THE SINGLES TABLE by Sara Desai

DUKE GONE ROGUE

Carlyle, Christy Avon/HarperCollins (384 pp.) $8.99 paper | Dec. 28, 2021 978-0-06-305449-3

A spinster with a green thumb snags a duke with overgrown gardens. Out in Cornwall, in the small shore town of Haven Cove, the Royal Visit Committee is hard at work. Princess Beatrice is coming to town in two weeks, and no one is more excited than committee co-leader Madeline Ravenwood, who runs her late parents’ nursery and almost a dozen other committees in town. She’s created a hybrid rose in honor of the princess for a botanical exhibition, and a royal approval could finally turn her business around. Also en route to Haven Cove: Will Hart, Duke of Ashmore, who has been ordered to relax in his family’s dilapidated Cornwall estate by his sisters. Exhausted from months of patching up the scandals and schemes his late father unleashed on their family name, he has avoided the Cornwall house for too long because of its notorious reputation and has no idea about the royal visit. When Maddie realizes the duke is in town, however, she visits and tries to convince him to stay and to take care of the estate, if only for the good of the town. He eventually agrees if, in exchange, Maddie will show him her favorite places in Cornwall. The agreement is for platonic relaxation only, of course, but both look forward to the trips more than they should. Even though she is a spinster and he must marry a perfect noblewoman to restore the Ashmore name, their attraction blossoms after a passionate kiss on their first boat ride and continues to bloom. Maddie has sworn only to marry for love, if at all, and Will has to return to London eventually, but as the royal visit draws closer, both find they don’t want their time together to end. The first in Carlyle’s new Love on Holiday series is catnip for lovers of small-town love stories, with engaging character development and a driven heroine. The beautiful Cornish scenery and botanical details are grace notes on a slightly spicy but mostly sweet story, and readers will look forward to future vacations in the series.

A charming Victorian romance by the sea.

GUILD BOSS

Castle, Jayne Berkley (304 pp.) $27.00 | Nov. 16, 2021 978-0-593-33699-1

A blacklisted weather reader on the colony world of Harmony reluctantly partners with the notorious Ghost Hunter who saved her from the Underworld once upon a time. Lucy Bell doesn’t remember how she woke up in the strange alien underground beneath Illusion Town after leaving a friend’s wedding, but she’s wholeheartedly convinced there was foul play at work. Of course, as soon as handsome Ghost Hunter Guild boss Gabriel Jones shows up with a box of pizza in hand, she lets him in long enough to allow him to help her escape the daunting magical maze. As far as the rest of Harmony is concerned, Lucy’s got no one to blame for her misfortune but herself, and all her attempts to convince friends, family, and doctors that she must have been kidnapped fall on deaf ears. Her professional reputation as a weather reader crumbles, and her one reliable witness—Gabriel—instantly disappears. When the Ghost Hunter strolls back into her life, later on, Lucy is understandably less than thrilled to see him again, but he’s returned seeking her help this time around. He’s got a job that requires a woman of her unique abilities, and maybe, deep down, he’s trying to reconnect with her, too—because he’s been thinking about her ever since he left all those months ago. Castle returns to her Harmony series for an engaging adventure in which a love story and a whodunit go hand in hand, as Gabriel and Lucy have to team up not only to uncover the truth behind her abduction, but to learn the identity of the person— or persons—responsible for trying to take down Illusion Town’s primary energy source. The mystery often proves more absorbing than the romance, but all of the ingredients in this newest installment, as well as its resolution, are sure to satisfy longtime fans of the series.

Romance, mystery, and dust bunnies abound in this solid addition to a long-running series.

THE SINGLES TABLE

Desai, Sara Berkley (336 pp.) $16.00 paper | Nov. 16, 2021 978-0-593-10060-8

A fun-loving lawyer promises to play matchmaker for a surly (but smokinghot) businessman. It’s wedding season, and Zara Patel is getting used to her seat at the singles table. Although her aunties are always trying to set her up with eligible bachelors, she’d rather focus on her own successful matchmaking efforts. Helping other people find their happily-ever-afters is a lot easier than attempting a relationship herself, especially since Zara thinks she’s “too much” for most men. Fellow singles table resident Jay Dayal, an Air Force veteran and current security company owner, immediately knows that Zara isn’t the woman for him (not that he’s even looking for a woman). She’s loud, impulsive, and so klutzy she often ends up in the ER. However, neither of them can deny the sparks that fly between them when they meet during a bachelor/bachelorette party paintball game and Zara shoots him in the butt. When Jay’s mother begs him to find a partner, Zara agrees to use her matchmaking skills to set him up with someone if he promises to use his business to help her struggling law firm find clients. As they spend more time together, though, their chemistry becomes impossible to ignore, and their deal turns into a no-strings-attached relationship. But