Chocolate Rabbit by Petra Sabine Manning
Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. ISBN 978-0-8059-7817-9

Nikki Fisher was born Monika Groebel in East Germany after WW II. She was a child of privilege but even this did not guarantee a happy life. Chocolate Rabbit, by Petra Sabine Manning and published by Dorrance Publishing, is the story of how Monika became Nikki. It is a story filled with history, culture, politics, ethics and love.
Monika and her parents escaped to West Germany. One day her father disappeared. Then her mother died . Now an orphan she was adopted by an American family who took her to their home in Chicago. An opportunity to work as a translator takes her back to Europe. Once there, she reconnected and confronted her past. Unanswered questions were finally answered but her quest placed her life in grave danger.
This is an exciting book . The characters are vividly brought to life and they are central to this intriguing story. The power of this book is that it is captivating and holds the interest of the reader.

I received a complimentary copy of Chocolate Rabbit as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team and I give this review of my own free will. ( )

“Chocolate Rabbit” is a fine work of fiction written by Petra Sabine Manning and published by Dorrance Publishing. A strong foundation of plot is laid when the main character, Monica Groebel, is about six years old. She lived in a small village in eastern Germany during the Cold War with her family. Her father was a wealthy jeweler who refused to submit to communism, and this forced her family to flee to the west.

After their escape, her father went missing, presumed dead, and when her mother died of cancer; Monica was cared for by relatives until her adoption by an American couple. From thereon, she was called Nikki Fisher, and she lived with her new family in America. The story goes back and forth between memories of Germany when a child, and her young adult life that takes her back to Germany, physically, on a job assignment. Here, the author tosses in some suspense and many surprises!

Besides the storyline, I loved Ms. Manning’s descriptions of the culture and landscapes of Germany and Switzerland and the way she wove them into her saga. Although I have never been outside of North America, I could easily visualize certain scenes that she depicted.

The only disappointment was that, as the book progressed, there were more and more grammatical errors, missing text, and misused words. It was almost as if the person who did the editing gradually lost interest in the book. Other than that, I highly recommend “Chocolate Rabbit”!

I received a complimentary copy of “Chocolate Rabbit” as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.
http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?dorrance+7XZRvv+index.html ( )

Petra Sabine Manning, the author of Chocolate Rabbit, was born in Germany and moved to the United States. Her book is about a girl who was born in Germany and moved to the United States, and is loosely based on her life, so I figured I would get an authentic view of such a transition from someone who had been there. In the story, Nikki goes back to Europe for a job opportunity and learns to reconcile her past with her present. I don't know very much about German history, especially not from a German perspective, and learned a bit from the book. The book is very well written. I wanted to know more about Nikki, her life in America, and her life in Germany, and more about the chocolate rabbit analogy. I wanted to know more about German history. The book goes back and forth between the past and present, and does it well. It is not a suspense book, but it is suspenseful, and the author did leave us wanting to know more throughout the book.

This is a very good book. Only little things bothered me, and that had to do with transitions during the same time period. For example, we know that the family is visiting various people to pass out presents. However, it starts talking about the next visit, when you don't know they left the first family. It isn't hard to figure out the change of scenery, but it takes a second.

The other thing had to do with people's names. I have a hard time with names in general, even in a book with few characters. And sometimes the sudden name changes (Vati, Karl, and Herr Groebel all being the same person) and the appearance of new characters without warning kept on my toes. I understand that Vati probably means father, and Karl is his first name and Herr Groebel probably means Mr. Groebel, so they do make sense, but they were difficult for me to keep track of them all nonetheless.

I got this book from Dorrance Publishing, Inc. in exchange for this review. ( )