The Christmas Promise is a pretty solid holiday story. The characters are likable and I enjoyed the air of mystery from both timelines and the bond of family.
This was a cute, quick holiday story.

The Christmas promise by Lindsey Gibson published September 2023. Read your early Christmas romance. When Charolette buys a painting for the art gallery, she never knew it would change her life.

I love a good Christmas book or a romance, sadly this was neither.

There were so many inconsistencies, Alice’s father apparently died when she was young and she was brought up by her mother and grandparents, however later in the book it mentions “her parents” and even her father selling the painting which was earlier described as being sold by Alice who made them make the promise. When Charlottes boss sends her to discover more about the painting she says she can travel back and forth (and in fact her sister makes the journey very quickly). However she tells Aiden she doesn’t want a long distance relationship, very confusing!

It was very obvious where the story was going but that would have been fine if it had been more succinct. The story drones on going into boring detail of so much food as well as every shower or bath that Charlotte takes. The fact that she couldn’t see where things were going with her ancestor made her seem incredibly dim and the attraction between Charlotte and Aiden could have been much more romantic than it was. As people were leaving voice messages and not saying what they knew the story dragged on unnecessarily. The over use of the phrase “making the colour pop” began to irritate but I think by then I just wanted to get to the end.

The narration was so stilted particularly when an older person is speaking and it made it all very tedious. This could have been a reasonable story but was dragged out way too much!

I am sorry to give such a negative review but I have to be honest.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of this audio book

A standard cozy Christmas book, with a timeline that jumps a bit. It didn't stand out much compared to so many other Christmas stories I'ce read in the past but it hits the spot if you are in the market for Hallmark-esque sweetness

This was darling! Charlotte is an art buyer who is tasked with finding out the provenance of a painting that she thinks she overpaid for. She goes to a sleepy, seaside town, and make some new friends, including Aiden, who owns a museum in town. We have to follow along as she learns all about the inspiration for the painting. Dual timeline, and just so sweet. It was a pleasure to review The Christmas Promise. Excellent narration!

Should be 2 stars, but I love Christmas stories so it got an extra star for the Christmas coziness.

What I like: Christmas coziness, cute small-town, close family dynamics, how it was as much a family story as it was a love story.

What I didn't like: the writing style, the MMC, the women fighting over a man trope.

The writing style was just not for me - there was SO much telling, when I'd have preferred more showing. Some of the word choices were also just *bizarre.*

Example: "the four women stared at each other affectionately" in the MIDDLE of a conversation, without any suggested pause in said conversation! I don't think the author meant 'stared,' because that mental image would be the four of them locked in unblinking eye contact while talking. That would be terrible acting if this were a movie because it's super unnatural, so it's just odd to give them that direction on purpose. One instance of bad word choice would be meh, whatever, but this sort of thing happens throughout the book.

I also just didn't connect to the present day MMC, Aiden. He felt pretty flat to me and I just didn't care whether or not they ended up together. It didn't feel like his story, he was incidental.

In the past day love story, Alice's lover is coveted by a wicked woman who's a one-dimensional caricature of a temptress and a Bad Woman. Aren't we past this, guys? Sigh.

Still, to go back to the good - I did like that the love story was a subplot to the greater family discovery plot. I like books where the romance is the focus, but it's refreshing to find a Christmas story where it's not. it also absolutely put me in the Christmas spirit and made me want to visit a small town. On the whole, I enjoyed the read (hence 3 stars, not 2) but I wouldn't reread and I'm not rushing out to tell my friends about it.