This is my first book by contemporary romance author Sara Ney and won’t be my last (I’ve already put in a pre-order for the next in this series). Falling for the Fake Lumberjack is the entry novel into her new series Axes and Endzones with a strong very likable heroine giving the reader a fun and entertaining romance.

Lucy LeBrandt is a yoga instructor in the small town of Star Lake, Washington. She lives in an apartment above her parents’ garage and is quite happy with her small-town life. The guest resort nearby is where she is the most busy, running yoga classes for visitors to town.

Harris Bennett is a star football player for Arizona, and while a team-building retreat in Star Lake isn’t how he’d choose to spend his time (the outdoors isn’t his favorite place to be), he finds his guest cottage sweet and the local yoga instructor even sweeter. The town is gearing up for a Lumberjack skills competition and it’s been a challenge to get enough competitors, so when Lucy mistakes Harris for a lumberjack when she first meets him outside a coffee shop in town, he doesn’t correct her first impression. I mean, he is athletic and muscular – surely he can pull off playing the part of a lumberjack for a week. And he does admit to Lucy, and her friend Annabelle who is organising the competition, that he is an emergency, fill-in lumberjack (to cover his lack of obvious axe-wielding skills).

As Lucy and Harris get to know each other, sparks fly and they share some steamy times together. But Harris is only going to be in town for the week, and he’s keeping a big secret. Will their fun affair have a chance to become more?

I wasn’t sure what to make of Harris at first. He behaves like a jock and his internal thoughts about Lucy are all based on her looks – until he gets to know her and realizes how smart and fun she is. But I loved Lucy’s character right away. She recently ended a relationship with someone who didn’t appreciate her and she’s not going to settle for second best. At first she isn’t sure what to make of Harris’s overtures, but her friend Annabelle reminds her that she can have fun with a guy without it becoming something serious, and once she thinks of Harris in that light, she lets herself enjoy his company. Harris can be a bit of a goofball (for example, he tries to climb a ladder up to her apartment and ends up falling into the bushes) but he’s got a good heart – and it’s a heart that starts to feel more for Lucy than he planned. And Lucy soon realizes that she likes Harris more and more every day.

Without giving away too much, I liked how Harris reveals to Lucy that he’s not really a lumberjack (and that it doesn’t take place at the very end) and I also liked how the story gives a realistic happy for now ending for the couple. The lumberjack competition is quite fun too, as is the camaraderie between Harris and his teammates (who think it’s a hoot that Harris is pretending to be a lumberjack) and between Harris and the actual lumberjacks who are taking part in the competition. Overall Falling for the Fake Lumberjack will please contemporary romance readers who like a bit of sports and spicy times and I’m looking forward to reading Annabelle’s story next!