Christmas From The Heart by Sheila Roberts
Published by MIRA on September 24, 2019
Pages: 304
Source: the publisher
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USA TODAY bestselling author Sheila Roberts takes readers to a small, snowbound town, where a young woman fights to save her family’s charity that brings Christmas to families in need, and a stranded millionaire loses his heart and finds the true meaning of Christmas.

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 received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

REVIEW

Christmas From The Heart by Sheila Roberts is a holiday romance story featuring the joys, rewards, and challenges of helping those in need.

Livi Berg runs a nonprofit that has been in her family for multiple generations. Guy Hightower is a wealthy CEO from Seattle, Washington. When Livi contacts Hightower Enterprises to see if they’ll be donating to Christmas From The Heart for their holiday drive, Guy informs her that they’ve opted to donate to other organizations for the upcoming holiday season. This doesn’t sit very well with Livi and the two end up having a snarky email exchange. Livi ends up raising much less money to support local families in need because she has lost the largest supporter of her nonprofit, and she proceeds to try to stretch her limited resources as far as she can.

In a fun and very unlikely twist of events, Guy’s car ends up breaking down in Livi’s small town just a few days before Christmas, and Livi happens to be the first on the scene to help him. When he finds out who she is, he chooses to introduce himself with a fake name because of their not-so-positive history. Ultimately, however, the two hit it off and actually fall in love while Guy is in town waiting for his car to be repaired.

I had to suspend my disbelief at how these two actually meet and fall in love. This story really does read like a fun Hallmark holiday movie. Livi and her family go out of their way to help Guy (aka “Joe Ford”) while he is in town, even offering their own spare bedroom for him to stay in since the local hotel is full with no vacancies. As the days progress and Guy witnesses all of the good that Livi and her nonprofit do for their community, he realizes that he may have been too hasty in turning down her request for a donation. He begins to see that the families in need are directly impacted by whether or not his large corporation continues supporting Christmas From The Heart with donations. Ultimately, Guy has a  major change of heart by the end of the story.

The romance progresses in a fun way and the story is quite charming. There is a third person involved. Morris, Livi’s best friend since childhood who also is in love with her. Morris wants Guy to leave town and get away from Livi, and this results in the expected love-triangle-y interactions between the two men throughout the story, including a fight. To me, the biggest conflicts in the story were the way Guy’s real identity was revealed and how Livi handled the news that he had lied to her. No worries, though-everyone ends up happy.

I feel conflicted about Livi as a character. It doesn’t seem like she learned anything from her encounter with Guy. Yes, she fell in love with him, but before that happened and while she thought Guy was “Joe”, she talked terribly about Guy-Hightower-the-CEO to everyone that would listen. She even worked her ill feelings about him into conversations that had nothing to do with Guy or his business. Her negative attitude made her look like she struggled with entitlement where her nonprofit was concerned, even though her actions showed that she was loving and kind. I don’t feel like her words or actions resolved themselves, and it seemed like everyone chose to overlook how nasty she had been toward Guy. I loved Guy’s transformation into a more giving person, but to be clear: I never really felt like he was selfish at all.

This story was enjoyable to read (and I think it would make a super-fun holiday movie!!). There is a great small-town setting, a lovable cast of characters, and an HEA. I recommend Christmas From The Heart for readers that love winter-y, Christmas-y reads.

Keep reading for an excerpt from the beginning of the story! 

Excerpt

From: Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Date: 2-14-19
To: Ms. Marla Thompson, CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises
Subject: Holiday Joy

Dear Ms. Thompson,
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! I’m following up our January newsletter with a special greeting as this is,
of course, the month for love. Love for our sweethearts, our family and friends, and for those in need.
As you could see from the newsletter, we put the money our loyal supporters donated to us to good
use. So many families benefited from your generous donation to Christmas from the Heart last year and
I just wanted to remind you that, even though the holidays seem far away they will be here before we
know it. I hope we can count on Hightower Enterprises again this year. We have such a history together.
Let’s keep up the good work!

Warmly,
Olivia Berg
Christmas from the Heart
Giving from the heart makes all the difference

 

From: Marla Thompson, CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises
Date: 2-14-19
To: Ms. Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Subject: Holiday Joy

Dear Ms. Berg,
Thanks for reaching out. Our fiscal year is just ending and I haven’t yet received word as to how our
charitable donations will be dispersed this year. I will keep you apprised.

Best, Marla Thompson
CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises

 

From: Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Date: 2-14-19
To: Ms. Marla Thompson, CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises
Subject: Holiday Joy

Thank you so much. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Olivia Berg
Christmas from the Heart
Giving from the heart makes all the difference

 

From: Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Date: 5-1-19
To: Ms. Marla Thompson, CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises
Subject: Happy May Day!

