Cowboy Take Me Away

Pet lovers will appreciate this smalltown contemporary, the first in a new series set in Rainbow Valley, Tex., home of an annual pet festival. Luke Dawson was the town’s teenage bad boy, now made good as a bull rider but forced to convalesce in his hated hometown after a knee injury. Shannon North, his estranged high school love, runs the local animal shelter with overachiever’s passion. Their past emotional damage is believable and offers plausible romantic conflict, resolved without ridiculous misunderstandings. Graves (Heartstrings and Diamond Rings) includes an array of secondary characters, including some whose future romances seem imminent. Though the climax is miraculous, it fits well with the upbeat tone, fueled by the town’s legend of the Rainbow Bridge, where deceased pets await their human friends. Agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (May)