Waking Dream

Carol Wallace. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (210pp) ISBN 978-0-312-01108-6

The coauthor of The Official Preppy Handbook and The Debutante's Guide to Life makes her fiction debut with this spirited, if overzealous novel of romantic suspense. Young American Sarah Llewellyn arrives in England to research a 19th century heiress's aristocratic marriage and is instantly charmedto no one's surpriseby the heiress's enchanting descendent. Is he the rightful heir? And why is Sarah being stalked? After dealing with this heavy-handed danger, some extrinsic drugrunners and a century-old mystery, Sarah's attention returns to her young lord. Although the quick-reading narrative boasts no surprises, its energy and momentum help propel a droll, modern-day fairy tale where people live happily ever after. (September 21)