cover image Hello, Love

Hello, Love

Joan Shapiro, J. Shapiro. Zebra, $4.5 (478pp) ISBN 978-0-8217-4094-1

Stereotypes stand in for description in this debut tale of midlife romance. Barbara Sinclair Davies is a successful and consequently cold, unfeeling businesswoman from Grosse Pointe, Mich. She goes to Montana to seek custody of her five-year-old granddaughter, although she was estranged from the girl's mother until shortly before her death in a car accident. Her adversary is Sam Douglass, her son-in-law's father, who is equally cliched--a middle-aged Marlboro man, riding the range at his ranch and battling debt. Naturally, his rough exterior hides a tender heart. The resolution is not only unsurprising but borders on the offensive. When his housekeeper disappears, Douglass orders Davies to remain on the ranch and take care of the womanly duties, like cooking and bed-making, and she quickly adapts to her homemaking role. Their romantic relationship is supposedly based on animal chemistry, but it is difficult to imagine why Davies would be attracted to someone so rude. There are momentary doubts about her surviving in Montana (his moving is never even approached), but all problems melt away when she has the bright idea of running her bank from the ranch via modem. (Mar.)