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The Candymakers #2
The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase
The highly-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Candymakers by beloved author Wendy Mass
It has been a few months since the nationwide New Candy Contest, and Logan, Miles, Philip, and Daisy have returned to their regular lives. But when the winning candy bar comes down the conveyor belt at the Life is Sweet candy factory, Logan realizes something's very wrong....
When the Candymaker announces that they will be going on tour to introduce the new candy bar, the four friends see this as an opportunity to make things right. But with a fifty-year-old secret revealed and stakes higher for each of them than they ever imagined, they will have to trust one another--and themselves--in order to face what lies ahead.
In this action-packed sequel to the bestselling novel The Candymakers, prepare to embark on a journey full of hidden treasures, secret worlds, and candy.
LOTS and LOTS of candy.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published August 2, 2016
553 people are currently reading
2642 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Mass
83 books3,691 followersWendy Mass is the author of thirty novels for young people, including A Mango-Shaped Space, which was awarded the Schneider Family Book Award, Leap Day, the Twice Upon a Time fairy tale series, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, the Willow Falls, Space Taxi and Candymakers series. Wendy wrote the storyline for an episode of the television show Monk, entitled "Mr. Monk Goes to the Theatre," which aired during the show's second season. She tells people her hobbies are hiking and photography, but really they're collecting candy bar wrappers and searching for buried treasure with her metal detector. Wendy lives with her family in New Jersey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews
August 8, 2016
I don't like this cover as much; I wish it was more similar to the Book 1's.
But I gasped and slapped my mom on the arm when NetGalley sent me an email about this book. I'm so flipping excited about this.
UPDATE:
What can I say about this book that will do it justice?
My love for the Candymakers is something I cannot accurately describe. I realized last night when I finished this book, that though I always deem Wuthering Heights as my favorite book, my love for the Candymakers is unreachable. Nothing I have read makes me as happy as these two books do.
I read The Candymakers for the first time in 2011, and since then I have re-read it multiple times and listened to the audiobook numerous more.
I was in disbelief when I saw that there was a second book. Book one ended in such a way as to leave a little bit of mystery, but I never thought that there would be a sequel six years later. I was ecstatic to have another entire book about the characters that I love so well, and I have realized that I would read a book about these characters even if it had no plot.
But The Great Chocolate Chase did have a plot, and just like in the first book it was full of mysteries. There would be little bits of information tantalizingly withheld from you, forcing you to keep turning the pages. Every bit of the story line was interesting; there was no part that I just wanted to skip through, no slow parts that bored me. Every piece of the story line was intriguing.
Great developments came about for our characters; they made some major discoveries that will affect their entire futures. I'm refraining from explaining myself further; the surprise will be so much greater if this remains a mystery.
I love how this sequel followed in Book 1's footsteps; the first section of the book is told form the point of view of each of the four children. It tells the first half of the story from each character's point of view. I love this technique because when you see things from each person's point of view, things just fall into place. The last half of the book is told from everyone's point of view, which only took me a second to get used to.
There were multiple times that this book made me laugh out loud and I just can't recommend this series highly enough.
But I gasped and slapped my mom on the arm when NetGalley sent me an email about this book. I'm so flipping excited about this.
UPDATE:
What can I say about this book that will do it justice?
My love for the Candymakers is something I cannot accurately describe. I realized last night when I finished this book, that though I always deem Wuthering Heights as my favorite book, my love for the Candymakers is unreachable. Nothing I have read makes me as happy as these two books do.
I read The Candymakers for the first time in 2011, and since then I have re-read it multiple times and listened to the audiobook numerous more.
I was in disbelief when I saw that there was a second book. Book one ended in such a way as to leave a little bit of mystery, but I never thought that there would be a sequel six years later. I was ecstatic to have another entire book about the characters that I love so well, and I have realized that I would read a book about these characters even if it had no plot.
But The Great Chocolate Chase did have a plot, and just like in the first book it was full of mysteries. There would be little bits of information tantalizingly withheld from you, forcing you to keep turning the pages. Every bit of the story line was interesting; there was no part that I just wanted to skip through, no slow parts that bored me. Every piece of the story line was intriguing.
