The Fruitcake Challenge ~ Review

The Fruitcake Challenge

Christy Lumber Camp #1

By Carrie Fancett Pagels

Narrated by Virginia Gray

Jo Christy has no desire to spend the rest of her days in her family's lumber camp, and she certainly has no intention of marrying a lumberjack. So when Tom Jefferies joins up with the camp, she is less than thrilled with his attentions. 

Tom Jefferies has left behind the life he has known for the lumber camps of Michigan. Working as a lumberjack pays better than his previous job as a teacher. It is hard work, but he needs the pay to help support his mother. He never expected to meet someone like Miss Josephine Christy working at the Christy Family Lumber Camp. 

Jo Christy seems determined to ignore all of Tom's flattery and attempts at courting. But when Tom issues his Fruitcake Challenge, she sees this as the perfect opportunity to put him in his place. But as the fruitcake challenge progresses, she has a chance to get to know Tom better - if only he wasn't a lumberjack.

I experienced this book in the audio format, and it was well presented. The narration by Virginia Gray fits well with the story. I did listen to the book at 1.2 speed (or faster), but I always listen to my audiobooks faster than the default speed - I listen at the pace I read. But even at the regular speed, the pacing is good. 

If you want an enjoyable escape to 1890s Michigan's lumber camps, this is the perfect way to do so. This is a clean read. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of Historical Fiction, are fascinated by America's logging past, or have a thing for fruitcake. 

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations. All thoughts expressed are my own.

About the Book:

Title: The Fruitcake Challenge
By: Dr. Carrie Fancett Pagels
Narrated by: Virginia Gray
Series: Christy Lumber Camp, Book 1
Length: 3 hrs and 12 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 11-24-20
Language: English
Publisher: Carrie Fancett Pagels

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?