This multi-POV interquel in the Rock Star’s Wife series follows four young adults through one fateful holiday break in the year 2000. Double first cousins Cassie and Phil might be all grown up, but that doesn’t mean they’re exempt from their conservative Greek family’s expectations. And by dating non-Greeks, they’ve gone and kicked a hornet’s nest. Spending the 2000 holidays at home in Sterling, IL, Phil and his girlfriend, Jennifer, wrestle with their desires for the future. They’re in love, but his family objects. Besides, Phil’s proposed courthouse wedding is not the event Jennifer’s been dreaming of. Cassie’s parents have similar misgivings about her relationship with her boyfriend, Corey. But unlike her cousin, Cassie isn’t sure that spending the rest of her life with him is in the cards, given their disparate post-graduation plans. Moving between Cassie, Corey, Phil, and Jennifer, Christmas Surprise offers a profound look at the inner lives of young Gen-Xers. With the girls’ college graduation — and what comes after — looming on the horizon, these four must try to find solid ground in an ever-changing world where nothing is certain, even as the countdown to winter break’s end ticks closer.