The problem is 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?
Number-one New York Times best-selling author Susan Wiggs conjures the heartwarming holiday tale of two people looking beyond the disappointments of the past to the promise of the future. Amid the holiday bustle of crackling fires, caroling singers, and delicious secrets, the season of goodwill becomes the backdrop for Willow Lake's most unlikely love story yet.
©2009 Susan Wiggs; (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.
"Not quite up to Wiggs standards"
First, this is a nice Christmas story. However, I expected more of Susan Wiggs from previous books I had read by her. From the early parts of the story, I really expected the Chirstmas ghost/angel to have a bigger part in the outcome. This just didn't develop, leaving the predictable conclusion feeling empty. In other words, the ghost really could have been dropped without affecting the story, I think.
I think I kept waiting for more throughout the whole book.
"Terrible!"
The characters are mere cardboard cutouts of traits, the plot is transparent and predictable, and Maureen, the librarian, is so stilted and prissy, that her appealing to anyone other than a 1500's pilgrim preacher would be a Christmas miracle in itself. I knew not to expect reality in a genre such as this, but that was directed towards the plot rather than in the belief that someone would want to publish this. Unbelievably bad!
"poor choice for Christmas story"
The language was foul, the story tried to be PC with little or no mention of God. Shallow plot and characters popping into the story for no purpose. Poor excuse for a Christmas story.