Dear Ms. Thompson, just wanted to wish you a happy May Day. The flowers here in Pine River are now
in full bloom, and our organization has been busy helping people make their dreams bloom, as well. As
you know, while our focus is primarily the holidays, Christmas from the Heart tries to help people all
year round when needs arise. Of course, Christmas is our big thrust, and as there is no other
organization working in this area, we are much needed. As are your kind contributions. I still haven’t
heard and I do hope we can count on you.

Warmly,
Olivia Berg
Christmas from the Heart
Giving from the heart makes all the difference

 

From: Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Date: 5-5-19
To: Ms. Marla Thompson
Subject: Just checking

Reaching out again in case my last email went astray. I’m wondering if you have any news for me
regarding Hightower’s involvement with our cause for this coming year.

Thanks!
Olivia Berg
Christmas from the Heart
Giving from the heart makes all the difference

 

From: Marla Thompson, CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises
Date: 5-5-19
To: Ms. Olivia Berg
Subject: Just checking

Ms. Berg, sorry I haven’t been able to get back to you sooner. I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. It
appears that the company is going to be scaling back on their charitable giving this year and funds have
already been budgeted for other causes. I’m aware of the fact that in the past we’ve donated to your
organization and I’m sorry I don’t have better news for you. I do wish you all the best in your search for
other funding.

Best,
Marla Thompson
CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises

 

From: Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Date: 5-5-19
To: Ms. Marla Thompson
Subject: Just checking

There must be some sort of misunderstanding! Hightower has always donated to Christmas from the
Heart. The company’s founder, Elias Hightower, was my great-grandmother’s first contributor, and he
promised her that Hightower would always be there for this organization. This is a company tradition!
Please speak to your director.

Hopefully,
Olivia Berg
Christmas from the Heart
Giving from the heart makes all the difference

 

From: Marla Thompson, CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises
Date: 5-5-19
To: Ms. Olivia Berg
Subject: Just checking

I’m sorry. The decision is out of my hands.

Marla Thompson
CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises

 

From: Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Date: 5-5-19
To: Ms. Marla Thompson
Subject: Just checking

Then please tell me who I need to talk to. Who’s your CFO?

Olivia Berg
Christmas from the Heart
Giving from the heart makes all the difference

 

From: Marla Thompson, CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises
Date: 5-5-19
To: Ms. Olivia Berg
Subject: Just checking

Our CFO is Guy Hightower, and his email is ghightower@hightowerenterprises.com
Good luck!

Marla Thompson
CSR Director, Hightower Enterprises

 

From: Olivia Berg, Director, Christmas from the Heart
Date: 5-5-19
To: Guy Hightower, CFO, Hightower Enterprises
Subject: Please reconsider

Dear Mr. Hightower, I understand from your corporate social resources director that Hightower isn’t
planning on making any donation to Christmas from the Heart this year. There must be some mistake!
Surely you’re aware of the long-standing relationship between your company and our organization. I’m
sure I can count on you for some small amount.

Best, Olivia Berg
Christmas from the Heart
Giving from the heart makes all the difference

 

Guy Hightower frowned when he saw the email from Olivia Berg in his in-box. Marla Thompson had
been forwarding her emails to him, keeping him abreast of Olivia Berg’s varied begging tactics, and had
finally even come into his office, trying to dump the load of guilt the woman had laid on her from her
shoulders to his.

“Don’t open it,” he told himself. He opened it anyway. Then he read it and swore.

Actually, he’d been swearing ever since meeting with his brothers to discuss the budget back in
December. If either of them had listened to him three years ago, they wouldn’t be having to pull the
company belt so tight now. This was the problem with being the youngest. It didn’t matter how many
degrees you had, how smart you were or what your job title was. Big brothers never listened.

Hard to listen when you were going through your third divorce.

That was Mike’s excuse. What was Bryan’s? Oh yeah. He was a wuss. He always agreed with
Mike, no matter what. And Mike hadn’t wanted to change directions. Never mind that the company was
struggling, keep on doing the same thing. The definition of insanity.

Sorry, Little Miss Christmas. Times were tough all over. Hightower had kept its commitment to
the more visible causes and turned the little fish loose. And that was how it worked in the corporate
world.

He typed his reply.

Dear Ms. Berg, I regret that Hightower can’t help you this year. We’ve had to reassess our commitments
to various causes. I’m sure you’ll understand.

Then he signed off with the time-honored adios: Respectfully, Guy Hightower.

