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Charlotte’s Christmas Charade
A celebrity chef who cannot cook. A Christmas dinner that has to be perfect. One chance to impress, one shot at love, and one big mess in the kitchen.Charlotte Olsen’s stomach is as tangled as a ball of Christmas lights. The world knows her as the charming celebrity chef with a smile as warm as the holiday season. What they don't know is that Charlotte’s culinary prowess, or lack thereof, is a well-kept secret, one that could bring her soaring career to a screeching halt.
Hired as a guest chef at a remote Colorado Inn to impress important investors over the holidays, Charlotte arrives with a blizzard nipping at her heels and a knot of anxiety in her belly. The Crystal Lake Inn exudes rustic charm, and so does the handsome owner, Davis Reed. As a snowstorm rages outside, sparks fly inside the cozy Inn, promising a perfect Christmas snow-in.
But what's a snow-in without delicious food? Charlotte's secret is about to catch up with her. Stranded without her assistant chef and tasked with feeding Davis and his all-important guests, Charlotte is in a verifiable tizzy.
Can she pull off the Christmas dinner miracle, or will her lack of cooking talent be revealed?
Charlotte’s Christmas Charade is a romantic women’s fiction novel that will remind you of the magic of the season. If you like heartwarming romance, Christmas in the snowy mountains, and the joy of cooking for the holidays, you will adore Darci Balogh’s charming tale.
Buy Charlotte’s Christmas Charade today and enjoy a delectable Christmas romance!
Hired as a guest chef at a remote Colorado Inn to impress important investors over the holidays, Charlotte arrives with a blizzard nipping at her heels and a knot of anxiety in her belly. The Crystal Lake Inn exudes rustic charm, and so does the handsome owner, Davis Reed. As a snowstorm rages outside, sparks fly inside the cozy Inn, promising a perfect Christmas snow-in.
But what's a snow-in without delicious food? Charlotte's secret is about to catch up with her. Stranded without her assistant chef and tasked with feeding Davis and his all-important guests, Charlotte is in a verifiable tizzy.
Can she pull off the Christmas dinner miracle, or will her lack of cooking talent be revealed?
Charlotte’s Christmas Charade is a romantic women’s fiction novel that will remind you of the magic of the season. If you like heartwarming romance, Christmas in the snowy mountains, and the joy of cooking for the holidays, you will adore Darci Balogh’s charming tale.
Buy Charlotte’s Christmas Charade today and enjoy a delectable Christmas romance!
182 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 27, 2018
32 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Darci Balogh
37 books19 followersI love to tell stories about characters who feel forgotten and alone, and who find new inspiration and courage to live their dreams.
I was born in Texas and have lived in Colorado since the second grade. Like many people, I have travelled a unique path in life. I have worked in live theater, ran a sheep ranch, and eventually landed in Denver living my indie lifestyle and raising my children. An author, filmmaker, and co-founder of Knowhere Media LLC, I am also a dog lover, coffee drinker and mother of two gorgeous, intelligent daughters.
Knowhere Media LLC is an independent film production and book publishing company. My sister and I run it together and focus on creating inspiring independent stories using both written and film mediums.
I was born in Texas and have lived in Colorado since the second grade. Like many people, I have travelled a unique path in life. I have worked in live theater, ran a sheep ranch, and eventually landed in Denver living my indie lifestyle and raising my children. An author, filmmaker, and co-founder of Knowhere Media LLC, I am also a dog lover, coffee drinker and mother of two gorgeous, intelligent daughters.
Knowhere Media LLC is an independent film production and book publishing company. My sister and I run it together and focus on creating inspiring independent stories using both written and film mediums.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 6, 2018
This is a good Christmas read.
Chef Charlotte and her assistant Bella have a tv show in Seattle. They are hired to cook at an inn in Colorado for Christmas. Due to a car breakdown, Bella misses the plane. This is when things get interesting.
If you want to know what happens, you will have to read the book, I’m not going to be a spoiler.
Chef Charlotte and her assistant Bella have a tv show in Seattle. They are hired to cook at an inn in Colorado for Christmas. Due to a car breakdown, Bella misses the plane. This is when things get interesting.
If you want to know what happens, you will have to read the book, I’m not going to be a spoiler.
April 16, 2025
“Charlotte’s Christmas Charade” was a cute and very short Christmas novella about a non-chef who manages to not only have a popular cooking show but also passes herself off as a chef with the help of her chef friend Bella. When she is invited to a fledgling Inn to cook fancy dinners for potential investors in the hopes of saving the Inn, she accepts. Problems arise when Charlotte arrives at the Inn early, but Bella can’t make it on time due to torrential snowfall, leaving a stressed Charlotte, who can’t cook, to figure out how to carry on the charade.
