Book Review: All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

Chocolate and caffeine are illegal.  New York City is rife with organized crime and run by mobsters operating speakeasies that deal in espresso and hot chocolate.  Anya Balanchine is the daughter of murdered crime boss and former chocolate factory king Leonyn Balanchine and is trying to hold her family together and get through high school.  Orphaned in the hit on her father - her mother was killed in a botched hit years earlier in the same accident that left her older brother and heir to the family business Leo with the mind of a child - Anya is responsible for raising little sister Natty (who also happens to be a genius), keeping Leo out of trouble and out of the family business, and caring for her dying grandmother.

All of which means that she should totally stay away from too-cute-to-be-true new boy Win - who also happens to be the son of the new assistant DA.  There's no way she wants sweet, caring Win mixed up in her mess of a life, even if Win seems to be perfectly happy to get mixed up with Anya.  She also definitely doesn't have time to get arrested for the attempted murder by poisoning of (absolutely ex) boyfriend Gable Arsley with contraband chocolate.  And she for sure doesn't have time, or the inclination, to accept her birthright as the head of the Balanchine family and the chocolate business.  In fact, she spends most of her time doing her best to make sure she, Leo and Natty have nothing whatsoever to do with Uncle Yuri and her cousins Mikey and Jacks, while still staying on their good side and ensuring their protection from the other chocolate families.  Which lately hasn't really been working out so well.

With faithful and eclectic BFF Scarlet at her side, the fabulous and fabulously cute Win who won't leave her side (maybe it would help if Anya could stop kissing him...), loyal family lawyer Mr. Kipling and his underling, the slightly incompetent Simon Green, and the mysterious help (and even more mysterious motives) of rival chocolatier Yuji Ono, Anya navigates the dark streets of a city that's more Gotham than New York dodging family and family rivals in order to figure out who she is, who she has to be - and who she wants to be.

If you loved Holly Black's White Cat and Red Glove or Ally Carter's Heist Society books, then this fun, fabulous gangster read that's part The Godfather and part Batman (but without the gadgets - or The Joker) is for you!  Love, loyalty, friendship and family all war for dominance in this smart, funny novel.  Make sure you grab some holiday chocolate and caffeine to enjoy while you're reading - they'll be even more delicious than usual when you know you don't have to risk incarceration for them!

Megan
(who stayed up waaaaay too late reading the delicious Clockwork Prince last night!)