The Giving Heart

Narrator Anne Marie Gideon engages listeners with the Christmastime goings-on of the inhabitants of Summer Island, a small island in the Great Lakes. Lila Sloan is taking care of her sister's bed and breakfast when someone begins bulldozing the trees behind it as part of a new development. When she rushes outside to stop it, she discovers that handsome Beck Grainger is behind the destruction. He agrees to stand down--for that day anyway. Gideon does a good job of expressing Lila's dismay over the development--and her instant attraction to Beck. She also brings to life the various members of the community--from Beck's young neighbor, Cade, to Lila's friends, Dahlia and Suzanne. Listeners can practically see the snow piling up as the holiday approaches. S.B. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine