Best Enemies

by Jane Heller

Overview

Reunited, and it feels so bad…“A flat-out funny read” about a friendship gone off the rails from the New York Times-bestselling author (Cosmopolitan).
 
Amy Sherman has a two-bedroom Manhattan apartment, a job as a publicity director at a major publishing house, and a romantic life that’s…well, two out of three isn’t bad. She's come a long way from playing second fiddle to spotlight-hogging blond bombshell Tara Messer, her former best friend. In fact, she's even recovered from walking in on her fiancé and her frenemy in the bedroom, just before her wedding.
 
Or so she thought.
 
Tara, now married to the man who broke Amy's heart, has made a career put of being positively perfect. And she's waltzing back into Amy's life on mile-long legs, with a life so Simply Beautiful it got its own book deal—and Amy gets tapped to be its publicist. Unable to swallow it all, Amy spits out a tiny little lie. She's engaged. To a handsome, famous mystery writer. Who hates her. If Amy could just get him to play along with the farce, she may survive publishing Tara’s book.
 
But let's not feel so sorry for Amy yet. A dual perspective, laugh-out-loud funny tale of betrayal, forgiveness, and finding new love, Best Enemies proves that no one knows you quite like a best friend.
 
“Smart-alecky…outrageous.” —Houston Chronicle
 
“Highly entertaining.”—Booklist
 
“Fabulous fun.”—Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682303603
Publisher:	Diversion Books
Publication date:	04/30/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	364
File size:	939 KB

About the Author

Jane Heller is an American romantic comedy, suspense and nonfiction author. Heller worked as a book promoter in New York for years before launching her own writing career. With 9 of her books optioned for film & TV, Jane has numerous NYT and USA Today bestsellers, in addition to her much-loved baseball blog, Confessions of a She-Fan. She & her husband divide their time between Connecticut & California.

Rachel Fulginiti has voiced ads for Target, Kia, CVS and McDonalds, to name a few. As a voice actor, she is best known for a natural "non-announcer" style, as well as for funny/comedic & dry/wry reads. Rachel's voice is often described as warm, rich, attractive, hip, smart, confident, playful, trustworthy, inspiring and down to earth.

Editorial Reviews

Amy Sherman is pretty; Tara Messer is a beauty. Amy has a nice Manhattan apartment; Tara's suburban Tudor castle boasts an actual turret. Amy was engaged to Stuart Lasher, who took maid of honor Tara to bed and then to the altar. Now Tara has chronicled her perfect lifestyle in a book called Simply Beautiful, about to be published by Lowry and Trammell-where her editor plans to make her "the next Martha Stewart, without the baggage" and where Amy is publicity director. Can you spell delicious conflict? Heller (Lucky Stars) goes for the laughs and gets them, but there's more here than meets the funny bone. Just when the reader is ready to kill the perfidious Tara (perhaps by beating her to death with accessories and garnishes), Heller switches out of Amy's point of view and into Tara's. It turns out Tara's a real person, too. And she's in trouble. It seems she did Amy a favor by stealing Stuart, who grabs every passing ass and may bring down the family business with a fake caviar scheme. And it isn't Tara who's pregnant with Stuart's baby. Meanwhile, in another switcheroo, Amy's got a great romance budding with Tony Stiles, the gorgeous mystery author. Of course, they're only pretending to pretend to be in love-Amy to save face (she told Tara she was engaged) and Tony to research relationships-and things are going swimmingly. Though the happy ending is a sure thing, getting there is fabulous fun. Heller makes a familiar story read as brand new, thanks to a rich humanity abetted by smart dialogue, zippy pacing and all-around craft. Agent, Ellen Levine. (Apr.) Forecast: With three movie deals last year alone (for Name Dropping, The Secret Ingredient and Lucky Stars), bestseller Heller is big and looks only to get bigger. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Amy Sherman, a 30-year-old publicity director, has always played second fiddle to her best friend from high school, Tara Messer. The blond prom queen who always got what she wanted, Tara stole Amy's fianc , but that was four years ago-Amy is finally getting over it, thanks in part to her expensive therapist. It isn't until Amy runs into Tara on the street that things start to fall apart. When Tara inquires into Amy's love life, Amy lies, telling her that she is getting married in six months. Unfortunately for Amy, Tara has just written a "lifestyle" book that Amy's publishing house has acquired. Since they will be working closely together for the foreseeable future, Amy must come up with a pseudo-fianc to save face. In the end, neither Amy nor Tara is leading the life that she would have the other believe. Although the novel is told mostly from Amy's perspective, Tara gets a few chapters, too. Heller's latest (after Female Intelligence) takes an interesting look at what can happen when honesty takes a backseat to appearances and how true friendship can be born of animosity. Recommended for most public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/03.]-Karen Core, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

What if your best friend turned into your worst enemy? Is it legal to kill someone who has sex with your fiance right before your wedding? Is it a little bit legal? Amy Sherman would like to know. She walked in on Tara Messer, naked and straddling an equally naked Stuart (admittedly an unimpressive sight-hunkalicious he is not) just as Tara shouted, "Take me home!" Four years later, Amy's still sulking, while Tara and Stuart decorate a Mamaroneck mansion with tchotchkes bright and beautiful when not rolling around in the millions he makes running the family chain of gourmet grocery stores. Moving right along, Amy, a publicist for Lowry & Trammel, a New York publishing company, is not exactly thrilled with her new assignment: drumming up interest in Tara's book of self-help advice for miserable women everywhere. Simply Beautiful is a shoo-in for the bestseller lists, even if it's mostly recycled stuff swiped from others-hey, just like the way Tara swiped Stuart, Amy muses. In a fit of pique, Amy makes up an imaginary fiance just so her life won't seem utterly pathetic compared to that of her former friend. But then-yikes!-Tara, disgustingly gracious, invites her and the nonexistent fiance to dinner, so she's going to need a real one. One quick look at the self-appointed office studs and Amy's ready to look elsewhere. How about mystery author Tony Stiles? He's tall, sexy, and breathing-he'll do. Segue to Tara's POV and deep, dark secret: Stuart is a prize jerk and compulsive womanizer who's mixed up with the Russian mob in a caviar-importing scheme. She's far from happy and her life is far from perfect, but she's determined to do something good for Amy. Another trip down the aisle awaitsthem both, but the roles-and the rules-are about to be reversed. Funny, clear-eyed look at female friendship from the prolific Heller (Lucky Stars, 2003, etc.). Agent: Ellen Levine/Trident Media Group

Kirkus Reviews