Fiction
May 2022
CHOCOLATE BURNOUT
Chocolate 4 Life
by Emunah La-Paz
Chantel Reed is a successful human resources professional in Seattle who has a hard time with relationships. She has drifted from her friends Astrid and Serenity after the death of their friend Alison; her oldest sister, Daria, the family’s maternal figure, is prickly and controlling; and she finally breaks up with her slacker boyfriend, Cameron, after she finds him cooking dinner for another woman in her apartment. Astrid and Serenity have different ideas about how Chantel should move on after the breakup. Chantel, who has always dated black men, is initially hesitant when Brandon, a white guy, asks her out. She quickly falls for him, and they come close to marriage despite push back from her family and racism from his. But when Brandon and Daria ask an attractive black man to test Chantel’s loyalty, her trust in everyone is shattered. Chantel enters a self-destructive spiral that wreaks havoc on her professional and personal lives in search of the history behind broken relationships past and pressent, within her secrative family. Emunah La-Paz brings this cast of characters to life on the page, with each one somehow more memorable than the last. They bring to light a comment on interracial relationships that is just as enjoyable to read as it is poignant. An intro to the prequel. Featuring Chocolate Recipe and upcoming chocolate website from the characters. Redvelvetseattle.com
