Review of The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Brief Summary:

Jo Christy has always dreamed of leaving her fathers lumber camp and starting a life somewhere new.  However, things change when her dad needs her to stay in the camp and work as the cook. Life moves slow and boring in the camp until a handsome lumberjack by the name of Tom arrives and catches her eye. Jo tries to ignore him but is unable to especially when he tells the whole camp he will marry her if she makes him the fruitcake like his mom used to. Will Jo be able to make the fruitcake like his mom and bring him down a couple notches or will she find that there is more behind his tough, handsome exterior?

Tom Jeffries arrives at the Lumber Camp expecting to work hard and make money to send home to his mother. What he doesn't expect to see is a beautiful woman as the camp cook. Now he has more than one goal, make money for his family back home and capture the heart of the camp, cook Jo Christy. 

My Review:

This is the first book that I have read in the Christy Lumber Camp series and also the first that I have read of Carrie Fancett Pagels. I think that Carrie did a great job developing the characters and setting the scene in this book, especially being that the story was only less than 200 pages long. In addition to developing the characters and setting the scene I enjoyed how she incorporated romance and humor into the story.

If there was one thing that I would maybe suggest changing or re-thinking it would be the cover of this book. I found that if I had saw this in the bookstore it may have misled me to this was more centered around christmas.

I think this is a great read for readers who are looking for a short, light hearted romance. I would defiantly recommend it to readers who enjoy christian fiction as well. It is definitely a book that can be read in one day or just sitting on the beach somewhere. I am very interested in reading more in this series to see whose story she will be writing next.