Tom Shepherd is anything but a hero. A senior physics major at Three Rivers University in Pittsburgh, he just wants to make some easy cash. On the last Sunday in November, he arrives to sell the Christmas season's hottest toy, So Big Sammy, for three times its retail price to a buyer, but a snafu lands him in the middle of a bone marrow drive benefiting four-year-old Christo Davidson, who has leukemia. When everyone there--including the media covering the event--assumes that Tom has come to give the toy to the sick boy, Tom has no choice but to give it away. Lauded by the media as a hero and bestowed with the nickname The Good Shepherd, Tom finds himself an overnight celebrity. As a toy scalper and liar, he knows he's unworthy of the honor, but when Gloria Davidson, a fellow student and Christo's relative, seeks out Tom to thank him for being so kind to her little cousin, Tom, bewitched by her beauty, embellishes his character and lies to further impress Gloria. Tom asks Gloria out, beginning a relationship that will lead him to examine everything he believes. On Christmas Eve, Tom finds himself facing choices that will affect not only himself but also Gloria and Christo. Tom must choose between sacrifice and honor, love and loneliness, life and death. A Christmas romance with the charm of Dickens's A Christmas Carol and the spirit of It's a Wonderful Life, A Shepherd's Song, will set your soul to singing! Janice Lane Palko and is the author of the hit romantic comedy St. Anne's Day and has been a writer for more than 15 years. She is currently the executive editor of Northern Connection and Pittsburgh 55+ magazines, where she also pens a column and contributes regularly to the magazines' content. Her third novel, a romantic suspense entitled Cape Cursed, will be released in late spring.