Customer Reviews

The Accidental Bestseller

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax

Wow! Just wow! I just this moment finished this book and I'd like to say to Ms Wax BRAVO! If you are a published author, you will appreciate the insiders look at some of the quirks of the industry and perhaps you will even recognize someone you've had to deal with in the past. If you are a pre-published writer, you may appreciate the look into what other authors have to do to get over those dry spells. If you are simply a book lover like me you will appreciate everything about this book. And if you are a woman, you will appreciate the author's views on best friends who will help you out when life seems to be too much; no matter what it costs them. And in this book they all have the potential of loosing it all.


Years ago four women from varied back rounds met at a writer's conference and formed a bond. None of them had been published, but they sure hoped to be one day. Well that "one day" happened for all of them. Each woman writing a different style of books: Faye writing Inspirational Romances, Tanya writing contemporary romances books for a Harlequin-esque company called Masque; Mallory striking, confident and very prolific with her novels. Yet as successful as they are on the surface, each one holds a secret close to their hearts. And then there is Kendell.

Kendell is having problems in the literary world and has tumbled into mid-listdom, not only that, a new book deadline is quickly approaching with nothing yet written, and to add insult to injury her husband has left her for a younger woman.

Kendell is the main protagonist of this book, or is she really? We find her escaping to the mountains to lick her wounds. And of course Kendell's BFF's come to help her through this rocky time and hope to kick-start the creative juices that seem to be missing from Kendell's messed up life. I won't spoil anything for you more than has been already, but a plan is hatched, goes into effect and they collaborate on a novel using their own lives and unfortunately their own writing voices.

What no one would fathom is the book becomes "The Accidental Bestseller" (literally) and true to life - what may go well one minute, collapses the next.

We learn the secrets behind each of the masks each one wears and I found my stomach in knots praying that this would work out well for at least some of them in the end. But I'll leave that up to you to find out.

Very fast paced, deeply absorbing, well plotted and written. It has finely drawn characters that you can imagine as your own bet friends. Do not by any means mistake this as a "chick-lit" genre book, it most certainly is not. This book is unique and a breath of fresh air . Something that you will not regret spending your hard earned book buying dollars on. I know that I haven't.

For a fun beach read, this is a perfect choice. If you like a lot of substance, this may not be the best book for you. Although the characters are fun, they are also highly cliche, from the totally falling apart Kendall to the secretly naughty Faye (I don't know about others, but I guessed her secret from the moment it was revealed that she HAD a secret). None of the characters' motivations or secrets were surprising, and not much unpredictable happened throughout the book, down to the surprise confessions near the end. The book also dragged in the middle, with the first major plot point, the finishing of the novel, happening halfway through and killing both the suspense and the pacing. This would probably have worked out much better as two shorter novels, since the length makes it drag on and on. Ironically enough, the cover art of this book seems as misplaced and arbitrary of the cover art of the fictional novel. Still, I'm not sorry I picked it up, and it was a fun diversion. 3.5*

Four aspiring writers who met at a writers' conference maintain their friendship several years later. Their individual writing careers are varied, but problems of one kind or another plague each of them.

Mallory St. James has "bestseller" status, but she has hit a glitch. Writer's block. Kendall Aims has failed to win an award that would have made a difference, and her publisher is dumping her. And so is her husband. But she has to write one more book, in the midst of the chaos of her life. Tanya Mason, single mother, juggles two jobs, two kids, and a difficult mother. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and writes inspirational romances, but beneath this pristine exterior is an explosive secret.

Imagine the furor that arises when the four collaborate on Kendall's final novel for her publisher, and then the secret of this effort ( and so much more!) is unveiled in a most unfortunate way. And the fallout extends throughout all of their lives.

One of the most captivating aspects of this novel is the author's ability to rein the reader into the lives of the characters, detailing every moment and unfolding snippets of backstory and motivation at just the right junctures. When we are totally invested in events, she drops each bomb for maximum impact. Reading late at night and waking up early each morning, I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Winding down to a very satisfying conclusion, I was poised for more. There has to be a sequel!

For The Accidental Bestseller, I vote five stars--definitely!

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked up The Accidental Bestseller, but whatever it was, I got so much more! This book is just fantastic. It's really a story about friendship among women, courage, living up to your true potential, and honesty. It's a page turner--I just couldn't wait to find out what happened to the four remarkable women in the book.

This is the story of Kendall who is a mid-list author with failing sales, Mallory who is a well known New York Times bestseller list author, Tanya who writes romance novels and Faye who is married to a televangelist and writes inspirational novels. They've been good friends for 10 years, having met at a writer's conference, hitting it off immediately. When Kendall's life starts falling apart--she finds out her publisher is dropping her as soon as she completes the last book in her contract, at the same time finding out her husband wants a divorce--she scurries off to her mountain retreat to hide out. Her three friends come to her rescue to help her get that book written.

The story of getting that book written and what happens when it's published is just incredible. I loved every page of this book and could hardly wait to find out what was going to happen next. There is great character development making each of the four authors very easy to visualize. These were women I wanted to know, wished that they lived next door to me. Wendy Wax has written a wonderful book about the strength of women's friendships and I hope she writes a sequel to this story. Ms. Wax writes with great insight into the publishing industry, not always a pretty picture. Each chapter begins with a quote from an author about the hard work involved in writing. Some of these quotes are laugh out loud funny, but all are interesting. One of my favorites: There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. -W. Somerset Maugham.