Great developments came about for our characters; they made some major discoveries that will affect their entire futures. I'm refraining from explaining myself further; the surprise will be so much greater if this remains a mystery.
I love how this sequel followed in Book 1's footsteps; the first section of the book is told form the point of view of each of the four children. It tells the first half of the story from each character's point of view. I love this technique because when you see things from each person's point of view, things just fall into place. The last half of the book is told from everyone's point of view, which only took me a second to get used to.
There were multiple times that this book made me laugh out loud and I just can't recommend this series highly enough.
December 29, 2021
SO MUCH CANDY! I wish they were real! I like these because they deal with friendship and trust. When the kids first met, they didn't know each other, but after many hardships, they became a team.
I recommend the first and second books for candy lovers. (You might want to read while eating candy, all the talk of candy might make you hungry.)
I recommend the first and second books for candy lovers. (You might want to read while eating candy, all the talk of candy might make you hungry.)
August 11, 2016
This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.
When I asked my ten-year-old brother if he liked The Great Chocolate Chase, he said "Yes, but it was kind of annoying how people kept getting important information and then keeping it secret for like forever." When I pressed him and asked how he thought it compared to the first book - which is one of his all-time favorite novels, one of a very elite group of books he's re-read - he surprised me by saying that he thought this book was every bit as good as its predecessor. I know he definitely chewed it over even when he wasn't reading: he kept wandering up to meat random times and asking me whether I'd seen such-and-such coming or if I knew how this-or-that tied in with the first book. It was very cute (and slightly annoying), and definitely heartening to see how perfectly Candymakers 2 captured and held my brother's attention.
As for me, I definitely enjoyed it. There are few things I love to do more than curl up with a big fat new book by one of my favorite authors, and so I really loved the opportunity to do that with Candymakers 2. I totally agree with my brother, though, that it was pretty frustrating when the characters teased huge reveals and then waited entire chapters to reveal what they knew. The worst of these was when Daisy did a DNA test in the RV, and then announced that it would take like twenty hours and the data would only be processed while the vehicle was actively in motion. I mean, seriously?
But that's a minor quibble. I really did love reading this extension of one of my very favorite MG novels, and Mass did a wonderful job of instilling almost all of the same magic and excitement from the first book into the second; she has a skill few other authors do, of being able to write sequels that don't feel watered-down. This one may feel a bit stretched, like she threw in some extra random plot points just for length, but that's entirely excusable because all of the side plots are really interesting. It's actually the main plot, one of the big reveals that comes toward the end, that had me scratching my head and struggling to keep suspending my disbelief. I can't talk much about it, though, so suffice it to say there's some very fantasy-esque sci-fi.
If you're reading this review, you've either never read the first Candymakers or you have read it and are deciding whether to read this book. If you're the former, just go read The Candymakers. Like, right now. You can thank me later. If you're the latter, be assured that you can safely read and enjoy The Great Chocolate Chase; it adds to, rather than takes away from, the charm of the first book. And, as an added bonus, it has cameos with characters from three other Wendy Mass books. I only caught two of them, both of which were incorporated in natural (but also really fun) ways. If you read the book, try to catch all three so you can tell me which one I missed!
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
When I asked my ten-year-old brother if he liked The Great Chocolate Chase, he said "Yes, but it was kind of annoying how people kept getting important information and then keeping it secret for like forever." When I pressed him and asked how he thought it compared to the first book - which is one of his all-time favorite novels, one of a very elite group of books he's re-read - he surprised me by saying that he thought this book was every bit as good as its predecessor. I know he definitely chewed it over even when he wasn't reading: he kept wandering up to meat random times and asking me whether I'd seen such-and-such coming or if I knew how this-or-that tied in with the first book. It was very cute (and slightly annoying), and definitely heartening to see how perfectly Candymakers 2 captured and held my brother's attention.
