title: A Nutcracker Christmas
author: Winter, Laurie
description: Suddenly let go from her news anchor position, Aria Roberts heads north to stay at her late Great-Aunt Clara's house. She has many good memories there and wishes to give Clara's Christmas Shoppe, which is located on the first floor of the Victorian mansion, one final holiday season. When Aria arrives, she finds the special gift Clara left for her—an antique nutcracker with a poem hidden under the back lever. Aria reads the poem out loud. At sundown that night, those words magically bring the nutcracker to life. Kort Zellner awakes inside the familiar surroundings of Clara's house but learns she has passed away and now her great-niece resides there. The curse placed on him three hundred years ago traps him in the form of a nutcracker but allows him to return every December 1st through midnight on Christmas Day—only between sundown and sunrise. After some convincing, Aria believes Kort's strange story. She helps him experience life as he is gifted so few hours alive and in doing so, falls in love. he knows his curse makes it impossible to give her the constant relationship she deserves. His plan to leave her forever on Christmas Day collides with Aria's desire to build a future together, even if for only twenty-five nights a year.  Can the curse be broken for a happy ever after?