Finding Christmas by Karen Schaler

Emmie loves Christmas. She LOVES Christmas. And she is sure that her boyfriend will love Christmas as well-especially when she puts together a seasonal game ending at a quaint B&B in the heart of a town that is all about celebrating. Too bad Grant doesn't get her card; instead, a mystery novelist with writer's block gets the hunt. Having been told by his agent that she's sending him something to get him started, Sam isn't worried about the hunt that takes him to a small town. In fact, he's sort of delighted by it. Even when he finds out that he's on the game as a mistake, Sam stays at the B&B. He gets to know Emmie and the town and decides there might be something long term about both...
A little too sweet for me but an enjoyable story and one worth picking up as a fun winter read.

Three stars
This book came out October 15th
ARC provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Weekend Fling by Stacey Lynn

Willow is not having a great life at the moment; she needs an escape from having to work two jobs to support her mother who is depressed after Willow's dad walked out for seemingly no reason. When Trey, a tech-guy who comes into her coffee job and has flirted with her before, asks her to be his date to his best friend's wedding, she agrees. A weekend away, maybe a hot fling with a hot guy will make her life look a little bit happier.
Trey is ecstatic. He has been crushing hard on this woman and the more time he spends with her, the more he is interested in being with her for longer than the weekend. But real life intrudes and it will be how Willow and Trey deal with it will determine whether their relationship will survive.
This book is part of a series and I had not read any of the others nor anything else by Lynn before. I liked that she wrote about real-world problems (mental illness, having to confront your childhood through a different lens, etc.) but somehow it didn't quite hold my attention - something about the pacing and I also didn't really like Willow in the beginning. However, I finished the book and have since gone back and discovered that my library has the first 2 books since you could sort of tell which characters had been an earlier part of the series. I really liked the first and am looking forward to the second.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out November 26th
ARC kindly provided by Loveswept and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Duke in Shining Armor by Loretta Chase

I am so excited to read the rest of the books in this series. Loretta Chase, for me lately, has not been the writer I so enjoyed when reading Lord of Scoundrels. This book gets quite close. And it's mainly, again, because of the characters.
The Duke of Ripley is back from the continent for the wedding of one of his two best friends, the Duke of Ashmont. Along with the Duke of Blackwood (Ripley's brother-in-law) the men are known as Their Dis-Graces. Unfortunately, Ripley is the one that finds Ashmont's bride-to-be, Lady Olivia Hightower, climbing out the window of her own wedding. Rather than carting her back and forcing her to wed his best friend, Ripley decides to make sure she makes it to... someplace... safely so that they can regroup. And I appreciated that about him, that he seemed to understand Olivia even from the beginning. As they travel, eventually ending up with Ripley's aunt, we get to see them falling in love.
The ending, I didn't love. I also wish we had seen more of how Blackwood and Ripley came to be rehabilitated. They seem to have played all of these pranks but then there seems to be a gap in the story as to why they stopped. I also really hope that the next book in this series is the one between Alice and Blackwood. I'd love to know why she seems to be avoiding her husband and it will give Ashmont some time to grow. I'm really hoping we get either a B story or a novella featuring Uncle Fred and Julia.

Four stars

Followed by Ten Things I Hate about the Duke
This book comes out August 22

What to Do with a Duke by Sally MacKenzie

In the 1600s, the Duke of Hart's great-something-grandfather seduced a woman who then cursed the family. If the men didn't marry for love, they wouldn't live to see their heir born. Also, she set up a spinster house which was to be available to any single woman, past a marriageable age, along with a stipend. 

Miss Hutting, Isabelle "Cat" Catherine, is the oldest daughter of the village vicar. Most of her nine siblings still live her parents' tiny house and she is desperate for privacy. So when the previous resident leaves rather abruptly, Cat knows that the house is meant to be hers. Too bad two of her friends are also anxious to have the house. And too bad the handsome Duke really seems to believe in the curse...
While not my favorite MacKenzie (I didn't buy that her friends would be so vindictive), I'm liking the setup for the series and am already ready to read the next book in the series.
This book goes on sale next Tuesday!