A Heartfelt Christmas Promise
A Novel
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A perfect gift that captures the spirit of the season, USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle’s A Heartfelt Christmas Promise celebrates the holidays, small-town traditions, and the generosity of love between two lost souls who find everything they ever wanted in each other.
Vanessa Larkin was supposed to be spending Christmas in Paris, France on a business trip she hoped to enjoy as a working vacation. Instead, she’s been assigned to Fraser Hills, North Carolina—home of the Best Fruitcake in the USA—to convert her company’s property into warehouse space and shut down Porter’s, the fruitcake factory. Offering retirement packages and selling locals on new job opportunities may not spread holiday cheer, but Vanessa believes she’s helping secure the town’s future.
Mike Marshall’s family founded Porter’s. For decades, the factory served as the lifeblood of the community until his grandfather sold the business to a Chicago corporation. The sale cost the town its independence—and the Marshalls their family ties. A horse farmer, Mike was never involved with his grandfather’s company, but still felt Fraser Hills lost part of its identity. And as a widower raising a teenage daughter, he’s suffered enough losses in one lifetime. News of the factory’s closing means losing another piece of the town’s legacy.
Far from the skyscrapers and rapid pace of the city, Vanessa finds herself enjoying the easygoing rhythms of rural living. With Mike as her guide, she learns to appreciate the simple pleasures found in shared holiday festivities among friends. Fraser Hills is a town she is growing to love—and Mike is someone she is falling in love with. Now all Vanessa needs is a Christmas miracle to give her newfound friends and home a gift they’ll cherish for many New Years to come.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A small-town horse farmer falls for a city slicker in this trudge of a romance from Naigle (Christmas Angels). Successful businesswoman Vanessa Larkin was looking forward to spending the holidays on a business trip to Paris, but her boss reassigns her to Fraser Hills, N.C., at the last minute. There Vanessa must transition one of the company's properties, presently the Porters Fruit Cake headquarters, into a warehouse, laying off most of Porters' employees. When word gets around town that she's laying people off from Porters just in time for the holidays, resentment spreads. Among her most vocal detractors is farmer and widowed single father Mike Marshall, whose mother was served walking papers by Vanessa. After some initial sparring, Mike decides to convince Vanessa of the appeal of Fraser Hills and the importance of Porters. Vanessa is quickly wooed by the cozy small-town atmosphere and the pervasive holiday spirit, and agrees to work alongside Mike's daughter to convince her boss not to close the fruitcake business. The charm of Fraser Hills is apparent, but gets lost in the slow-moving, backstory-logged romance. The book's saving graces are colorful secondary characters and a satisfying ending. Still, seasoned romance readers won't find much that stands out.
