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Christmas Chaos
Christmas chaos hits Josiane. All she want to do is get to her families Christmas Eve dinner for once on time. Instead, she gets stuck in her office's elevator with a tall, stranger in the dark.
When she meets Carsten ,will Josiane find that holiday romance may come in the strangest places?
When she meets Carsten ,will Josiane find that holiday romance may come in the strangest places?
20 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 27, 2011
46 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Conner
151 books201 followersJennifer Conner is a best-selling Northwest author who has written eighty short stories, screenplays, books, and audiobooks. She writes in Christmas Romance, Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Historical Romance, and Erotica.
Her horror screenplay, Starvation Heights, placed in four national contests and won three including the Austin After Dark contest.
Jenni and Angela Ford have also written multiple stories together and a sweet romance screenplay, Winning Love for Valentine’s Day.
She has been on Amazon’s top fifty authors ranking and many of her books have hit #1 in sales.
Her novel Shot in the Dark was a finalist in the Emerald City Opener, Cleveland, and Toronto RWA contests.
Jennifer is an Associate Publisher for the indie traditional publisher, Books to Go Now which resides in the Seattle area. They pride themselves in helping new authors get their foot in the door with well-edited manuscripts, professional covers, and platform uploads.
She lives in a hundred-year-old house that she grew up in. Her semi-small town holds an interesting mix of resident hillbillies, yuppies and Navy Seals. And of course Seattle, only a few miles away, is the birthplace of Starbucks so coffee is always on the checklist. She blows glass beads with a blow torch, (which relieves a lot of stress and people don't bother you). Jenni watches and reads all genres of movies and books and loves to lose herself in a good plot.
Her horror screenplay, Starvation Heights, placed in four national contests and won three including the Austin After Dark contest.
Jenni and Angela Ford have also written multiple stories together and a sweet romance screenplay, Winning Love for Valentine’s Day.
She has been on Amazon’s top fifty authors ranking and many of her books have hit #1 in sales.
Her novel Shot in the Dark was a finalist in the Emerald City Opener, Cleveland, and Toronto RWA contests.
Jennifer is an Associate Publisher for the indie traditional publisher, Books to Go Now which resides in the Seattle area. They pride themselves in helping new authors get their foot in the door with well-edited manuscripts, professional covers, and platform uploads.
She lives in a hundred-year-old house that she grew up in. Her semi-small town holds an interesting mix of resident hillbillies, yuppies and Navy Seals. And of course Seattle, only a few miles away, is the birthplace of Starbucks so coffee is always on the checklist. She blows glass beads with a blow torch, (which relieves a lot of stress and people don't bother you). Jenni watches and reads all genres of movies and books and loves to lose herself in a good plot.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 1, 2018
When Josie steps onto the elevator, she thinks she's just on her way to another Christmas Eve with the family and no date. But when the elevator stops mid-descent, she finds that this Christmas Eve will be like no other. And it all starts with handsome stranger Carsten agreeing to be her date to dinner, should they ever get off this stuck elevator.
The storyline is cute, but the story is so incredibly short that many things are introduced with nowhere to go. We get a quick detailed history of the two main characters, a few almost funny escapades, the traditional "misunderstanding fight" that seems to be a requirement for all romances, and then it's over. I was disappointed, since I liked Josie and Carsten and there was clearly a lot more that could be done with the story.
The storyline is cute, but the story is so incredibly short that many things are introduced with nowhere to go. We get a quick detailed history of the two main characters, a few almost funny escapades, the traditional "misunderstanding fight" that seems to be a requirement for all romances, and then it's over. I was disappointed, since I liked Josie and Carsten and there was clearly a lot more that could be done with the story.
December 9, 2025
Christmas chaos hits Josiane. All she want to do is get to her families Christmas Eve dinner for once on time. Instead, she gets stuck in her office's elevator with a tall, stranger in the dark.
When she meets Carsten ,will Josiane find that holiday romance may come in the strangest places?
Heather's Notes
This was a short sweet Christmas romance. I enjoyed it.
When she meets Carsten ,will Josiane find that holiday romance may come in the strangest places?
Heather's Notes
This was a short sweet Christmas romance. I enjoyed it.
November 28, 2017
Such a charming premise, but it felt like a prologue as it was literally 20 pages long.
December 17, 2020
Short very short. But good.
December 20, 2020
This story is very "Hallmark Movie"-ish. It wasn't great, but it was entertaining. I'm not a huge fan of insta-love stories, they are just too unrealistic for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2025
When I downloaded this I didn't know it was only 20 pages. It was a good little book, wish it was longer though.
October 24, 2013
Setting: Christmas Eve; high rise office building/penthouses; family home in the suburbs
Theme: love comes in unexpected times;
Characters:
Josiane: lawyer; single, among happily married with children siblings;
Carsten Harrell: took over father’s extensive, successful building empire; making own mark in building architecture; doing the tiling in brother’s penthouse while brother is on vacation; unexpectedly gets stuck in elevator with Josiane
Her parents & extended family: traditional, extended, executing holiday traditions – of family meal, Christmas tree with handmade ornaments, gift exchange
Summary:
Josiane and Carsten spend an hour in the elevator (he’s called down to demand they fix it quick)… in the dark… and she shares her food basket with him (he skipped lunch), she weathers her own fear/discomfort of small space & dark admirably… she hesitantly invites him to dinner – as he has nowhere else on Christmas eve, and because it would be more comfortable for her if she brought a date… he agrees…
When questioned by dad, is when she first realizes exactly who he is, and how much money he has – and is embarrassed by her middle class family… she withdraws a bit… after dinner, they find a quiet place to talk… he confronts, she apologises, he tells her how happy he is – his divorced mom in spain, his father mopping in Italy…
They go in for gift exchange… he gets the just in case gift – a sweater with Rudolph and his nose that lights up…
And they go home, and kiss… and he walks away, wanting more than a one night stand… to return in the morning with coffee – to go back to her parent’s house.
