Oh Nancy! You've done it again. I love her Christmas stories. Always fin and uplifting. Tears, laughter and HEA. if you're looking for a delightful, sweet Christmas read, this book is for you. If you've never read Nancy Naigle before, go find everything you can, especially Christmas books. Enjoy!

A sweet holiday romance. Vanessa is a smart savvy business woman who has never been in love. She loves working and staying busy. Going to a small town at Christmas brings unexpected pleasures. Mike is a widower and dad who is pretty comfortable with his small town life. It takes a village to create a Christmas miracle and help these two see how perfectly they fit together.

Super special Christmas book featuring Vanessa, who goes to a small town in North Carolina, expecting to shut down a nutcake factory. Instead, she finds a special town with special people. I loved this book! Vanessa did the right thing, and it brought her so much happiness.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC to review. Love Nancy's books!

This was a good Hallmark type book. Vanessa thought she was getting a prime work assignment and was instead sent to Fraser Hills to close down a fruitcake factory. She doesn't understand how any fruitcake business can survive because it's fruitcake, right. Until she tastes it. Very surprising. The company is making money and she doesn't understand what is happening. As she gets to know the town people, she starts to really enjoy small town life and starts to think of a plan to save it. The story had misunderstandings, romance several places and a family getting back together. I loved it

This was a beautiful and heartwarming Christmas story and I would recommend it to anyone.
I fell in love with these characters and felt like they were real.

I have to confess before I write this review, I look forward to reading a Christmas romance by Nancy Naigle every year. And, no, it doesn't even have to be anywhere near Christmas, I read them any time of the year. A Heartfelt Christmas Promise is a marvelous holiday tale with a cast of characters second to none. I adore the characters in this book. Vanessa was looking forward to having Christmas with her cousin at whatever great destination her of her next assignment. Instead of Paris, she's stuck with closing down a fruitcake factory and clearing the buildings for warehouse space. Mike and his teenage daughter live behind the factory and he breeds and raises Percherons, his daughter works at the factory. Vanessa and Mike's story is loaded with ups and downs, drama, humor and just a touch of spice and suspense. I loved every page of this book and look forward to my next book by Nancy Naigle. This is a complete book, not a cliff-hanger.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is my first book by Nancy but I have watched some of her stories on Hallmark. This one would make a great Christmas movie. If you love Christmas romance, great stories, horses, puppies and small town living this is the book for you. Anyone who has ever lived in a small town knows everyone knows everything about everyone.
Vanessa Larkin is a work alcoholic and as she puts so much into her company AGC a corporation.
She is sure she is going to be sent to Paris, France for Christmas. It will be a working vacation. Best laid plans
go really wrong when instead she finds herself in Fraser Hills, North Carolina the home of the world's Best Fruit Cake!!
Really, who eats fruitcake. She is so disappointed but with her help from her cousin Anna. Anna meets her there and they plan on making the best of it. Vanessa has shut down companies before and plans to get this one done quickly.
Then her and Anna can have some fun for Christmas.
Mike Marshall is a man who has lost a lot, his beloved wife and ties with his grandfather.
Mike is raising his daughter alone with the help of friends in town. His life is her and his famous horses. He raises Champion Percheron team pullers. They have won ribbons at many fairs.
He is settled in his life till word gets out someone is coming from AGC to check on the factory.
Porter's was founded by his family. His wife worked there so does his mother. Now his daughter is also working there. The whole town is involved in one way or other with the factory.
Vanessa is shocked by how friendly the people of Fraser Hills are. Going out of their way to greet her. She never lets herself get involved with the town or people as it's just a job. She has not counted on Fraser Hills treating her as one of them.
Fraser Hill is a very special town with some of the nicest people every.
She is about to learn what is really important in life, what she has been missing. Anna has told her for years she needs to find a life and work balance.
Mike is attracted to Vanessa before he knows who she is. Can he learn to trust again, give into the growing attraction between or will both be hurt. This is a wonderful funny and warm story. This is a slow burn story; it is a clean story for all ages.
All the characters are great and make the story. Including one very unforgettable puppy.
You don't want to miss this Christmas story--Its one you will be rereading every year.
If for no other reason read it just to forget our world right now and smile.
I received and ARC from the author and want to thank her, this is my honest opinion and am voluntarily giving it.

