Rating: 
Summary: Faking it can be exhausting
Review: Meet Amy and Tara... two best friends from way back. Each woman is pretending to have the life that would make the other jealous. When the truth comes to light, both realize that friendship is what's most important. True friendship is something that cannot be faked. Ms. Heller did a creative job by telling the story in both point of views. This is the second book that I have read by her. I like how she throws just a hint of mystery into the romantic storyline. This is an easy read. Be preapred... when you open the book, you'll find yourself wanting to stop everything until you've read the last page.
Rating:
Summary: Stand up & cheer!
Review: Tara & Amy have been the best of friends since they were young, despite their insecurities and jealousy of one another. Tara is always beautiful and put togeether while Amy is liked by all. Their friendship seems fine until Amy catches Tara (her maid of honor)doing the horizontal no-no with her fiancee, Stuart. Skip ahead four years. Tara is a popular publicist at a publishing company and Tara remains her beautiful self, married to Stuart. It is awkward for both when they bump into each other on the streets of New York after not speaking for years. Amy learns that she will be in charge of publicity for Tara's new book entitled Simply Beautiful - a Martha Stewart how to, if you will. With years of therapy, Amy has tried to put her best friend and fiancee's betrayal behind her. She's got to work with this woman for the sake of her job and reputation. Having to deal with Tara's Simply Beautiful marriage will push her to the limits, but not all is what it seems.
I love*love*love Jane Heller! I've been such a fan of her wacky & laugh out loud plots for years. I've even email'd her to share my praise. I will be honest & say that I almost gave up on Best Enemies. The first half is written as "Amy's version" of the past/present. As with everything, there's always two sides to each story. The second half details "Tara's version" which is more exciting. I wish that it would have come sooner in the book, but better late than never. If you are a fan of Heller's, you will like Best Enemies although you will discover a more realistic plot versus some of her ingenious storylines that you may have enjoyed in the past.
Rating: 
Summary: Not really a comedy
Review: The cover blurb seems slightly misleading when it promises "sly wit" and "hilarious." Fresh from reading several Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic stories, I was looking for another breezy, laugh-a-minute chick novel.
Best Enemies is in another category. The plot sounds like something straight from a paperback romance, but Heller elevates the story with her solid dialogue and snags the reader into emotionally pulling for Amy as she deals with her betrayal by her fiance and her best friend.
A surprise switch in narrator gives you the "former" best friend's view of the whole scenario. Little surprizes along the way keep the reader hooked. Enjoyable and well worth a read, but not what I would call a comedy. Read it for some romance, some mystery, some feminine psychology and its trendy NY setting.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed out loud and couldn't put it down.
Review: This book had that rare combination of plot and humor that makes it a gem. Amy, the narrator, has a classic dry wit that makes her priceless, and the story starts out simply enough but turns very interesting right away. Great summer reading.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: This is my first Jane Heller book and I enjoyed it very much. The old saying "Oh what a tangled web we weave" really holds true with this story. I also enjoyed the way the book tells the story from two different points of view. Sometimes things are not as they seem when looked at thru different eyes.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Addition to Your Summer Reading List
Review: What do you do if you find your fiancé and your best friend/maid of honor in a "compromising" position just days before your wedding? If you are Amy Sherman, the star of Jane Heller's most recent novel BEST ENEMIES, you throw them both out of your life and vow never to look back. Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try to forget your past, life has a funny way of forcing it back into your present. Best friends Amy Sherman and Tara Messer are now the worst of enemies after Amy catches her fiancé, Stuart Lasher, in bed with Tara. While Amy had always been the thoughtful, hardworking plain Jane, Tara was the beautiful, confident, homecoming queen. Losing her fiance to the one woman whose shadow she had always lived in was devastating to Amy. She decided that focusing on her career in publishing and pushing the betrayal out of her mind would help her move on in life and in love. However, years later, Amy, now a publicist for the large publishing house Lowery and Trammel, is unexpectedly reunited with Tara when she learns she has to publicize her new book, SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. The theme of Tara's book is her perfect life with her perfect