Launch Party for Carrie Fancett Pagels' "The Fruitcake Challenge"

The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Celebrating the book launch of Carrie Fancett Pagels' new release, a novella in the Christmas Traditions series with eight other authors.  This is the 3rd book in the series.

The Fruitcake Challenge blurb

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 better than 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?

Here's my first review by one of our OWG angels!

Review by Noela Nancarrow

5 Stars *****

Christmas fun, cake, and romance!

A well-educated and cocky lumberjack, a pretty camp cook who wants to leave, a spicy romance, and a nourishing spiritual message are just a handful of the ingredients making up this mouth-watering and engaging novella. Yum!

In the towering Northwoods of Michigan near Mackinaw city in the year 1890, former teacher Tom Jeffries takes up a position as the new axeman of the logging camp, in an effort to earn more money for his widowed mother. Smitten with the beautiful auburn-haired Jo Christy who is the boss’s daughter and the camp cook, Tom carelessly proposes to marry her if she can bake a fruitcake as good as his mother’s. But the spunky Jo only accepts the handsome lumberjack’s challenge, because she plans to take him down a few pegs by declining his offer when she produces the cake of his memories. During the cake-baking trials, couples left and right of them are becoming engaged, but will this stubborn pair find their way towards a future together when their paths are heading in opposite directions?

Set amongst the imposing and breathtaking evergreen woods of Michigan that echo with the songs of bountiful birds, while aromatic fruitcakes are baking in the camp oven, the descriptive imagery throughout ‘The Fruitcake Challenge’ tantalizes the senses and might I say, gives you a craving for fruit cake! You’ll find the rich historical insights permeating this story, fascinating and well-researched, bringing the yesteryear setting alive. And enriching this cozy Christmas tale that’s full of surprises is a reassuring message that reminds us to never give up, because God has a plan for us all.

Thanks so much, Noela!  What a wonderful review!!! I've really been so blessed by the reviews that have been posted on Amazon so far, too! Big hugs!

The Christmas Traditions Series

We're celebrating the launch and release of my latest publication, The Fruitcake Challenge, which is part of the Christmas Traditions series with eight other authors.

Cynthia Hickey's Handcarved Christmas and Niki Turner's Sadie's Gift have also released and have been reviewed on the OWG blog.

Handcarved Christmas by Cynthia Hickey

Sadie's Gift by Niki Turner

Link to purchase: The Fruitcake Challenge on Kindle.  The paperback copy should be available within two weeks as will the Nook copy.

A Cup of Christmas Cheer 

Giveaways: An ebook copy of The Fruitcake Challenge, an autographed copy of the paperback when it releases OR a copy of Return to Shirley Plantation (if preferred), and a boxed set of the hugely popular hardcover A Cup of Christmas Cheer collection from Guidepost Books that I contributed to with an autograph card. Ebook copies of the first two Christmas Traditions novellas: Cynthia Hickey's Handcarved Christmas and Niki Turner's Sadie's Gift.