Kiss the Bride

In this mostly appealing three-story contemporary romance anthology, seductive heroes and determined heroines risk everything to make love work. In Martin’s middling “Early Bird Special,” Dana, haughty, overworked, and full of mood swings, is not impressed with dashing Josh until a night of passion unlocks her closed heart. In Ridgway’s “Weddings, Ink.” commitment-phobic freelance vows writer Charlotte reluctantly agrees when her ex-stepsister asks her and Luke, an old flame and her sister’s best man, to pose as a couple at a wedding retreat. Soon Charlotte and Luke are in very real clinches. In the final and best entry, Florand’s “All’s Fair in Love and Chocolate,” Ellie, a popular chocolate blogger who moves to Paris, meets her hero, Simon, a respected but private chocolatier, and the two are overwhelmed by mutual attraction. Unfortunately, Ellie tells a fib, which is harder to rectify than expected. Readers will enjoy relaxing with these romantic yarns. (May)