West End

Bewitching, calculating TV reporter Alexandra Waring (who appeared in the author's spicy novel, Riverside Drive ) becomes America's sweetheart when a madman shoots her on camera. Wealthy Southerner Jackson Darenbrook promptly makes her anchorwoman for the national news empire he's creating in Manhattan. The over-padded, meandering novel that follows this dramatic opening is relieved but not salvaged by snappy tongue-in-cheek dialogue and the welcome addition of Jessica Wright, an engagingly wild, if self-destructive, talk-show host. While Jessica ferrets out Alexandra's dark secret (she's bisexual), their boss Jackson scrambles to cover up illegal financial footwork that could encourage his greedy relatives to launch a coup at Darenbrook Communications. Although romances wax and wane among the major characters with the regularity of moon cycles, almost everyone ends up happy in the sugary wrap-up. Van Wormer creates memorable, quirky cameos for the Southern Gothic Darenbrook clan, but fails to sustain the plot's momentum by repeatedly wandering off on tangents. (Sept.)