As for me, I definitely enjoyed it. There are few things I love to do more than curl up with a big fat new book by one of my favorite authors, and so I really loved the opportunity to do that with Candymakers 2. I totally agree with my brother, though, that it was pretty frustrating when the characters teased huge reveals and then waited entire chapters to reveal what they knew. The worst of these was when Daisy did a DNA test in the RV, and then announced that it would take like twenty hours and the data would only be processed while the vehicle was actively in motion. I mean, seriously?
But that's a minor quibble. I really did love reading this extension of one of my very favorite MG novels, and Mass did a wonderful job of instilling almost all of the same magic and excitement from the first book into the second; she has a skill few other authors do, of being able to write sequels that don't feel watered-down. This one may feel a bit stretched, like she threw in some extra random plot points just for length, but that's entirely excusable because all of the side plots are really interesting. It's actually the main plot, one of the big reveals that comes toward the end, that had me scratching my head and struggling to keep suspending my disbelief. I can't talk much about it, though, so suffice it to say there's some very fantasy-esque sci-fi.
If you're reading this review, you've either never read the first Candymakers or you have read it and are deciding whether to read this book. If you're the former, just go read The Candymakers. Like, right now. You can thank me later. If you're the latter, be assured that you can safely read and enjoy The Great Chocolate Chase; it adds to, rather than takes away from, the charm of the first book. And, as an added bonus, it has cameos with characters from three other Wendy Mass books. I only caught two of them, both of which were incorporated in natural (but also really fun) ways. If you read the book, try to catch all three so you can tell me which one I missed!
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
September 13, 2016
I loved the first book of this series so I decided to read the sequel! I not only love the topic of candy and chocolate, but I love the mystery behind it all. The author also makes many different chapters where the kids show their perspectives. I rate this book a 5!
March 15, 2018
the theme of this book is sometimes you have to look to the past to see the future
June 24, 2016
This was a cute book. It is meant for middle schoolers, but I was trying to read it to my grandson (who is just leaving kindergarten). I've done that with some other books (the Origami Yoda series), and it was much easier with them. This book had a lot of extra language that could have been eliminated to make the stories flow smoother and drag less. He ended up not being as interested in it as I'd hoped.
I'd like to go back and read the first book to learn more about the characters and how they arrived at this spot.
I'd like to go back and read the first book to learn more about the characters and how they arrived at this spot.
May 13, 2018
Not a good choice for a read-a-loud. Too long, too far-fetched. As the one doing to the reading, it was just not an enjoyable experience. However, my kids all enjoyed the story much, much more than I did. Should have just told them to read it on their own but we read the Candymakers together a few years ago and we all enjoyed that one and we were excited to finally read the sequel.
June 1, 2020
Okay, so this book was surprisingly good. It was a little hard to get into at first, but it got better as it went alone. There were a lot of cameos of other book characters in it, which was a nice touch, and I really liked how there was so much you didn't really expect with the book. The only problem I had with it was the amount of exclamation marks. But overall, a very fun read.
October 23, 2017
This book was full of twists and surprises at every corner that I would have never guessed. Four friends, Logan, Miles, Daisy, and Philip, embark on a road trip to show off the new Harmonicandy to candy stores around the area. The day before they leave, however, when they taste the new chocolatey treat, there is something wrong with it. The chocolate in it tastes different. The rules specifically say that the winning candy of the contest, which this year was the Harmonicandy that Philip made, must be made distributed with the same exact ingredients that were first used. The group has no idea how the chocolate they used was different. A few days before that day that they realized the chocolate was different, Logan had received a mysterious box filled with his dead grandfather's charts and maps. They later discover that the chocolate Logan's grandpa had used in the Magic Bar, which was pulled off the market a week after it had first come out, was the same chocolate as the one they had used by mistake in the Harmonicandy. While on the road trip, the four of them must work together to solve this strange mystery and figure out what to do. This book truly shows that teamwork makes the dream work. I definitely recommend this book.
