The Love Dog

Watson (whose Dog Days made PW’s 2012 Best Books list) goes back to the dogs with this sweet-spirited charmer. Samantha Novak, a paralegal and antiromance blogger, abruptly loses her job after speaking up in court to defend a client—who just happens to work on the reality show The Love Dog. After a trashy tabloid asks Samantha to go undercover and reveal that the show is staged, she gets herself hired as a companion for the show’s title character, sweet-spirited golden retriever Apollo. Samantha’s exposé loses steam when she realizes Apollo actually does have magical matchmaking powers, and she falls for the show’s leading man, Mason Hall, who’s not the shallow jerk she assumed he’d be. When Samantha finds a salacious bit of information about Mason’s brother, she’s forced to make a choice: the tabloid’s money or her integrity? This captivating tale, told from the alternating perspectives of Samantha and Apollo, will have readers sitting up and begging for more. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Feb.)