AUTHOR: Carrie Fancett Pagels
DATE: April 2015
PUBLISHER: Hearts Overcoming Press
STARS: ****1/2
A decade after surviving a brutal attack, a mercantile owner’s daughter begins her life anew in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A gifted craftsman wishes to leave the lumber camp and seeks employment at her new store. When his presence dredges up memories she wishes to suppress, the proprietress must learn to face her past and open her heart. When complications arise, will they overcome adversity in time for The Lumberjack's Ball?
This book is the second in the author’s Christy Lumber Camp series, and after reading it, I want to read the first, The Fruitcake Challenge.
Rebecca hides her beauty and vulnerability behind severe fashion and an abrupt manner, but when a sweet orphan, Amelia, enters her new store on the Upper Peninsula of Lake Michigan, Rebecca’s frosty exterior begins to thaw.
Then when she is recognized by one of the brothers who’d saved her life, Garrett Christy, life becomes an adventure.
I thoroughly enjoyed this gentle romance and its message of love overcoming past hurts. However, this story is not quite a stand-alone, and I’m not sure it was meant to be. The various characters left me feeling a little lost, but that’s likely because I’d not yet read the first book of the series.
Carrie Fancett Pagels writes from her heart, and she paints portraits of realistic people in an intriguing place. I plan to read more from her. The Lumberjack’s Ball earns four and a half stars.