July 2, 2024
Where to start!! This book was NOT what I was expecting in the slightest!! I was thinking about how I would rate this book four stars while I was about a hundred pages out, and then out of nowhere there was so many twists, turns, revels, and surprises!! I was so into to it!! Loved how Wendy Mass wove many tiny details in the beginning that were so worth it in the end!! My only tiny complaint is that I really liked how the first book was told in different perspectives the entire time, but the second book only did that for a little more then half. Other then that, I would TOTALLY recommend this series the anyone with a sweet tooth!! One of the best middle grade book series out there!!
Listen with violin music to really set the mood!
Listen with violin music to really set the mood!
July 19, 2020
Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! This book is a mix of hilarious, spy and easygoing plots. Got some few laughs.
-Henry Jennings minus 50 pounds is Franklin O Griffin?
-One relationship could be ... Philip and cat?
-Aurora's toilet trained, and she poops in the fake toilet.
-The disguise room is full of disguises, and Logan and Miles do Mash-ups. Ex: a coal miner with a scuba suit.
-Big Bertha -> Harvey
-Daisy's grandmother has a TON of pets (including a sort of pelican).
This book is full of candies and spy work. I would like to rate it 6 or 7 stars.
-Henry Jennings minus 50 pounds is Franklin O Griffin?
-One relationship could be ... Philip and cat?
-Aurora's toilet trained, and she poops in the fake toilet.
-The disguise room is full of disguises, and Logan and Miles do Mash-ups. Ex: a coal miner with a scuba suit.
-Big Bertha -> Harvey
-Daisy's grandmother has a TON of pets (including a sort of pelican).
This book is full of candies and spy work. I would like to rate it 6 or 7 stars.
January 18, 2024
nowhere near as good as the first one — probably because it was lacking the nostalgia factor — but still super fun and heartwarming! had to remind myself it was a kid’s book a few times when i was getting impatient but otherwise thouroughly enjoyed it.
January 6, 2018
I absolutely loved this book! I love how she included some of the characters from her other books.
March 6, 2019
a bit confusing
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
February 12, 2020DNF @170 pages.
.
170 pages in and nothing is happening. This book is a whopping 534 pages, which is way too long for middle-grade fiction that isn't Harry Potter.
.
Maybe I'll come back to this at a later date, but then again maybe I won't.
.
170 pages in and nothing is happening. This book is a whopping 534 pages, which is way too long for middle-grade fiction that isn't Harry Potter.
.
Maybe I'll come back to this at a later date, but then again maybe I won't.
July 14, 2017
Wendy Mass take the reader back into the world of candy making at Life is Sweet candy factory for another fun mystery.
Read
June 13, 2019it was good
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July 1, 2020
Soooo good! It has everything! Action! Mystery! Suspense! Drama! And caaaaaaaaaaaandy!!!!!! Yum! I loved Aurora. She was an amazing cat XD Also, I really thought Phillip and Daisy were going to be related. Or Daisy and AJ. Either one. I loved how when Daisy said that here was a match in the DNA, Miles was saying that it was probably Phillip and the cat, Aurora. Such an amazing book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2016
An amazing sequel...a little slow at the start but stay with it, Wendy Mass brings it all home!
April 4, 2019
So Good. I think I could have finished this book in a shorter time.
April 17, 2019
So good! I hope Wendy Mass is going to come out with a #3 soon!
July 15, 2019
Actual Rating:3.5
This and other reviews can be found on The Psychotic Nerd
Short and Simple Review
I loved The Candymakers , but I didn't like this book as much. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great book and the characters are still wonderful, but it felt like it was too long. The first half is similar to the last book where we get a POV from each kid, showing their POV of the same days. Unlike the first book, though, there isn't much of a mystery driving the first half of the book, so it felt really slow. Once the road trip starts, things pick up a little, but it still didn't grab my attention as much as the first book. I did notice that there were a lot of cameos and easter eggs from the author's other books, which felt a little like my childhood making an appearance.
This and other reviews can be found on The Psychotic Nerd
Short and Simple Review
I loved The Candymakers , but I didn't like this book as much. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great book and the characters are still wonderful, but it felt like it was too long. The first half is similar to the last book where we get a POV from each kid, showing their POV of the same days. Unlike the first book, though, there isn't much of a mystery driving the first half of the book, so it felt really slow. Once the road trip starts, things pick up a little, but it still didn't grab my attention as much as the first book. I did notice that there were a lot of cameos and easter eggs from the author's other books, which felt a little like my childhood making an appearance.
