A Crack in Forever

Part spicy contemporary romance, part tragic love story, Brewer's debut, which is being positioned as a Love Story for the 1990s (and does bear some surface resemblance in plot and tone to Segal's novel), should have broad appeal based more on its compelling story than its uneven and often overblown pose. Alexandra Taylor draws human figures for academic books. When a sexy, sensitive, motorcycle-riding medical student named Eric Moro shows up at her door--he's to be her nude model--Alex recoils at first at Eric's blatant, easygoing charm, then falls wildly in love. In three months, she's broken up with her boyfriend and moved in with Eric. But their breathless romance is altered forever when Eric announces that a routine AIDS test has shown up positive. The information is somehow relayed to the internship programs where Eric has applied, curtailing his medical career. Alex, who is free of the disease, begins a legal battle over leak of the confidential information while she struggles with Eric's physical demise and her own terror over his impending death. A subplot involving Eric's frosty relationship with his staunchly Catholic father provides tension and an additional tragic twist. The dialogue is often contrived and seems tailored for a filmscript, and sentimentality is rampant. The novel's strengths lie in Brewer's well-paced storytelling and her use of her own experiences (she has served as Associate Medical Director of a prominent AIDS clinic), which lend authenticity and vivid detail to her love story. (Aug.)