Theme: love comes in unexpected times;
Characters:
Josiane: lawyer; single, among happily married with children siblings;
Carsten Harrell: took over father’s extensive, successful building empire; making own mark in building architecture; doing the tiling in brother’s penthouse while brother is on vacation; unexpectedly gets stuck in elevator with Josiane
Her parents & extended family: traditional, extended, executing holiday traditions – of family meal, Christmas tree with handmade ornaments, gift exchange
Summary:
Josiane and Carsten spend an hour in the elevator (he’s called down to demand they fix it quick)… in the dark… and she shares her food basket with him (he skipped lunch), she weathers her own fear/discomfort of small space & dark admirably… she hesitantly invites him to dinner – as he has nowhere else on Christmas eve, and because it would be more comfortable for her if she brought a date… he agrees…
When questioned by dad, is when she first realizes exactly who he is, and how much money he has – and is embarrassed by her middle class family… she withdraws a bit… after dinner, they find a quiet place to talk… he confronts, she apologises, he tells her how happy he is – his divorced mom in spain, his father mopping in Italy…
They go in for gift exchange… he gets the just in case gift – a sweater with Rudolph and his nose that lights up…
And they go home, and kiss… and he walks away, wanting more than a one night stand… to return in the morning with coffee – to go back to her parent’s house.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2011
My Review:
If you are looking for a super-short little read to get you in the mood for the holidays, this was a fun one. It only took about 45 minutes to read, as the entire book takes place during a single night, Christmas Eve.
There were places that I would have liked it to have had a bit *more* to the story, but it worked. I liked both Carsten's and Josiane's characters. They had a fun rapport which started when they were both surprisingly trapped in the elevator on Christmas Eve and ended with a family dinner at Josiane's house. I liked the surprise about who Carsten really was and how it completely threw Josiane off. I liked the way that the book ended and really liked Carston's attitude towards their sudden relationship...so sweet and romantic.
You can't beat the $.99 price-tag. It was worth every one of those 99 pennies. On a day that started off pretty unpleasantly, this novella provided a welcome and fun diversion.
If you are looking for a super-short little read to get you in the mood for the holidays, this was a fun one. It only took about 45 minutes to read, as the entire book takes place during a single night, Christmas Eve.
There were places that I would have liked it to have had a bit *more* to the story, but it worked. I liked both Carsten's and Josiane's characters. They had a fun rapport which started when they were both surprisingly trapped in the elevator on Christmas Eve and ended with a family dinner at Josiane's house. I liked the surprise about who Carsten really was and how it completely threw Josiane off. I liked the way that the book ended and really liked Carston's attitude towards their sudden relationship...so sweet and romantic.
You can't beat the $.99 price-tag. It was worth every one of those 99 pennies. On a day that started off pretty unpleasantly, this novella provided a welcome and fun diversion.
December 29, 2012
The main character in Christmas Chaos by Jennifer Conner really hates elevators. In fact, if Josiane wasn't running late, she would have never gotten stuck in the elevator with Carsten, Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. How convenient! She needs a date for her family dinner, and he is hungry. Well, if they will ever get out the elevator, perhaps they can help each other. Fortunately their predicament didn't last for long (the book is only 25 pages!) Good thing because they needed to get to her parents so he could impress them and save her from endless questions from the fam. Oh but the fun is just about to start once they both arrive and she finds out more about the real Carsten. A very quick read for the lunch hour.
December 18, 2013
Mindless read. The main character, Josiane, is dreading the holidays because she once again doesn't have a date for her family's Christmas dinner. She meets a handsome, single guy before leaving her office and it turns out that he's a) her soul mate and b) a multi-millionaire. I only picked it up because my name is Josianne. Rather disappointed in my namesake.
March 22, 2016
3 Stars - Very mild and cute but too short of a story. Josiane meets Carsten in a stuck elevator. She invited him to her family's Christmas Eve dinner. There she finds out that he owns the construction company that built her building along with many others in the city. They kiss and she invites him to spend Christmas Day with her and that's pretty much the story.
December 18, 2011
What you should know: This is a short story. If you expect it to be short, you won't be disappointed. Josiane and Carston are well drawn characters and the story is well written. Josiane's plight and family are believable and Carston is the perfect hunk. I really enjoyed it.
November 27, 2012
I would have given it 4 stars except I was really disappointed in it's abrupt ending. However, if you are looking for a very short, feel good, Christmas read then this is a good choice. Just know that it ends too quickly!
December 29, 2012
I really enjoyed this short story until the end, there was no conclusion it literally just ended, for that reason I give it a two. Even a short story should have a reasonable ending, but instead I don't know if the guys showed up the next morning with coffee or not.....left hanging and hated that.
January 2, 2014
I was prepared for this to be short, from reading other reviews, but it was REALLY short, 20 minutes max! It actually was a cute premise for a story, and I enjoyed it. But it's rather difficult to understand the number of typos in a short work such as this.
December 26, 2011
Cute romantic short story set during Christmas Eve.
May 6, 2012
A fun Christmas romance short story that will make you smile.
December 16, 2013
Really liked this. Just needed to be much longer. :)
January 9, 2014
The ending was very abrupt -the story line was cute but I wish it could have had a little more -very quick read
December 9, 2016
Cute, but I didn't realize it was a novella when I downloaded it. Very short
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews