AND ON THE EIGHTH DAY SHE RESTED

A Cinderella makeover, a noble cause, and likable people don’t quite rescue an amateurish debut.

Beginning with a beating and ending in triumph, Ruth’s metamorphosis from battered wife to a successful African-American businesswoman is predictable yet undeniably sympathetic. Now in her mid-30s, Ruth can barely remember a life without abuse. After her mother’s early death, Grandmother Johnson tyrannizes poor Ruthie, and then at 18 she marries the older, commanding Eric. After more than a decade of domestic violence, Ruth finally can take no more. Throwing Eric out of the house (and her life) lands her in the hospital, where she meets her first guardian angel. Clara, an older woman who runs a women’s shelter, becomes Ruth’s lifeline to the world and eventually a surrogate mother. Ruth divorces Eric, moves into a cozy condo, and buys new furniture in a first attempt to create a life of her own choosing. Guardian angel number two is girlfriend Bernie, a workmate who becomes Ruth’s first real best friend. She then meets the perky May in the park, and this guardian angel works on Ruth’s weight problem, image problem, and man problem. Ruth joins May in her stringent exercise program and eventually begins to shed her physical and emotional baggage—but more importantly, May sets her up with the scrumptious Adrian. A beautiful, proud black man, Adrian offers something she’s never known before: a loving and supportive relationship. Ruth takes it slowly but can’t deny that Adrian may be The One. She goes back to school, helps organize a fund raiser for Clara’s shelter, toys with the idea of starting a business—then abruptly Ruth’s fairy tale ends when Eric begins to stalk her and Adrian leaves the state to be with his baby’s mama. Ruth finally does get a happy ending on her own terms, but not before yet another trial by fire.

Well-intentioned: pulp with a cause.