March 4, 2017
This book was a great sequel to the candymakers! I am so surprised and happy that everything worked out. In this book, four friends, Logan, Miles, Daisy, and phillip, all are going on a tour of all the candy factorys in the area to celebrate Phillip winning the annual contest for making a new candy. On the way, they go to a talent show, a dead drop(read the candymakers #1 to find out!) geocaching, and try to find out the mystery behind a strange blue cocoa bean. Wendy mass wrote this book, and she did an amazing job! Read one of her other books, a mango shaped space, and you can find out about the girl whose grandpa's soul is in her cat. This book made me feel like I was right there with them, and That is a feeling of joy. I like this book because is has a lot of action and mystery. I reccomend this book to readers of the other wendy mass books,
And (HUGE SPOILER ALERT DO NOT PROGRESS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ A MANGO SHAPED SPACE) you find out what happens to a little cat named mustard and her owner, Mia Wenchell.
And (HUGE SPOILER ALERT DO NOT PROGRESS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ A MANGO SHAPED SPACE) you find out what happens to a little cat named mustard and her owner, Mia Wenchell.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2023
sooo this was the first middle grade book i've read since i was middle grade and there's a reason i haven't gone back 😅 i HATED this book at first. it's hard because at middle grade level, the characters inner thoughts are full fleshed but still immature. so middle grade kids love it & relate to it but reading it when you're older just makes you hate the characters because of how immature and 2 dimensional they are (because they're preteens that's just who they are). however, it did grow on me. it was kind of fun having that imagination in books again, an aspect i remember really loving in the candy makers, where it's not a fantasy world but it's not quite real life.
August 20, 2021
A couple weeks before the Harmonicandy is to be released, Logan realizes that something is off about the chocolate, leading him, Miles and Philip to join Daisy and AJ on a road trip to seek answers - but with every stop, each of them learns a truth that is sure to change their lives forever! Mass brings fans an entertaining adventure full of revelations and chuckle-worthy humour. Will Logan and his friends save their candy, or will the secret behind its strange taste be too powerful to share?
October 31, 2023
Go miles and Daisy and Logan! I always felt growing up that I was similar to all three of these kids. Reading about miles shyness and quirkiness made me feel understood. Daisy's determination and confidence and the fact that she's a spy gave me confidence and a great want to be a spy myself. Logan was sweet, and his life at Life Is Sweet is inspiring for a young kid who likes to write. I never felt close to Philip but hey. Liked reading about him.
December 26, 2024
Overall, I would give this 3.5 stars. It’s very cute and the author definitely did a good job closing up some open end things from the first book. The reason why I would give it 3.5 stars is because there were some parts I didn’t really find necessary for this book. In the end though this duo shows how yes competition is important in life, but working as a team is very powerful and we should be emphasizing that instead of tearing each other down.
August 6, 2021
I have mixed feelings about this book. It had a suspenseful plot, and that is probably the only reason why I kept reading it. I was looking for a continuation of The Candymakers, and in a way, it did continue the book, but by adding things that never happened in the original. I was not impressed. This is a pretty good sci-fi book on its own, but it doesn't deserve The Canymakers in the title. The ending didn't make sense either.
March 20, 2022
I loved this book so much…I read the first book back so many years ago so it was a nice trip down memory lane to read the second book. My favorite part of the book was the references & character cameos from “Every Soul A Star” which happens to be my favorite Wendy Mass book. Overall, 10/10 read, just as good as the first one.
December 31, 2025
love love love! everything i hoped it would be and MORE!! it was such a page turner omg, i never knew what was goi bc to happen next. i LOVED how all the loose ends were tied up and how may hints there were that keep me so intrigued! DO NOT skip because it is a kids book, the plot was *chefs kiss* this second book might be better than the first honestly! im PRAYING for a third!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews