Harmony

Harmony starts off a series of four books called Brides for All Seasons. In Harmony, Mont., a quirk of fate makes Tom Wolcott and Edwina Huntington co-owners of a building, which each had intended for their own private ventures--a sporting goods store for him, a girl's finishing school for her. Edwina turns up her nose on first meeting a rather gamy Tom, fresh from a hunting trip. But their initial squabbles over sharing the space are trifling, tedious and unfitting to empathetic characterization. When the romantic relationship eventually matures, it does so with heart as Holm (Forget Me Not) champions the need for women to be educated and permitted to combine work and marriage. For no obvious reason, wardrobe details abound, but a superbly comical scene involves men's jockey wear, which Edwina mistakenly promotes as elbow supports for sportsmen. (Dec.)