husband Stuart. Things could not get any worse for Amy until she lies to Tara about having moved on from the heartbreak with Stuart straight into the arms of a loving man who has now become her fiancé. Now, Amy not only has to willingly parade Tara around and turn SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL into a bestseller, but she also has to make a fiancé appear magically before Tara's perfectly beautiful, flawless face. Amy tries to turn one of America's most reclusive mystery authors into her stand-in fiancé without him knowing of her complicated plan. The twists and turns that Amy must face in trying to keep up the façade are hilarious and unpredictable. Amy is one of the most likable, intelligent and honest characters in women's fiction. The majority of the novel is from Amy's point of view, but three quarters of the way through the book we are introduced to Tara's thoughts and feelings and no longer see her as the villain. We begin to see that no matter how perfect a life looks from the outside, everyone has secrets that they try to keep hidden from others. Tara may be beautiful and live a "simply beautiful" life, but sadness and betrayal lurk beneath her perfect surface. BEST ENEMIES explores the complex relationship between female friends. Heller allows us to see that there are always two sides of a story and when it comes to matters of the heart, no one is ever completely innocent. In rediscovering their discarded friendship, Tara and Amy learn that the dramas of life affect everyone equally, and it is all about how you handle what is thrown your way that defines your character and turns you into the person you are meant to be. Throw in an unexpected romance, a missing person and some members of the Russian mob, and you have a great novel by a great author. BEST ENEMIES is impossible to put down and is the best addition to your summer reading list. --- Reviewed by Jocelyn Kelley
Rating:
Summary: The Best Addition to Your Summer Reading List
Review: What do you do if you find your fiancé and your best friend/maid of honor in a "compromising" position just days before your wedding? If you are Amy Sherman, the star of Jane Heller's most recent novel BEST ENEMIES, you throw them both out of your life and vow never to look back. Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try to forget your past, life has a funny way of forcing it back into your present. Best friends Amy Sherman and Tara Messer are now the worst of enemies after Amy catches her fiancé, Stuart Lasher, in bed with Tara. While Amy had always been the thoughtful, hardworking plain Jane, Tara was the beautiful, confident, homecoming queen. Losing her fiance to the one woman whose shadow she had always lived in was devastating to Amy. She decided that focusing on her career in publishing and pushing the betrayal out of her mind would help her move on in life and in love. However, years later, Amy, now a publicist for the large publishing house Lowery and Trammel, is unexpectedly reunited with Tara when she learns she has to publicize her new book, SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. The theme of Tara's book is her perfect life with her perfect husband Stuart. Things could not get any worse for Amy until she lies to Tara about having moved on from the heartbreak with Stuart straight into the arms of a loving man who has now become her fiancé. Now, Amy not only has to willingly parade Tara around and turn SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL into a bestseller, but she also has to make a fiancé appear magically before Tara's perfectly beautiful, flawless face. Amy tries to turn one of America's most reclusive mystery authors into her stand-in fiancé without him knowing of her complicated plan. The twists and turns that Amy must face in trying to keep up the façade are hilarious and unpredictable. Amy is one of the most likable, intelligent and honest characters in women's fiction. The majority of the novel is from Amy's point of view, but three quarters of the way through the book we are introduced to Tara's thoughts and feelings and no longer see her as the villain. We begin to see that no matter how perfect a life looks from the outside, everyone has secrets that they try to keep hidden from others. Tara may be beautiful and live a "simply beautiful" life, but sadness and betrayal lurk beneath her perfect surface. BEST ENEMIES explores the complex relationship between female friends. Heller allows us to see that there are always two sides of a story and when it comes to matters of the heart, no one is ever completely innocent. In rediscovering their discarded friendship, Tara and Amy learn that the dramas of life affect everyone equally, and it is all about how you handle what is thrown your way that defines your character and turns you into the person you are meant to be. Throw in an unexpected romance, a missing person and some members of the Russian mob, and you have a great novel by a great author. BEST ENEMIES is impossible to put down and is the best addition to your summer reading list. --- Reviewed by Jocelyn Kelley
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