Book Review: Christmas From the Heart

I know you're like, "Jesus, Sara- let me get through Halloween!" and I get that. BUT! It's always nice to have your Christmas reading lined up so you're able to read as soon as you get your tree up. I'll tell you Jackson put his tree up in his room over the weekend because he has "so much cheer" he needed "extra time to get it out". I'm not kidding, he actually said that at lunch on Sunday. Ha! Also, if you head over to my Instagram, you can see the photo for today's post that I made Olivia and Jackson help me with. It involved a lot of precarious step stool standing and curtain holding. It was hilarious.

Christmas From The Heart - Sheila Roberts

Sometimes you need to look beyond the big picture to see what really matters

Olivia Berg's charity, Christmas from the Heart, has helped generations of families in need in Pine River, Washington, but this year might be the end of the road. Hightower Enterprises, one of their biggest donors since way back when Olivia's grandmother ran the charity, has been taken over by Ebenezer Scrooge the Second, aka CFO Guy Hightower, and he's declared there will be no more money coming to Christmas from the Heart.

Guy is simply being practical. Hightower Enterprises needs to tighten its belt, and when you don't have money to spare, you don't have money to share. You'd think even the pushy Olivia Berg could understand that.

With charitable donations dwindling, Olivia's Christmas budget depends on Hightower's contribution. She's focused her whole life on helping this small town, even putting her love life on hold to support her mission.

When Guy's Maserati breaks down at the edge of the Cascade foothills, he's relieved to be rescued by a pretty young woman who drives him to the nearby town of Pine River. Until he realizes his rescuer is none other than Olivia Berg. What's a Scrooge to do? Plug his nose and eat fruitcake and hope she doesn't learn his true identity before he can get out of town. What could go wrong?

I'll tell you right off the bat I'm giving this 4 stars because I really loved this romance and I know it screams "make me a Hallmark movie!!", I am begging the universe to not do that because it will ruin the vision I have in my head of these characters and this story. I'm not that person who can envision actors to play roles because I always associate them with previous work, and yeah- it's a whole thing and I just want this book to stay sweet and adorable and fun just the way it is.

Anyways. Ha! In this book we have Olivia, who runs a holiday charity (which kind of reminded me of Best Christmas Ever, Toys for Tots, etc kind of thing) that everyone respects and is grateful for . She's incredibly stressed though because knowing that their largest donor is likely pulling out for good puts the entire charity at risk of closing down and she knows first hand the difference it makes and what a big deal this is to the families that benefit from it. Enter Guy, who literally pulls into this little town in the middle of winter (snow everywhere) in a Maserati. The absurdity of it is what sells it because right off the bat you know you're not meant to like Guy.

Of course he ends up stranded (hahahahaha) and he doesn't realize he's being rescued by the woman in charge of the charity he's trying to screw over. She has no idea it's him (Except HOW?!?! This was kind of a book shaking moment because honest to goodness, how many people do you know driving a Maserati? I mean, OK- who would expect this company to check out the town but seriously- there were a few moments in this book I wanted to shake Olivia and tell her to put the dang pieces together!). He decides the best way to handle this setback is to lie his entire way through this stay, but he ends up being won over by all of the people he encounters, the little town itself, and of course, Olivia. If I had to give you a "meh" thing for me, I'll say the ending felt rushed. Maybe not rushed but we spent a lot of time on the bulk of the story and things didn't come together until almost the end and then bam- we're done. I will say that I really enjoy stories that have text and/or email exchanges and this book has that so I thought that was a fun touch.

If you like Hallmark Christmas movies,  you will love this book. If you love a sweet romance that doesn't involve raunchy sex and descriptions of a penis, this is absolutely your book. If you want a lighthearted and fun book to read around the holidays, this is your book and you shouldn't hesitate in picking this one up. I always have friends I buy gifts for and I always have a few "just because" gifts I'll give to random people and it almost always has a book included, and this will be the book I pick up for all of them this year. I really had a good time with this one. (Also, how gorgeous is this cover?? My dream is to have a tree (or more) in my yard that I can decorate with lights because we all know how that would thrill my Grinch of a husband, right??)

   

A huge thank you to Pump Up Your Book for getting me on this tour and MIRA Books for getting me a copy! This post contains affiliate links.