Welcome to the JustListen Reviewer Tour for
The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels hosted by
JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: The Fruitcake Challenge
Author: Carrie Fancett Pagels
Release Date: November 24, 2020
Genre: Historical Christian Romance
When new lumberjack, Tom Jeffries, tells the camp cook, Jo Christy, that he’ll marry her if she can make a fruitcake, “as good as the one my mother makes,” she rises to the occasion. After all, he’s the handsomest, smartest, and strongest axman her camp-boss father has ever had in his camp—and the cockiest. And she intends to bring this lumberjack down a notch or three by refusing his proposal. The fruitcake wars are on! All the shanty boys and Jo’s cooking helpers chip in with their recipes but Jo finds she’ll have to enlist more help—and begins corresponding with Tom’s mother.
Step back in time to 1890, in beautiful Northern Michigan, near the sapphire straits of Mackinac, when the white pines were “white gold” and lumber camps were a way of life. Jo is ready to find another life outside of the camps and plans that don’t include any shanty boys. But will a lumberjack keep her in the very place she’s sworn to leave?
My Review ❤️
Let me preface this review by saying that I am a straight up newbie when it comes to audiobooks. I've listened to a few but I struggled to stay focused (thanks ADD!) and gave up, but I am back and giving a different genre a shot in hopes of finally being able to finish an audiobook.
The Fruitcake Challenge is my first "read" by Carrie Fancett Pagels, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The heroine,
Jo Christy, is addressed numerous times throughout the book as Ms. Christy. My name being
Christi as well gave it a cool little twist for me, really helping me to put myself in Jo's position, and to become immersed in this world.
Poor Jo is in a world full of lonely lumberjacks and not very many women. Proposals and perusals are plentiful but are warded off by Jo's two older, and very protective, brothers. That is, until Tom Jeffries, the new, confident and incredibly handsome lumberjack, comes into town, catching Jo's eye, and leaving her unsure about how she feels about him. Tom is unimpressed with Jo at first glance, but decides to offer a challenge to the camp cook: if she can make a fruitcake "as good as the one my mother makes" then Tom will marry her. Jo, intent on bringing this cocky lumberjack down a peg, rises to the challenge, and it is this challenge that changes everything.
I adored the banter between Tom and Jo, loving the funny parts, but also appreciating the serious parts as well. At first, the narrator's voice was a little stiff for me, but once I got a few chapters in I really started to enjoy listening to narrator Virginia Gray, her male and female voices wonderfully done, helping to paint a wonderful picture of
The Fruitcake Challenge and Tom and Jo's story.
I will say, audiobooks are redeemed for me, thanks to
The Fruitcake Challenge. Will they replace actual books for me? No, but I still enjoyed the experience nonetheless, this novella so witty and sweet, the lightheartedness exactly what I needed during this season.
My Rating: ★★★★
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carrie Fancett Pagels is an ECPA bestselling and award-winning author of Christian historical romance. Twenty-five years as a psychologist didn't "cure" her overactive imagination! She resides with her family in the Historic Triangle of Virginia, which is perfect for her love of history. Carrie loves to read, bake, bead, and travel – but not all at the same time!
*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this audiobook which I received from the author/publisher through JustRead Tours. All views and opinions are completely honest, and my own.
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