Clueless Charlotte pulls together her first lunch, canned tomato soup with crushed tomatoes. She is so inept in the kitchen that she doesn’t have the ability to fry a simple grilled cheese sandwich, so she toasts bread in a toaster, adds cheese, then microwaves it to melt the cheese. Of course, in sappy fashion, her host thinks the "professional chef's" canned soup and dry toast “grilled cheese” is the best meal he’s ever had.
It was a bit of an eye roll moment for me because, are there really people out there who are so inept in the kitchen that they can’t add butter to a pan, melt it, and grill a simple cheese sandwich until it’s golden brown on each side? If so, I don’t know how such people survive in the world. Not to mention, it took her over TWO HOURS to make the sad little lunch. How in the love of Pete does it take over two hours to dump canned soup into a pan, warm it, and microwave two pieces of toasted bread and cheese? Even for a person who “can’t cook,” it couldn’t possibly take two hours. Literary license taken to the extreme, I guess…LOL
While the story was cute, I have a hard time accepting a romance in such a short novella because the main characters fell deeply in love immediately, had the typical misunderstanding and anger, and fell back in love in two whole days. It’s not easy to flesh out a believable romance in a 150-page novella that takes place over two days. For lovers of romance, though, you probably won't mind the rushed romance.
The book itself was well edited and didn't have any glaring typos. Readers who enjoy an animal presence, you'll probably like the storyline of the two rambunctious pugs.
For readers who can overlook clunky sentence structures, slightly nonsensical plots in places, and a predictable love-at-first-sight romance to find the cuteness of a Christmas novella, then I think you’ll enjoy this book (and I really did enjoy the book despite several eye roll moments).
A NOTE TO THE AUTHOR: If the author reads this, please know that it’s illegal to use song lyrics in books, unless the song is in the public domain, or unless you’ve received permission to use certain lyrics from the song writers and/or their publishing company. This type of mistake could get you sued. Songs are copyrighted works, which means you can't include their lyrics in YOUR copyrighted work without the proper permissions (It would be like another author using passages from your copyrighted book in THEIR book without your permission.) You used an entire verse of The Little Drummer Boy, which isn’t in the public domain, so you might consider removing the lyrics from the book before someone's lawyer hunts you down. Just a little friendly information in case you weren't aware.
Clueless Charlotte pulls together her first lunch, canned tomato soup with crushed tomatoes. She is so inept in the kitchen that she doesn’t have the ability to fry a simple grilled cheese sandwich, so she toasts bread in a toaster, adds cheese, then microwaves it to melt the cheese. Of course, in sappy fashion, her host thinks the "professional chef's" canned soup and dry toast “grilled cheese” is the best meal he’s ever had.
It was a bit of an eye roll moment for me because, are there really people out there who are so inept in the kitchen that they can’t add butter to a pan, melt it, and grill a simple cheese sandwich until it’s golden brown on each side? If so, I don’t know how such people survive in the world. Not to mention, it took her over TWO HOURS to make the sad little lunch. How in the love of Pete does it take over two hours to dump canned soup into a pan, warm it, and microwave two pieces of toasted bread and cheese? Even for a person who “can’t cook,” it couldn’t possibly take two hours. Literary license taken to the extreme, I guess…LOL
While the story was cute, I have a hard time accepting a romance in such a short novella because the main characters fell deeply in love immediately, had the typical misunderstanding and anger, and fell back in love in two whole days. It’s not easy to flesh out a believable romance in a 150-page novella that takes place over two days. For lovers of romance, though, you probably won't mind the rushed romance.
The book itself was well edited and didn't have any glaring typos. Readers who enjoy an animal presence, you'll probably like the storyline of the two rambunctious pugs.
For readers who can overlook clunky sentence structures, slightly nonsensical plots in places, and a predictable love-at-first-sight romance to find the cuteness of a Christmas novella, then I think you’ll enjoy this book (and I really did enjoy the book despite several eye roll moments).
A NOTE TO THE AUTHOR: If the author reads this, please know that it’s illegal to use song lyrics in books, unless the song is in the public domain, or unless you’ve received permission to use certain lyrics from the song writers and/or their publishing company. This type of mistake could get you sued. Songs are copyrighted works, which means you can't include their lyrics in YOUR copyrighted work without the proper permissions (It would be like another author using passages from your copyrighted book in THEIR book without your permission.) You used an entire verse of The Little Drummer Boy, which isn’t in the public domain, so you might consider removing the lyrics from the book before someone's lawyer hunts you down. Just a little friendly information in case you weren't aware.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews