Dana is confident in her job as a bakery manager, even while the bakery's popularity takes a hit with the arrival of new competition in town. Dana's boss hires Ethan, a gourmet chef, to give the bakery's menu an upgrade, but Ethan and Dana don't see eye to eye on how to move forward in Pride and Pumpernickel by author Aisha Ford.

My goodness! Has it really been about twenty years since the first time I read this ChristFic romance? It's fun returning to modern reads where answering machines and pagers (and no cellphones) are the normal thing.

I've always gotten a kick out of this novel's title, and I appreciate the nuance in the business problem the characters have to tackle. I like that this isn't the kind of enemies-to-lovers romance where the hero and heroine behave like jerks to each other. The friction between Dana and Ethan isn't overdone...

...until maybe a turning point of conflict based on a matter so trivial, I couldn't take it too seriously. I also can't fully buy into a guys-only scene where the guys are discussing Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, and Mr. Darcy. It's like trying to picture a bunch of Black men at the barbershop on the corner...talking about Jane Austen. I just don't see it.

Nevertheless, a lot of sweet ChristFic romance fans would find this to be a pretty quick and easy dessert of a read. ( )

First, the cover--I think the guy on the cover looks annoyed or mad rather than interested in the girl on the cover. I can't imagine her being interested in him or him being interested in her based on the Heartsong Presents cover.

I admired Dana's dedication to her job with Grady's. It does seem that perhaps she put too much of her identity into that since she was so hurt by their decision to bring Ethan in. Then again, they could have discussed it with her in advance instead of springing it on her in front of him. So I could say I fault their leadership skills as much as Dana's in this regard.

I can see that Dana wants to keep some of the tradition of the bakery going--while at the same time, wanting to bring customers into the stores. She fights some of the changes, but once the surveys prove that customers like some of the new ideas, she is willing to give them a try at the bakeries. Honestly, I can't see Dana giving up her job with Grady's to manager Ethan's restaurant, but . . . it is a fictional world after all.

Ethan has some pride issues too though, because he won't give up on the bread pudding (honestly, it doesn't sound good to me no matter which of the ways they tried to describe it.) He goes back on his deal with Dana to accept the survey reviews and take things off the menu that the customers didn't like--and he makes her look bad to Mr. Grady as part of that. I kind of figured though that when his mom asked him to make a dessert, that was going to be what he made, and that he would finally realize it isn't as good as he thinks it is. (which is what happened).

In the end, it was a cute story. ( )