Advent Calendar Review: Evan Versus the Sharlotka (2019 Advent Calendar - Home for the Holidays) by Chrissy Munder

Reviewed by Jay V.

TITLE: Evan Versus the Sharlotka

SERIES: 2019 DSP Advent Calender

AUTHOR: Chrissy Munder

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 25 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2019

BLURB:

Rumpled tech support Evan Carmichael has a crush on pristine programming supervisor Gavriil Cottan. The whole company knows it. Except Gavriil. As a closet romantic, Evan dreams of declaring his feelings with a grand gesture, something out of the movies he loves.

The company holiday potluck luncheon gives Evan a perfect opportunity. He finds out Gavriil’s favorite dessert and is determined to make an apple sharlotka just like Gavriil’s mother used to make. The only problem is, Evan is a disaster in the kitchen. Can he master the mystery of the sharlotka and the intricacies of the springform pan in time to both woo and wow Gavriil?

REVIEW:

You know when you read a story and your teeth hurt so much because it’s so sweet? Yeah, this is one of them. Evan is just stumbling on in life. He doesn’t have high self-esteem and feels like he’s a bit in the way all the time. He’s been having lunch with Gavriil, a fairly new employee at work. It’s hard to tell how Gavriil feels about Evan. They do have great conversations and Evan can’t get him out of his head but he’s just so unsure. So when Gavriil mentions that his mother used to make apple sharlotkas for the holidays, Evan goes on a mission to supply the best dessert ever. What is a sharlotka? Evan doesn’t bake, how’s he going to pull this off? He’s got a lot of work ahead of him to get this done.

There’s been a lot of discussions lately about the grand gesture in romance stories and movies. Are they too much? Do they force the hand of the other? For this story, it is so sweet that it isn’t coercing or making the other uncomfortable because there are strings attached. Evan’s heart and intentions are in this for just being kind and helping his friend have remembrances of his home country. There is not expectation, though there is hope that Gavriil likes Evan the same way he does. The company can see that Evan has a crush but can Gavriil? Will Evan make a sharlotka worthy of Gavriil’s mother? Will this be enough for Gavriil to see how Evan feels?

As are all of the advent stories, this is short, but it’s just so adorable, you’re going to fall for Evan and his mustering efforts.

RATING: