A Coldwater Warm Hearts Christmas

In this heavy-handed, Christian-forward, vaguely offensive contemporary set in small Coldwater Cove, Okla., the annual Christmas pageant is the backdrop for romance and melodrama. High school English teacher Angie got volunteered to codirect this year’s elaborate production with builder Seth. He finds Angie prickly, until he realizes her attachment issues are related to her years in foster care. Then he becomes determined to win her, particularly after seeing how she takes a pregnant 15-year-old under her wing. Meanwhile, Angie’s ex-boyfriend shows up out of the blue and concocts a plan to stop the pageant on the grounds that religious events shouldn’t take place on courthouse steps. Eddings attempts to celebrate diversity by imagining that the town’s lone devout Muslim, bookstore-owning Jew and “exotic” Asian-American (the “ultimate outsider” who meditates using “white light”) are as eager as everyone else to participate in the Christmas show. She does include a balanced view on women’s reproductive rights, but the rest of this contemporary is pure schlock. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary. (Oct.)