Customer Reviews

Best Enemies (Heller, Jane)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Amy returned early from her dentist appointment, the last thing she expected to find was her maid of honor Tara underneath her fiance, Stuart. Needless to say, the nuptials did not go on as planned, and Amy moved on to a great job as a book publicist. A chance run-in with Tara nearly five years later brings back old memories, and in order to make herself feel better, she tells a little white lie - she is engaged. Amy has always lived in Tara's shadow, and has always felt inferior to her.

Suddenly, Amy is thrust into a situation where she has to publicize Tara's soon to be published book about her fabulous life with her husband, Stuart. Her impossibly evil boss Betsy threatens to fire her is she does not manage to make the book a bestseller.

Amy begrudgingly works with Tara to start the book promotion, trying to keep it professional, while Tara wants to be friends again. After repeated requests for Amy and her fiance to join them for supper, Amy has to do some fast thinking to find a would-be fiance who is willing to go along with the charade.

Enter Tony Stiles, mystery writer and man of many fantasies. He and Amy have always had an antagonistic relationship because he hates the publicity part of his writing. He skeptically accepts a dinner date with her (that turns into a bit of a disaster), and the two find that they actually have a lot in common once their boxing gloves come off. Tony accepts a dinner date with one of Amy's clients, not aware of the whole fiance plot. A storm causes them to have to stay the night and Amy finally confesses her plot to Tony

You would think Tony would be upset; instead, he takes the opportunity to use their relationship as material for her female character, who always gets panned by critics. Tony lays the love on thick, and makes Tara and Stuart feel like heels.

While the story could easily have stuck with a single viewpoint, author Heller punches things up by suddenly switching gears, re-telling the story from Tara's viewpoint. The insight is interesting, as we discover that Tara and Stuart don't have the "simply beautiful" marriage that they purport to have.

"Best Enemies" is an engaging story with two great protagonists - you find yourself hating Tara when you read Amy's story, then switch your viewpoint once Tara takes center stage (though I felt she was pretty full of herself). It is a great beach read with a lot of tender moments.

Jane Heller is one of my favorite authors. She never disappoints, and this wonderful novel is proof. Amy and Tara were best friends for years until one act of betrayal rips them apart, and then makes them both pretend to be people that they aren't, and have things they don't really have in order to impress each other. Anyone who has a best friend will see a little bit of themselves here, as Jane Heller explores the underlying competetiveness in all relationships with her usual humor and skill. Highly recommended.

BEST ENEMIES by Jane Heller
December 31, 2006


Amazon Rating: 4/5 stars

I always enjoy Jane Heller's books, and this was no exception. BEST ENEMIES is narrated by two women, who started out as best friends growing up but became enemies when one of them was found with the other's fiancé in bed.

Amy Sherman was about to get married when she came home to the apartment she shared with her fiancé and found him horizontal and naked with her best friend Tara Messer. Tara was supposed to be her maid of honor, but that act of betrayal ended the friendship. Tara promptly married the scumbag, Stuart, and Amy didn't lay eyes on the two of them again until years later, when she bumps into Tara on the streets of Manhattan.

Amy is now working for a successful publishing company, and Tara has just sold her book to the company Amy happens to be working for. However, Amy doesn't know it yet. Instead, Amy goes on and on about her upcoming wedding plans to a man whose identity she cannot reveal, hoping to rub it in that she's happy despite the trauma she suffered because of Tara and Stuart. Unfortunately, when Amy does find out what Tara has been up to lately, she's not sure what to do. Amy has told a big lie that will come back to haunt her. Amy is told that she will be working closely with Tara to get the book published on time - in 6 months. 6 months was also the time frame Amy gave Tara regarding her upcoming wedding to the mystery man. What is she going to do?

On the spur of the moment, during a heated conversation about Tara's favorite novelist Tony Stiles, a man that Amy loathes with a passion, she's not sure why she does it, but she blurts out to Tara that Tony is indeed her secret boyfriend and soon-to-be husband. Of course Tara is fit to be tied, and invites them to dinner. In order for this to work, Amy has to convince Tony to go out with her. It isn't easy, but she is surprised at how fast she is able to get Tony to change his opinion about her, and vice versa. Amy finds out through his publicist his interests and hobbies and she uses the information to woo him. And it works.

Amy is now ready to get her revenge on Tara and Stuart by showing that she has indeed moved on and has landed a very eligible bachelor. And while she's busy doing that, she also finds that she's attracted to Tony, and she sees a different side to his personality that she likes. Tony also seems to be falling for Amy, which surprises him as well, and soon the two no longer have to pretend to be a couple...

What I found interesting about BEST ENEMIES is that we get to hear the other side of the story. Tara narrates a huge chunk of the novel, giving the reader a slightly different version of what happened from the beginning. Tara comes across as a very shallow person through the eyes of Amy, and even through the eyes of Tara, she still seems rather one dimensional, but the more I read her story, the more I liked her as well. BEST ENEMIES was fun, a romance/chick lit story that I enjoyed a lot. Jane Heller has to be one of my favorite authors in this genre. She never fails to entertain.

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.

I think it has taken me longer to contemplate the review of this book than it took to read. It's without a doubt, a breezy read--good summer fare that is mindless and juicy. And in some cases, especially with the voice of the main character, Amy, very funny.

But . . . there's something about it that bothered me. The characters, particularly the satellite characters, are banal (the gay assistant, the well-heeled boss, the fast-talking editor--even the stud-muffin mystery writer), and the plot is contrived and often predictable. I stayed with it because I loved the voice of Amy. She was honest-in spite of being a first class liar-but she lets the readers in on all her secrets and this makes her endearing.

While it seems other reviewers liked the switching perspectives between the two friends/enemies, Amy and Tara, so much more time is dedicated to Amy that she is the true voice of the book and Tara remains a caricature. Tara's sections are like a tribute to equal time, rather than equal time. And she is as repulsive as she's meant to be. Can't understand why Amy would want to be friends with her at all, let alone "best friends."

Overall, I give it three and half stars and recommend the book as fun entertainment. Thank you Jane Heller. I look forward to reading your other work as I think you're a gifted, spirited writer.

Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

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

There are about a million chick lit books just like this out there, where Girl #2 steals her best friend Girl #1's man, but I particularly liked Heller's version. Her character Amy is compelling and sympathetic, and the switching of point of view was a fun twist. It's a great revenge story for anyone who's ever been dumped, but it doesn't come off as bitter. There's even a bit of a mystery at the end.

If you want an entertaining, fun book, you can't go wrong with Best Enemies.

Bought this for my mom for Christmas. She really enjoyed it. She's getting tired of mysteries, which is what most of the hand-me-downs she gets from her friends are anymore. She says "...clever writer, cute plot, pleasant read."

This is an enjoyable book. It's not your typical "chick-lit" -- the heroine is actually smart and likeable. While a little predictable, the story moved along quickly with warmth and humor.

It's not Dante -- but, quite honestly, that can be a good thing.

I like Jane Heller's conversational way of writing and yes, the plots tend to be seethrough, but when you just want a light LOL read, this is it!

Others I like: Whitney Gaskell, Beth Kendrick, Alesia Holliday, Janet Evanovich & Emily Giffin