Baby It’s Cold Outside

An unusual locale, sometimes quirky residents, and an accomplished story arc define Fox’s moderately entertaining first Alaskan Nights novel. New York socialite Sloan McKinley travels to tiny Indigo, Alaska, to help her best friend handle a sudden inheritance. Happening in town at the same time is the annual bachelor competition, cooked up by local grandmothers determined to marry off their stubbornly single grandsons. Sloan, who privately bemoans her own singleton status while fighting her mother’s quest to march Sloan down the aisle to a suitable society husband, is intrigued by both the competition and her friend’s lawyer, rugged outdoorsman Walker Montgomery. Fox (Warrior Betrayed) introduces hosts of occasionally distracting characters destined to star in sequels, but steamy encounters between Sloan and Walker keep the blood pumping all the way to a sweet ending. (Nov.)