Book excerpt: Maureen Davenport lives for Christmas—and there's nothing more magical than Christmas on Willow Lake. The prim librarian is finally getting her chance to direct Avalon's annual holiday pageant, and she's determined to make it truly spectacular. But it might just require one of those Christmas miracles she's always read about. Because her codirector is recovering former child star Eddie Haven, a long-haired, tattooed lump of coal in Maureen's pageant stocking. Eddie can't stand Christmas, but a court order from a judge has landed him right in the middle of the merrymaking. Maureen and Eddie spar over every detail of the pageant, from casting troubled kids to Eddie's original—and distinctly untraditional—music. Is he trying to sabotage the performance to spite her? Or is she trying too hard to fit the show into her storybook-perfect notion of Christmas? And how is it possible that they're falling in love?