Satisfaction

Not content to be an update on The Group, Satisfaction delivers on its promise with gusto. Four girls thrown together at Radcliffe hardly seem destined to become fast friends. Meek, pleasant Rosaline has her name firmly written on the social register; scheming Katie Lee plays hardball with relish; December takes her pleasure from drugs and men; and Marinda is the obsessive daughter of a tightly knit family that dabbles in organized crime. Although ambition scatters the four in separate directions, their lives are tied together by a rather weak, winsomely romantic writer from Montana. While cold, calculating Katie Lee spins business dross into gold, Marinda drifts unhappily before finding a family niche. December rockets to the top in modeling, then moves on to conquer Hollywood. And Rosaline is the perfect wife and mother until love from an unexpected quarter turns her inside out. There are no huge surprises here, but juicy scandal and engaging, rough-edged characters will keep readers turning pages far into the night; it's unlikely that many of them will take advantage of the publisher's canny ""satisfaction guaranteed'' money-back offer. 125,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; first serial to Cosmopolitan; BOMC alternate. (July)