The Valentine Quest (Love at the Chocolate Shop #5)by Melissa McClone

ebook, First edition, 193 pages
Published February 2nd 2017 by Tule Publishing
4 Stars

Synopsis: Keep your competition close…and your heart even closer.
When Nevada Parker travels to Marietta, Montana, she anticipates enough peace and quiet to finish her PhD dissertation. Cupidville turns out to be anything but quiet. In fact, it looks like Valentine’s Day—her least favorite holiday—exploded all over the small town.
Among the sea of red hearts, “Be Mine” signs, and pink, pink, pink, Nevada spots a flyer for a multi-day race called The Valentine Quest. The grand prize—a luxury tropical vacation—would be the perfect welcome-home gift for her brother who’s leaving the military.
Dustin Decker sure could use a break from giving city slickers sleigh rides—and from the now ex-girlfriend who issued an ultimatum. Even with a bum knee from his bull riding days, the race’s grand prize is as good as his—until he realizes he needs a partner for some of the more complicated tasks.
He makes a strategic pact with the prim, bookish Nevada. But with a kiss, their unlikely alliance turns into something more…and soon racing isn’t the only thing on their minds. As the finish line nears, they must decide if the grand prize is worth more than what they’ve found together…or if one of them will walk away empty handed—and broken hearted.

My Review: The Valentine Quest is the fifth book in the “Love At The Chocolate Shop” series, but it is only the second one I have read. I didn’t have a problem following the story, but will go back and read the first three so I know the whole story about all the characters.

In this story Nevada Parker has been staying with her sister Dakota who works at the chocolate shop. She is visiting and teaching at the local college while working on her dissertation. When she falls on her butt outside the Chocolate Shop, Dustin Decker helps her up. When she realized that the sexy cowboy who had come into the store was the man who helped her up, her hormones start working overtime. Dustin had decided to enter the Valentine Quest (a several day event) where the grand prize is a trip to Fiji. After some convincing by her sister, Nevada enters as well. Dustin and Nevada both have situations in their backgrounds that caused them to not want to settle down. They are happy just the way they are. When the competition begins, it becomes obvious to them that unless they team up they will be at a disadvantage with all the other teams in pairs.

The Valentine Quest is a very funny journey for these two and you will find yourself giggling out loud at some of the situations Nevada and Dustin get themselves into. Watching their relationship blossom as they share secrets and help each other deal with situations along the way was enjoyable. They went from both wanting to win the Quest to caring more about each other as the story goes on. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series. The interesting thing about this series is that each book is written by a different author, yet the characters are the same and the books fit together nicely. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.