Vanessa is all business. Until she receives the assignment to close down a fruitcake factory in North Carolina. The town is a happy place and it quickly grows on her. Her cousin, Anna, arrives to celebrate the holiday season with her and is soon enchanted with a local, Buck. Vanessa soon learns her company has different plans for the factory and she has made promises to the town. I liked he romance between Buck and Anna. The lab puppy was adorable. The most implausible thing was Vanessa's finances. She can't afford to purchase a home in Chicago, but she can afford a large purchase in NC? It's a good story with holiday themes and messages.

3.5 TV Movie In The Making Stars
* * * 1/2 Spoiler Free-A Quick Review
So let's see what we think of when we think of Christmas...It may not be the first thing you think of but eventually, the long-standing traditional gift we all at one time or another get will be thought of...What could that be?
FRUITCAKE
Yes, that gift that will make some extremely happy and others mot so much. Vanessa Larkin's Paris Christmas plans were sabotaged by her boss sending her instead to Fraser Hills, North Carolina—home of the Best Fruitcake in the USA. She received a directive to convert the new warehouse space they acquired when purchasing Porter's Fruitcake. The company will be closed and it will be Vanessa's job to figure out the retirement packages and convince the remaining people new jobs aren't hard to find.

Mike Marshall is a horse rancher. Has a teenage daughter and is trying to do right by her. He was never involved in the family business yet when the family sold Porter's to a Chicago firm, it hurt a little. The factory was the life's blood of the town.

These two meet, the town intervenes, cute moments, small-town love, and a big happily ever after.
Quick, get a screenwriter, and make that movie happen.

A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review.

Once again Christmas plans go awry, Vanessa planned to travel, but instead she is sent to close a fruitcake factory that her company wants to buy - not the factory per se but its buildings. She makes the fatal error of getting involve with the community. She manages to save the day, as it usually happens in a Christmas book. A fun read.

I enjoyed this book. Didn’t think I would as it was a typical corporate lady goes to small town to shut down the business.. But when Vanessa goes to Frazier Hills to close down the fruitcake factory she was not expecting the close knit community and the fact that most of the people are employed there. Of course their is a love interest. Lots of twists and turns to make it a good read!

A wonderful holiday read that is for fans of Hallmark movies, romances and small town life. I was craving fruitcake throughout the novel.

A beautiful holiday story! The small town setting and the close connections of the inhabitants make it difficult to comply with corporate directives to shut things down. Great characters and engaging scenarios make for a delightful story, just the thing to put you in the holiday mood.

Vanessa is a big city girl who had her heart set on spending Christmas in Paris this year. Instead she was sent to the mountains of North Carolina to shut down a local fruit cake factory called Porter's. Mike's family has owned Porter's for generations and he was shocked when his grandfather sold the company to a corporate conglomerate in Chicago. After losing his wife, losing Porter's was just too much for him to bear. When Vanessa swoops into town, clearly unaware of what Porter's means to the community, Mike and the rest of the town set out to show her how special Fraser Hills, North Carolina, really is.

I take back every time I ever called another book a Hallmark Movie because this one TAKES THE (fruit) CAKE! We are talking city girl and grumpy country hero, a widower raising a teenage girl, high school football, old ladies who make delicious holiday meals, puppies, and FINDING THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS.

Someone get me a hot chocolate and cozy blanket STAT.

(3 stars for the holiday cheer. but it was a typical hallmarkian romance. nothing out of the ordinary, but sure to hit the spot if you're looking for something sweet.)

Thank you to Netgally, Nancy Naigle, and St. Martin's Press for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

A Heartfelt Christmas Promise by Nancy Naigle
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Genre: Romance
Release Date: September 29, 2020
❄️❄️❄️❄️
I absolutely loved this book!!! It is such a sweet story that had me laughing, crying, and even filled with a little suspense.

I loved the story line and the characters just drew me in! The small town story was so captivating. Also, there is the sweetest puppy who steals the show!

This was easy to read and was a sweet Christmas romance. It felt like the perfect holiday story. I will be reading this again around Christmas just so I can experience the holiday glow it created!

