Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore

 

 

Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore is a book after my own heart and soul. I chose it, mainly because it stood for something so completely different than what I read, and because of the title. The title is intriguing and sucks you in (or at least it did me) to the story at hand. A story of the link between childhood and adulthood. That moment every teenager reaches where they are in limbo between both of those worlds. Not quite in one, but not quite part of the other.

Chocolates for Breakfast stars a young woman named Courtney in this very dilemma. She is still on the very outskirts of childhood, has still some of the same values, some of the same innocence and morality, but is not quite into adulthood. It doesn't help that her parents seem to even forget she exists in the midst of their own very busy lives. It seems that Courtney has had to raise herself for quite some time. Her only reprieve from this lonely life of hers is her best friend and Scaisbrooke roommate, Janet Parker. At times, though, Janet is more of a burden than a relief.

Her mother, being informed of Courtney's attitude and subconscious reaction to her dismal life at Scaisbrooke, gives Courtney a choice. She can stay there, or she can move in with her mother and go to school in Beverly Hills. Courtney does not have to give the choice a second thought and immediately takes the latter.

However, the latter does not necessarily mean the better.

Courtney is infinitely changed throughout the chapters of this novel. She faces rejection, poverty, fantasy, lust, and sorrow. She tries to capture sophistication, all the while still trying to fit into her own skin. She grows from a timid girl looking for love, to a woman who has not one but two affairs. She ultimately is just trying to survive and play the part she believes she herself was born to play.

This book was a phenomenal read. It was poetic, obscure, terrifying, and exhilarating all rolled into one. Each character had their own voice, had their own way of being that was enchanting. I was so mesmerized by the world Pamela Moore created and will undoubtedly search high and low for her other works.

I recommend this work to all of you out there who long to have a scandalously wonderful experience.