"fun old-fashioned contemporary romance"

In Erie, Pennsylvania Cassiopeia Grant hosts NIGHT CALLS on WLVH. Cass discusses good and bad relationships with her night time audience. Her philosophy is that love is a heart beat away for those who go after it, which she has with her beloved Gene Gifford.

However, her next door neighbor attorney Jonathan Cooper, an anti-marriage soul, is shocked when Cass is home from her honeymoon so quickly. Cass explains she decided not to wed pernicious dependable Gene who booked her flight to New York via Pittsburgh and Chicago with a side stop in Orlando of six hours to save a paltry sum. While waiting in airports, Cass concluded Gene was not the one and that she, being an old fashion romantic, will wed only the One.

When Jonathan realizes Cass is no longer engaged he fears to remain friends as he has commitment phobia and already is attracted to her and adheres to the basic law of the universe that cross gender friendships between singles cannot remain in that steady state. Cass buys a spinster dog named Dudley who Jonathan insists is a beast to keep men away even as their attraction to one another blossoms into love.

In many ways NIGHT CALLS is a fun old-fashioned contemporary romance that grips the audience from the moment that a somewhat despondent Cass comes home from her honeymoon-not and never slows down until the second annual Splash Bash contest is over. Cass and Jonathan are likable characters who argue over love and marriage as she is a romantic and he is a divorce lawyer. Holly Jacobs provides a fun winner that will send her audience seeking other Erie WLVH tales (see LOVEHANDLES and PICKUP LINES).

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 19, 2006