I'm so grateful to Nancy Naigle, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

A Heartfelt Christmas Promise by Nancy Naigle is an inspiring story of following one’s heart. Vanessa is expecting to be sent to Paris or Washington state for her next assignment of assessing property for profitability or closing over the holidays. Her cousin, Anna, calls and insists they must spend the holiday together wherever Vanessa is assigned. Instead she is sent to a small town in North Carolina, which is famous for its fruitcake, to shut down Porter’s Fruitcake as they need the warehouse space for another company. Fraser Hills is a big adjustment from Chicago as there are no Ubers, only one cab and the residents know all of everyone’s business. Can she adjust and fit in? Does she have all the facts about this business or is it more viable than her boss thinks?
I really enjoyed this book and stayed up very late to finish reading it. I had to know what would happen. The characters drew me in and I could just see this small town and their factory and store. I did not want all the people to lose their jobs right after Christmas. I really liked Vanessa even though she was there to destroy the livelihood of many. I kept thinking to myself that this should be a Hallmark movie with the background of mountains and snow. Through many twists, turns and misunderstandings the story does come to a logical conclusion. I give this book 5 of 5 stars. It will appeal to a wide audience of readers and is a heartwarming story of love and finding one’s place in the world.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

"A Heartfelt Christmas Promise" by Nancy Naigle is a wonderful, heart-touching novel! I couldn't put it down. I love easy to read, sweet books and this one qualifies! There is always something so touching about books based around Christmas time and I can read them all year round...it must be like watching Hallmark Christmas movies!

A Heartfelt Christmas Promise was very heartfelt. A very lovely Christmas book
Small towns and the people who live in those small towns. I loved this book. I read this whole book in one sitting. I felt so close to all the characters, a very powerful lesson to be learned reading this book!

A sweet, heart felt and heart warming story that is perfect for the Christmas season. It has a hallmark movie feel in that it gives you all the warm fuzzies inside like those holiday movies.

I was invited by St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley to read A Heartfelt Christmas Promise, by bestselling author, Nancy Naigle, in exchange for an honest review. It is a delightful romantic comedy set in the lovely, but fictional, small town of Fraser Hills, North Carolina.

Vanessa Larkin works for one of those companies that buys other companies, then shuts them down, putting hundreds of people out of work. She expected to be sent to Paris for a project, and hoped to be there over Christmas. Her boss had other ideas, and went to Paris himself, taking the laziest and most dishonest employee with him. Disappointed to be spending the holidays in the tiny town of Fraser Hills, NC, she went to do the job, spend time with her cousin, and go home to begin the next project.

Vanessa is to close Porter’s Fruitcake, and make space for a new company to be installed in the warehouses owned by Porter’s. She offers fabulous retirement packages to some, and new job opportunities to others at the new company for others. The close-knit community is not happy.

She meets Mike Marshall, who unknown to Vanessa, is the grandson of the founder and former owner of Porter’s. While never involved in the company, Mike feels a loss of family history when his grandfather sells Porter’s. The town’s people feel betrayed. Mike is a widower raising a brilliant and precocious teenage daughter.

Gradually, Vanessa finds that she likes rural, small town living, just as she is drawn to Mike and his daughter. At the same time, she is falling in love with the employees of Porter’s.

She devises a plan to use the warehouse space for the new company, while leaving the bakery and store/gift shop in place. Betrayed by her boss when she shares her ideas with him, she is determined to outwit him. It appears Vanessa and Mike may have many Christmases to share in the coming years.

A Heartfelt Christmas Promise is the perfect romantic escape from the trying times we are living in these days. It’s a light, easy read, and is fun, sexy, and encouraging for young girls with ambition and life goals. As I said on Instagram, if this isn’t a Hallmark movie, it should be.

What make The Grumpy Book Reviewer grumpy?

Well, this was an ARC, but still, there were a few errors that should have been caught by now:

• Redundancies: “plenty enough” (It’s plenty or it’s enough – not both.) “alley street” (It’s an alley or it’s a street – can’t be both.)
• Statements that end with a question mark;
• A question that ends with a period.
• Incorrect verb usage: go vs. come, bring vs. take, wasn’t vs. weren’t, was vs. were;
• Using further in place of farther;
• Numerous typos;
• Multiple missing commas;
• A lot of split infinitives.