I know, I know, it’s way to early for Christmas. Way too early. And yet, I’m in the Christmas spirit because romance author Michael Avena and I have been hard at work on a Christmas novella. That means we’ve had to listen to Christmas music, sample Christmas treats, and imbibe Christmas drinks, all in the name of Christmas research.

It’s all worth it, because we’re doing it for you.

The novella is set to be released early December. I’ll leave you with a sneak peek at the blurb, and then get back to writing. There is, after all, a Christmas deadline.

Eve loves Christmas, so why is she falling for a grinch?

Eve is on a Christmas mission. As decorator at South Florida’s most exclusive open-air shopping center, she’s out to orchestrate a joyful Christmas Eve winter wonderland. It’ll be just like that 24th all those years ago before her father went and got himself, you know, arrested.

What’s past is past though. After all, she’s got the mistletoe. She’s got the chestnuts roasting on an open fire. And she’s hired the jolliest Santa in the world. It will be perfect, that is, if she can get Gabe, the grinch of an engineer, to cooperate. Sure, he’s tall, and that baritone voice of his could melt the North Pole. But can’t he stop hating Christmas long enough to make Eve’s winter wish come true?

As far as Gabe is concerned, the world could do without Christmas. It digs up memories from holidays best forgotten. So naturally, he lets himself get roped into playing Santa at some snooty shopping center. (Shhh, no one can know. It would ruin his reputation.) To top it off, that crazy redhead Eve wants him to break the laws of physics and create some winter wonderland. What part of “South Florida heat wave” does she not understand?

As the Advent calendar ticks down to December 24, Eve fears she may have more in common with Gabe than she’d like to admit. And in spite of himself, Gabe is losing his grip on his inner Bah Humbug. Could he possibly end up falling for the girl—and Christmas?