Mainstream Fiction

Marissa Monteilh

Avon

0-06001-148-3

January 2003

(4+) Nathasha Brooks-Harris

PLOT SYNOPSIS: 

The Chocolate Ship is a never-a-dull-moment, Caribbean adventure. Delmonte Harrison, an African-American entrepreneur-billionaire who purchased a fleet of three ships from a major cruise line, designs them to meet his soulful standards, and then hires a flamboyant bartender, charming comedy promoter, suave captain, foxy cruise director (Tangie Watson) and captivating ship doctor.

REVIEW: 

Mia’s world crashed down around her just three short years ago. The beautiful Reebok executive thought she’d hit romantic paydirt when she met a single and oh so handsome airline pilot. But she was dead wrong when she caught him getting busy with her co-worker.

Not wanting to let go of her “prize package,” Mia slept with him one last time convincing herself that she had done it “to show him what he’d be missing.” She had no idea, but that act foreshadowed her next relationship.

Hurt and vulnerable, none of that mattered to her because she decides to move on with her love life. The nameless pilot isn’t out of her head or her heart when she gets her mack on with a cutie at the post office. Miles Lewis upsets her world so badly that she doesn’t get the stamps she needed to mail off her mother’s overdue birthday present.

During the main part of the story, Mia is unsure of how Miles feels about her because after three years together, he seems unsure of wanting to commit to her. She decides to take his non-committal attitude in stride and not worry about it until she comes back from a cruise on the new Chocolate Ship with her girlfriends.

The Chocolate Ship is an upscale cruise to the Caribbean, founded by black billionaire, Delmonte Harrison. Fantasy and escape on the Afrocentric trip are the order of the day when he created the theme for the cruise. Mia, Miles and their friends embark on the supership’s maiden voyage and non-stop drama ensues. Secrets are revealed, sins are committed and there’s more sex going on than in any off-the-road hotel.  Miles disappears frequently and doesn’t act like a man who’s in love and that baffles Mia. She doubts his love and fidelity, so to get back at him, she charms Delmonte Harrison—the best catch on the luxury liner.

Mia’s torn between her love for Miles and the chance to couple with the mega-rich, fine Harrison. She also has to decide if she should tell one of her honeymooning friends that her husband was having headboard-banging sex with a hoochie right next door to Mia.

Monteilh’s sophomore novel is an excellent follow-up to her debut novel, May-December Souls. The Chocolate Ship is a good read and a definite page-turner. There’s more drama in this novel than on the most popular daytime soap opera.

The characters are well-drawn and three-dimensional.  They’re story people whom readers will either love or hate. This cast of characters is a colorful lot and will offer periods of comic relief.  Megan, for example, is a shameless white woman with a serious taste for chocolate. For her, any black man is fair game—married, single or engaged. Some of the most comedic scenes are when Megan puts the move on some unsuspecting man.

Other interesting characters include the twin sisters, Yanni and Lexi, and Winter, the freaky news reporter assigned to cover the ship’s maiden voyage.  She lives by her own code of ethics and makes Megan look virginal by comparison.

The captain of the ship, James Douglas, is another wonderful character. Articulate, intelligent and from an impressive military background, he is a man’s man. He’s also a prime target for the many desperate sisters on a manhunt aboard the ship. He is placed in some precarious positions, but he handles them all with grace and style. His character was so well done that perhaps (hopefully) readers will see him as the hero in a future novel.

The plot of The Chocolate Ship feels almost new because there aren’t a lot of cruise novels written from a black point-of-view.  The plot is on point and very well-developed. Readers will be on the edge of their seats while reading this quick-paced novel and they’ll be thrilled with the characters’ growth over the course of the novel. 

Monteilh has written a definite, light-hearted pageturner that should be read by readers looking for a fun book.

nathasha@romanceincolor.com (23rd January 2003)