And if she didn’t understand, well, not his problem. He had his hands full trying to keep the
family company afloat. Maybe now Mike would be ready to take his advice and diversify.

 

Olivia Berg—Livi to her family and friends—read the email from Guy Hightower a second time.
Yes, the message was the same. Really? Really? Who was this man, Ebenezer Scrooge the Second?

She plowed her fingers through her hair, the birthstone ring Morris had given her for her
birthday catching in the curls. She was so angry she barely noticed.

With a snarl, she began to type.

You should be ashamed. Your great-grandfather is probably turning in his grave right now. What’s the
matter with you, anyway, you selfish bastard?

She pulled her fingers off the keyboard with a gasp. What was she thinking? Was this any way to
get someone to contribute to her cause? And what kind of language was this? Her great-grandmother
would be turning in her grave right now, along with Elias. Adelaide Brimwell had been a lady through
and through. So had Livi’s grandmother, Olivia, as well as Livi’s mom.

The thought of her mother made her tear up. How she wished Mom was still around to advise
her. They’d always planned that Livi would take over running the organization one day, but neither had
dreamed that day would come so soon. Her mother’s heart attack had struck like lightning. Livi’s brother
had left town, moving to Seattle, which was just far enough south to keep the memories at bay. Livi had
stayed put, holding on to every single one, weaving them together into a lifeline to cling to as she kept
Christmas from the Heart afloat.

Oh, Mom. What should I do?

Try again came the answer.

Yes, her mother never gave up. She’d chased one potential donor for two years before he finally
came through. Livi still remembered the day her mom left the house, clad in a Mrs. Santa costume she’d
created—requisite white wig along with a frilly white blouse and a red skirt topped with a red-striped
apron. She’d taken with her a batch of home-baked cookies nestled in a red basket and returned home
with a check for five hundred dollars. The man had been a loyal contributor ever since. Livi still took him
cookies every year.

“Persistence pays,” she told herself as she deleted what she’d typed.

She started over.

I’m asking you to reconsider. Your company is our major donor, and without you so many people will
have little joy this Christmas. Any amount you can give will be greatly appreciated.

There. He’d have to be a heartless monster not to respond to that.

 

Guy trashed the guilt-inflicting email. What was he, Santa Claus? He had his hands full keeping
his company solvent.

But then, people like Olivia Berg never considered the fact that a company might have needs of
its own. What made them feel so entitled to sit at the edge of the salt mine while a man slaved away
and then greet him with their hands out when he emerged broken and bruised? Maybe some of those
people always begging for money should get out there and actually earn a living. Let them work their
tails off, putting in seventy-hour weeks. Sheesh.

Anyway, the company had already met their good deed quota for the year. The only cause Guy
was interested in now was Hightower Enterprises.

 

By the end of the workday, Guy Hightower still hadn’t responded to Livi’s last email. “You are a
heartless monster,” she grumbled, glaring at her empty email in-box.

“No word yet?” her part-time assistant, Bettina Thomas, asked as she shut down her computer.

Livi sighed and shook her head.

“That is so wrong,” Bettina said in disgust.

It sure was. “They’ve been our major donor ever since my great-grandmother founded
Christmas from the Heart. Without their contribution how will we put on the Christmas dinner at the
community center? How many families won’t have presents under the tree or Christmas stockings or a
Christmas turkey?” There was no Salvation Army in Pine River, no Toys for Tots— none of the usual
organizations serviced this area. There had been no need. Christmas from the Heart had it under
control.

Until now.

“We’ve had to reassess our commitments,” Livi quoted. The words left a bad taste in her mouth
and she frowned. “It sounds like something your boyfriend says when he’s dumping you.”

“They are dumping us,” Bettina pointed out. “But don’t worry. We have time. We’ll find
someone else to come through.”

“Not like Hightower. There must be something I can do,” Livi mused.

“There is. Go home and eat chocolate.”

And try not to think bad thoughts about Guy Hightower.

In all fairness, he probably didn’t grasp the situation. She’d call him the next day and invite him
to come to Pine River for a visit so she could let him see the need, show him a little of what Christmas
from the Heart did for the community. She could take him to lunch, introduce him to some of the people
in town, put a face—or better yet, several—to Christmas from the Heart. She’d top it all off by following
in her mother’s footsteps and baking him cookies. Then how could he help but catch the vision his great-
grandfather and her great-grandmother had shared?

Yes, that would do it. Sometimes you had to be a little patient, give people a second chance.

 

-Excerpted from Christmas From the Heart by Sheila Roberts. Copyright © 2019 by Roberts Ink LLC.
Published by MIRA Books.

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