Marry Me

Gathering in a New Mexico spa, three friends--a failing artist recovering from a divorce, a fast-paced New York real-estate agent, and a celebrated talk-show host--unknowingly enter into relationships with the same man. Lit Guild & Doubleday.

Every woman on the loose is looking for a good man, according to Booth's latest heart-strummer (after All for Love), but it seems as if there's only one left. He's the melancholy Charles Ford, mystical rancher, stalled artist and part owner of the Hacienda, a Santa Fe spa where Booth's three heroines come for some post-holiday nutritional detox. Charles may be arrogant and improbable, with a penchant for pontificating, but he's still the obvious prescription for what ails disenchanted TV personality Rachel Richardson, who has glamour but craves a spouse and children; artist Carol McCabe, whose husband has a wandering eye; and Tessa Andersen, mysteriously bereft of both husband and wealth, who must find a way to support her young daughter. Who will wind up with Charles? Or will all three, one way and another? Through an implausible series of misunderstandings and coincidences, the action moves everyone to Manhattan, the Mediterranean and Connecticut before returning to New Mexico for a too speedy denouement. The characters tend toward caricature (Charles even comes with a white horse and black cape), and Booth's writing tends toward soap ("Oh, Matt. . . . Can you give me the life I need?"), but this novel is nevertheless an unabashed page-turner. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; translation rights: Janklow & Nesbit.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Less steam and sizzle than Booth aficionados (All For Love, 1993, etc.) have become accustomed to in this relatively tame tale of a man who loves three women--and of the women who bond over him. The gears start spinning at the Hacienda Inn and Spa in Santa Fe, where three very different women have come to escape the various stresses of their everyday lives. Carol McCabe has left her cheating husband Jack and is determined finally to become the artist she has always felt she could be. Beautiful Tessa Andersen has just been widowed by what appeared to be her wealthy (but actually secretly bankrupt) husband's suicide and must care for eight-year-old daughter Camille. Rachel Richardson, devastatingly successful television personality, is tired of life in the fast lane alone: Her marriage proposal from media mogul Matt Harding leaves her cold, but she is on the verge of succumbing if only to acquire the children and family she so desperately craves. When the three women meet at dinner, something clicks and continues to do so even when the idyllic five-day retreat comes to an end. Back in Manhattan, where Tessa begins working for the first time in her life (as a real-estate agent at Sotheby's), and Rachel's career is back in first gear, one man captures the hearts of all three, including Carol, whose children are in college and who has stayed in New Mexico to follow her dreams. Charles Ford is no ordinary man; he's an artist with convictions, money, and brawn--but only one of these three best friends can have him. Rest assured, though: No one ends up alone. The pages practically flip themselves, but this is strictly for fans only--unless you're in the mood for the print version of what could be a three-part Aaron Spelling mini-series starring Heather Locklear as career-woman Rachel. (Literary Guild alternate selection) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Glamour and romance are associated with locales like Malibu, Miami, Palm Beach, and Beverly Hills. Typeset these place-names in italics, and you have the titles of Booth's previous best-sellers. Ever hip, Booth has moved inland, setting up shop in everyone's new favorite place to see and be seen, Santa Fe. The Southwest has been romanticized in many contexts, from a facile worship of Georgia O'Keeffe to an acquisitive interest in Native Americans. Booth grabs what she needs from the New Mexico mix, tossing in just the right amount of artiness and mysticism to spice up her latest fantasy about rich people in love. It all begins at an upscale spa where three gorgeous women are treating themselves to a week of pampering as they try to figure out what to do about men or the lack thereof. Tessa's husband disappeared somewhere off the coast of the Bahamas. Carol's college-age son had to open her eyes to her attorney husband's affair with his yuppie colleague, and Rachel, well, Rachel is a star in the Barbara Walters' mode, and she doesn't know if she should marry the media mogul who wants to marry her. And you thought you had problems. These gals become friends and end up falling in love with the same mysterious man, a millionaire painter as handsome and suave as Cary Grant. Do the ladies find love? Does anyone end up with Mr. Perfect? Booth is adept at this brand of aerobicized escapism, putting her happy readers through the paces they unabashedly desire. Donna Seaman