I'm a librarian who loves anime, manga, and reading a wide variety of genres.
I'm not actually participating in the #BookadayUK thing, but I'm always on board for chocolate, so I thought I'd post this. Antique Bakery was my introduction to Fumi Yoshinaga's works. It's a short series, only four volumes long. I think I own two of the volumes and need to see about ordering the other two.
What's it about? Well, when he was a child, Tachibana was kidnapped. Although he was eventually reunited with his family, with no apparent physical harm having been done to him, the experience affected him and his relationships with others for years afterward. All he could remember about his kidnapper was that the man liked cake and fed it to him every day. After he was found, Tachibana could no longer stand the taste of cake.
Years later, Tachibana suddenly quits his job in order to open a classy Western bakery. His parents take it in a stride, and his father even finds him a genius pastry chef. That pastry chef turns out to be Ono, who, when they were both seniors in high school, confessed to Tachibana that he loved him. Tachibana told Ono that he disgusted him and should go die. Both men are able to behave politely and professionally, but you can imagine the awkwardness. I remember being confused and intrigued by Tachibana - high school Tachibana was awful, and yet present-day Tachibana didn't seem all that bad. So what happened in the years between?
I loved this series, even though Ono's "Gay of Demonic Charm" attractiveness was ludicrously over the top. The characters were wonderfully interesting, sympathetic, and layered.
The chocolate connection: the various pastries featured in the series look and sound mouth-watering, and several of them feature chocolate. Also, Digital Manga Publishing released these volumes with scratch 'n' sniff covers, one of which I think might have been chocolate.