CALL WAITING

Ally Tasker and Meg Lynch, best friends since art school, are searching for "happily ever afters" but turning up complications instead in Australian novelist Blacklock's bright American debut. Blacklock develops her likable characters in some depth while making wry observations on the difficulties inherent in any married or "singlet" life. Ally, wary of relationships and stubbornly independent, has just ended a long affair with Bryce, her driven but dull real estate agent boyfriend ("Success comes in cans, not can'ts!"). About to turn 35 ("surely the most desolate of all ages"), Ally begins to think she might be happier if her life looked more like ad executive Meg's—with a stable marriage, career and child. Meg, on the other hand, envies Ally's freedom, especially after Ally leaves Sydney for the rugged Southern Highlands to prepare her grandfather's estate for sale. Meg dabbles in infidelity with a hot young model and gets more excitement than she bargained for when her husband moves out. Ally meets Matt, a carpenter and contractor with a teenage daughter. He's handsome and charming, but he also has the nerve to be helpful and concerned when Ally just wants to be left alone. Lively, always believable dialogue and vivid descriptions of Sydney and the surrounding countryside give the pleasantly predictable plot some added oomph. (Apr.)