Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Vanilla Clouds 
AUTHOR: Roe Horvat
NARRATOR: Vance Bastian
PUBLISHER: Self Published
RELEASE DATE: December 10, 2018
LENGTH: 3 hours, 45 minutes
BLURB:
“I could spend days listening to you talk about chocolate.”
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.
REVIEW:
Full disclosure; I wasn’t going to pick this book up. It wasn’t on my reading plans. Nowhere near it in fact. Then I needed something to listen to, and this book just sat there, looking at me. But I was hesitant, going back and forth. In the end I decided to give the book a cance. In less than a minute in I was hooked, entranced spellbound. And if I’d had a single brain cell not occupied by this book it would have called me soo many bad names for hesitating to pick up this book. It was cute. It was sweet, it was fun. And you might have guessed it, but I loved every second of it!
Michał is a sweetheart. A bit, okay very, gun-shy after his last hookup a couple of years ago got a bit rough and he ended up in hospital with bruises and a broken wrist. He’s still looking (from a distance) for love, longs for that connection, but his wariness is strong and he does not trust easily. One person he does trust is Magnus, the guy he “met” on Grindr a few years back. Magnus who’s also safe to crush on as he lives in Hamburg. It’s not an insurmountable distance, but it’s far enough to make a relationship difficult. They have never met but text each other every day about the small stuff and the big. Magnus is his best friend, but he’s also someone he’s too afraid to meet. What if the reality doesn’t live up to his expectations?
Michał works in a chocolaterie, and surrounded by the finest of chocolates he can honestly say that he loves his work. One day a customer enters the shop, someone seeming to be enthralled by him, and Michał is equally fascinated by this stranger. A week or so later they run into each other by coincidence. One date leads to another, and the chemistry they have is… phew.
This book is set in Gothenburg, Sweden, with Swedish names and places – and Swedish people. And by this I mean the sit alone in busses people, the I will murder you if you come near me with winter vomiting disease people, worship every ray of sunshine people. Kind of suspicious by nature, but with the warmest of hearts once you get to know us. I loved it, Horvat captured it all with their words and Bastian brought it to life.
I can’t say that this book brought any surprises, it was predictable – at least as far as the overall plot goes. What wasn’t predictable was how much I enjoyed it. It was moving, beautiful. Seeing Michał starting to live, to love was wonderful. Horvat managed to create something that felt unique, despite me knowing what was going to happen next. They made me enjoy the journey and forget about the destination. And isn’t that what it is all about?
Vance Bastian is a new to me narrator. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed listening to him. He truly captured the characters; Michał’s skittish-ness and mistrustfulness. But also his passion for chocolate, his longing for Magnus and confusing feelings towards Bernard. It was all there in his performance. Sure there were a few mispronounced words (English ones), but I can forgive that for the otherwise great performance he just did. I know I’ll definitely pick up more of his narrations in the future.
One thing with this narration made me smile though, and I don’t mean it in a mean or bad way or as any kind of criticism; it just made me smile. And that was when he tried (with varying degrees of success) to pronounce Swedish words, names and places. It was hilarious. That will probably only be noticeable for Swedes and other Scandinavian people, but still, I just had to comment on it. It made me smile. 😉
RATING: 
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