I'm with Stupid

Szewczyk's entertaining debut novel chronicles a one-night stand gone wrong. Kas Sienkiewicz and her buddy Libby are whisked away by their rich layabout friend, Max, on a luxurious South African vacation. At the posh resort, Kas catches the attention of hunky ranger William Johnson. Nursing a wounded ego after learning that her ex was cheating on her (and his fiancée), Kas heeds her friends' urgings and has a fling with William. When he later turns up in New York, the well-meaning if culturally backward William convinces Kas to take him in, and he gets to work on an ill-fated book. Scenes involving Kas's Polish immigrant parents and their reactions to the new presence in Kas's life are stellar. Subplots involving an arrogant and wealthy tube sock heir and Max's ongoing revenge campaign against Kas's ex simmer, sometimes hilariously, and Szewczyk, an editor at Kirkus Reviews , keeps the story moving briskly with breezy prose, witty one-liners and goofball antics. (July)