The Marriage

A talented storyteller, Schulze (Home to Eden) nevertheless delivers a lukewarm story about two young people who have been emotionally crippled by unloving parents. Maggie Drummond has spent her life trying to gain acceptance from her uncaring mother, and Ryan Lassite was abandoned by his jet-setting parents and raised by his paternal grandfather. The two meet when Maggie's car breaks down on a lonely stretch of Wyoming road and Ryan, returning home from the rodeo circuit, comes to the rescue. Pressured by his grandfather to marry and settle down, Ryan proposes after only a few innocent encounters; Maggie, under the thumb of her own family, agrees to marry him. Right after the ceremony, Maggie has misgivings about her quickie Las Vegas elopement, and the couple soon begins to confront the baggage of their pasts. A more in-depth exploration of minor characters--such as Maggie's sister--would have added welcome intensity to the plot. Though anticlimactic, Schulze's newest offers a quick evening's read. (Jan.)