Four Weddings and a Puppy

Shane serves up a wintery treat with this charming contemporary, the fifth in her Pine Hollow series (after Pride and Puppies). After a serious crash ends onetime Olympic hopeful Kendall Walsh’s skiing career, she embarks on a new life as a wedding planner, hoping to convince her family that their struggling ski resort in Pine Hollow, Vt., would be a perfect wedding venue. Her first wedding at the resort gets off to a rough start, however, when the rambunctious golden retriever puppy she’s fostering, “an adorable furry wrecking ball,” manages to get loose and makes a beeline for the wedding cake. Thankfully, Kendall’s longtime crush, world-class skier Brody James, who is unexpectedly back in town, grabs the dog and saves the cake. Unknown to the public, Brody is considering hanging up his skis, rattled by the news that his fiercest professional rival has killed himself. He takes a part-time job helping Kendall remodel the resort in time for his sister’s wedding. As they work together, they inevitably grow closer—but they’ve both got big choices to make about their futures. Shane delivers both humor (thanks to the antics of a misbehaving puppy) and pathos against the backdrop of a winter wonderland. Dog lovers will lap up this romance—as will Shane’s many fans. Agent: Michelle Grajkowski, 3 Seas Literary. (Nov.)