WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 47Review_FICTION
Day) the Whalen Agency, (for Spencer)
Hopkins Literary Agency, (for Vayden) L.
Perkins Agency. (Feb.)
Wicked Cowboy Wolf
Kait Ballenger. Sourcebooks Casablanca,
$7.99 mass market (352p) ISBN 978-1-4926-
7082-7
A melodramatic choice between love
and revenge is the crux of the predictable
third paranormal western in Ballenger’s
Seven Range Shifters series (after Cowboy
in Wolf’s Clothing). At 15, wolf shifter
Jared Black was falsely accused of murder
and exiled from the Grey Wolf Pack.
Twenty years later, Jared is now known
among shifters as the mysterious vigilante
Rogue. Everyone in the Grey Wolf Pack
believes Jared is dead, including his first
love, Maeve, the sister of Grey Wolf’s
pack leader. When Maeve is targeted by
vampires, Rogue saves her and convinces
her to join him at his hideout. Maeve
doesn’t recognize Jared and agrees to
work with him to fight the vampires.
Jared, meanwhile, is still in love with
Maeve, yet knows his secret plan to get
revenge against the Grey Wolf Pack will
break her heart, so he tries to keep her at
arm’s length. A slow start gives way to a
gratifying, action-packed second half, but
abounding clichés will have some readers
rolling their eyes. It’s hard to get invested
in this tortured romance. Agent: Nicole
Resciniti, the Seymour Agency. (Feb.)
Never Kiss a Duke
Megan Frampton. Avon, $7.99 mass market
(384p) ISBN 978-0-06-286742-1
The high-spirited first entry in the
Hazard of Dukes series from Frampton
(Never a Bride) matches a disinherited
duke with the strong-willed owner of a
notorious gambling den in Victorian
London. When Sebastian, Duke of
Hasford, is
revealed to be
illegitimate, he
is stripped of his
title and fortune
and sets out to
discover “what
people who are
not dukes do.”
During a visit
to Miss Ivy’s
gaming house,
Sebastian’s quick thinking and Adonis-
like looks distinguish him to Miss Ivy
Holton herself. Sebastian’s ideas for
improving Miss Ivy’s garner him a spot on
the staff and a small room, but the sexual
tension between Sebastian and Ivy com-
plicates their professional relationship.
Ivy has worked hard to build a comfort-
able life for herself, and she’s suspicious of
anything that might disrupt it. Both Ivy
and Sebastian are fiercely independent
characters who must learn to reconcile
their preconceived notions about each
other with their powerful attraction.
Though many of Ivy’s modern attitudes
seem anachronistic, her spirit and loyalty
make her a thoroughly endearing char-
acter. This series opener promises more
fun to come. Agent: Louise Fury, Jenny Bent
Agency. (Feb.)Lean on Me
Pat Simmons. Sourcebooks Casablanca,
$12.99 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-7282-
1253-1
Simmons (Taye’s Gift) charts an emo-
tional course from horrible first impressions
to budding romance in this poignant love
story. Tabitha Knicely and her sisters
agree to take turns caring for their elderly
great-aunt
Tweet, who
suffers from
Alzheimer’s.
Tabitha, a
Pasadena Hill,
Mo., pharma-
ceutical sales
rep, has just
started her six-
month rotation
of housing Aunt
Tweet when Tweet wanders off and ends
up on neighbor Marcus Whittington’s
porch. Marcus initially accuses Tabitha of
elder neglect and threatens to call 911,
but as they continue to run into each other,
he comes to understand the depth of
Tabitha’s love for her aunt and the difficulty
of caring for a woman with Alzheimer’s.
Marcus develops a friendship with the
Knicely women, joining them for meals
and church outings, and romance simmers
between Tabitha and Marcus as he becomes
the person she leans on when juggling her
career and her role as a caregiver becomes
overwhelming. Simmons balances thesadness of Alzheimer’s with the heart-
warming bonds of family and friendship,
and the combination is sure to tug at
readers’ heartstrings. Agent: Evan
Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (Jan.)Comics
Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons
from the Fog of New Parenthood
Lucy Knisley. First Second, $14.99 (192p)
ISBN 978-1-250-21149-1
Knisley (Kid Gloves) captures the frantic
and fantastic follies of early parenthood in
this endearing collection of pen-and-ink
comics. “These little sketchbook cartoons,”
she writes in her introduction, “are my
effort to feel less alone and crazy at a time
when most people feel alone and crazy.”
After her son
was born, she
recorded his
growth spurts,
tantrums, and
vaccinations
alongside her
own entrance
into motherhood. Knisley delights in her
son’s discovery of the world around him,
his “intoxicating baby smell,” and the
plethora of adorable hats she dresses him
in, but she doesn’t shy away from the more
onerous aspects of caring for a newborn.
Hours are spent pleading with him to stop
crying, longing for the return of his nanny,
and changing an endless series of blown-
out diapers. In a section on breastfeeding,
Knisley differentiates between nursing in
autumn (“snugly-cozy”) and summer
(“sticky-sweaty”); to alleviate pain, she
illustrates fantasizing about patenting
“The Detachable Boob” or body armor
“for your tender milk meats.” Her spare
linework conveys both the agony of an
infant’s scrunched-up wail and the wonder
of his perfectly rounded fingertips. Such
observations make for a charmingly honest
and humorous account of raising babies.
Agent: Holly Bemiss, Susan Rabiner Agency
(Feb.)Spring Rain: A Graphic Memoir of
Love, Madness, and Revolutions
Andy Warner. Griffin, $19.99 trade paper
(208p) ISBN 978-1-250-16597-8
Drawing parallels between Lebanese