Do You Believe in Santa?

Donovan (No Christmas like the Present) puts the titular question at the heart of a romance that leans heavily on old-fashioned values. Provincial Mandy Reece firmly believes Santa Claus is real. When she falls in love with Jake Wyndham, a visiting businessman who wants to bring her small community into the corporate world, both will have to reexamine their beliefs. Jake is a caricature of traditional masculinity: he insists on opening doors for Mandy, jumps to immediate jealousy, has the more powerful job, thinks of Mandy in terms of her ability to bear and raise his future kids, and is more sexually experienced. This conventional portrayal is balanced somewhat when he realizes he has to change in order to reach his professional and personal goals. The dual arcs blend well together—Jake’s plan to commercialize Mandy’s town may cost him her heart—and the Christmas theme is central to the conflict keeping Mandy and Jake apart. This chaste love story will appeal to traditionalists. Agent: Jonathan Clements, Wheelhouse Literary Group. (Oct.)