While I was reading the book, I kept talking about how great it was so when I finished it, my husband asked to read it. He's never read women's fiction, so I handed it over with some trepidation. But he liked it too and also found it to be a page turner. Now we're both looking for more books by Wendy Wax.

For the life of me I can't understand the reviews of this book. I do agree with the "WOW"s that I just read except that my "Wow" is more like, "Wow. What an unbelievable waste of time." This is one of the worst books I've ever finished and the only reason I finished is because it was the only book I brought with me on my recent vacation. I never write reviews, but I felt compelled to give a dissenting opinion here. Never have I rolled my eyes so much when reading a book. In fact, I'm pretty sure I actually said, "Oh, gag" out loud a few times. The language is contrived, I didn't find myself attached to any of the characters and I really couldn't get over how self-adulatory the author was. Please tell me I'm not the only one who saw that! I ordered this book after reading a magazine review and now I'm actually nervous to start any of the others I ordered because I no longer trust the reviews from that particular magazine (or amazon, for that matter!).

I loved the premise of this book and thought the author provided some excellent insights into the mechanics of the publishing industry. There were several core ideas, the most interesting of which was the way people can be friends without revealing their true selves - or can they? However, it was very hard to believe that these four women would be friends, held together only by their interest in writing. Their lives were just too disparate - and the scenes where they just hopped on a plane to get together, leaving jobs and loved ones behind, just strained credibility too much.

Aside from that, the biggest weakness was the long middle section where nothing happens. However, I have to admit that I kept plugging away, wanting to find out the HEA for these four heroines. WW is a good writer who could use some editing.

I would try another book of hers.

Kendall Aimes: Her husband has been cheating on her, her women's lit publishing house is about to drop her, and she just can't seem to catch a break. She has one last book to write to fulfill her contract, but doesn't have the will to sit down and write it.

Tanya Mason: A single mother of 2, she works two jobs in addition to writing romance novels. Though she writes happily ever after tales, she won't let herself experience one, even though the perfect man is trying to convince her otherwise. Her career is promising, but it's still not enough to keep her afloat.

Mallory St. James: Elegant and aloof, Mallory is a write-a-holic who commits herself to completing 20 pages a day. Writing is her life, but Mallory just can't seem to find the inspiration and drive she once had. She's desperately in need of a break, but won't even stop to spend some time with her husband Chris, who is missing her something fierce.

Faye Truett: The wife of a TV evangelist, she writes inspirational romance novels and appears to be the perfect wife. But Faye is keeping a secret that could ruin everything that she and her husband built from the ground up.

These 4 incredible women, who have very different backgrounds, have been the best of friends for 10 years since they met one another at a writing conference. They have always been there for one another, and it's Kendall who needs their help now.

After discovering that her husband has been having an affair and that her publisher and editor have given up on her, Kendall doesn't know how she will be able to finish the one last book she owes them. But Tanya, Mallory, and Faye come through for her, each joining her at her mountainside home and cheerleading her to put words to paper.

Kendall's deadline is fast approaching, and the 4 friends decide to team up together and each write 100 pages of the novel that is to be "Sticks and Stones". Though the novel is fiction, each writer puts more truth into their words than her close friends realize. Never dreaming that their collaboration would become a NYT Bestseller, the women make a pact to keep the truth about what they have done buried. If they're found out, it would jeopardize not only their writing careers, but also their relationships with those they hold closest to their hearts.

The Accidental Bestseller is a truly fascinating insider's look into the scary world of publishing. As an aspiring writer, I was horrified by certain aspects of this book, and I couldn't put it down until I reached the very last page and hopefully a silver lining.

The four main characters are delightfully written, each with a voice that could stand all on its own. The story of their friendship was in itself wonderful, but each of them had a side story that was just as fun to read. These ladies could have walked right off the pages and into my living room, they felt so real.

The secondary cast of characters had story lines and backgrounds that were just as appealing, and I wish that Wendy Wax had spent a bit more time wrapping up Lacy Samuels' story, especially her ties with Cash Simpson.

On the outside it might look like just another beach read, but there's plenty of good stuff in here that would make for awesome book club discussion.

This is the first book I've read by this author. It centers on 4 women authors who met at the beginning of their careers and act as a support and critique network for each other as their careers progress. One of them, Kendall Aims, is in personal and professional crisis and she retires to her mountaintop home to attempt to write a book that will resurrect her career. When she is stuck, her three friends swoop and in and they secretly collaborate on a book that incorporates real details of all four of their lives. When the book becomes an unintentional bestseller, the women, their lives and their friendships are subject to intense scrutiny and criticism, testing all of them in ways they did not expect. The process of writing the book also reveals the publishing process and some of its ugly underbelly. This was cleverly done, sort of a book-within-a-book-within-a-book. The characters were different and compelling, particularly Faye and Tanya, and the "insider's view" of the publishing world was interesting. I didn't want to put this book down until I found out what happened.

This was my first time reading this author, but it won't be my last. According to a couple of the reviews here, I'm sure I read a different book than they did! This story grabbed me right from the beginning and continued to hold on all the way through.

A great example of true "women's fiction" where the story focuses on the relationship of four friends and the author did a superb job with this. But what really impressed me was the plot....very clever and very well done. We were given an honest "tell all" look into the world of being an author and the publishing industry and not in a nasty way. I felt the author tied it all up very well at the end (and believe me, I was wondering how she'd accomplish this) and I was left with a very satisfying feel. I highly recommend this one for those of you who truly enjoy a great women's fiction novel.

I couldn't put this book down on my vacation at the beach. The characters are likable and the inside view of the publishing world has forever changed my perspective of writers and the business of books.