Michał's heart and soul





- CHOCOLATE (Wild cherries dipped in white chocolate with a hint of dark, hot chocolate made the real way, chocolates with sea salt and pecans, chocolates with goat cheese, and chocolates with chili ... Michał is a chocolatier and loves it all.)

- SEX (slow burn, longing ... until Michał can't take it anymore and practically begs Magnus to fuck him)

- The most adorable (and forgivable) deception of all time

- Chocolate AND sex

- Lena, Michał's roommate, a kickass (literally) woman who compassionately makes Michał olive martinis. Because nothing says comfort like alcohol.

- Cutest damn HEA in the history of all HEAs

This is the sweetest morsel of a story. I read it twice because, much like chocolate, one taste wasn't nearly enough.

P.S. Michał is pronounced Mee-how, with the accent on the first syllable and a rough H.

Get the book:

You can't get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.

~C.S. Lewis

An ARC of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Download links are provided as a courtesy and do not constitute an endorsement of or affiliation with the book, author, publisher, or website listed.