Even with their issues (and they’ve both got them - including the one inspiring the title, the relevance of which doesn’t come up until the last page), Nikita and Lucian make every effort to hold onto and build what they have. The relationship at the heart of this smart, snarky, candid romance is surprisingly healthy.

If the author cares about and enjoys what she’s creating, chances are the reader will, too, and that is definitely the case here. As reasons go for telling a story, that’s one of the best. Stipetic mentions on her website that she wrote this self-published comic because she wanted to read it. Maybe everything’s not so awful, after all? There’s just one problem…. She was wrong.”), the two share a conspiratorial smirk in the hall and Nikita reevaluates his day. “She thought she could fight a cold with amoxicillin. Could life be any more depressing? The students are less than receptive and the lecture goes predictably awry, but when Nikita and Lucian step out to let the official video cover the rest (“This is Lucy,” intones the ominous voice-over. After his doctor refuses to give him a prescription for the phantom pains he still suffers three years after the amputation of his left hand, he returns to work in a foul mood only to find he’s been inexplicably paired up with an awkward new guy named Lucian to give a last-minute high school lecture on the dangers of misusing antibiotics. Cynical hedonist Nikita Koshkin is 27, overweight, and unfulfilled, both in his job at the local public health department and in his love life.

14 Nights, Vol. 1 by Kristina Stipetic