Best enemies

Jane Heller

eAudio - 2017

Amy Sherman has a nice apartment in Manhattan, a good job as publicity director at a publishing company, and a decent social life. Then she runs into Tara Messer, prom queen and Amy's ex-best friend. It's been four years since Tara stole Amy's fiancé, and Amy swore she'd stop playing second fiddle to spotlight-hog Tara. Or so she thought. Tara, now married to the man who broke Amy's heart, is a lifestyle guru with her own book deal-and Amy gets tapped to be her publicist. When Amy enlists a commitment-phobic mystery writer as the pawn in her game of payback, she stumbles on the surprising truth about Tara's lifestyle and her own fears about falling in love.

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Subjects
Published
[United States] : Dreamscape Media, LLC 2017.
Language
English
Corporate Author
hoopla digital
Main Author
Jane Heller (author)
Corporate Author
hoopla digital (-)
Other Authors
Rachel Fulginiti (narrator)
Edition
Unabridged
Online Access
Instantly available on hoopla.
Cover image
Physical Description
1 online resource (1 audio file (10hr., 14 min.)) : digital
Format
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ISBN
9781520064963
Access
AVAILABLE FOR USE ONLY BY IOWA CITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS OF JOHNSON COUNTY, UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, HILLS, AND LONE TREE (IA).
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Heller writes fast-moving, witty, often best-selling novels about contemporary women and their combative but loving relationships. In her latest, Amy Sherman and Tara Messer, lifelong best friends, are now all grown up and living in New York City. There has always been some friction in their relationship because Amy feels overshadowed by the extravagantly beautiful and elegant Tara (a lifestyle guru). When Amy catches her fiance, Stuart, in a passionate embrace with Tara two weeks before the wedding, she cuts both of them out of her life. The two eventually marry each other, while Amy focuses on her demanding job as publicity director for a major publisher. Four years later, Amy and Tara are thrown together when Amy is assigned to promote Tara's new book. The two women weave a web of deception, with Tara pretending her life is perfect (even though Stuart is a serial womanizer) while Amy invents a rich, handsome boyfriend, whom she then has to produce. Heller's fans will be waiting to get their hands on this highly entertaining read. --Kathleen Hughes Copyright 2004 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

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. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Amy has always come in second place to her childhood best friend Tara. Tara skates through life on her charm and good looks and has never had trouble with men. Amy, who is often jealous, finds comfort in knowing she has the one thing Tara does not-the love of her fiancé Stewart. Or so she thought. Amy's world is rocked when she walks in on Tara and Stewart just days before her wedding. Amy cuts ties with both of them and has made peace with never seeing either of them again. That is until her publishing company picks up Tara's book, and Amy is designated by her boss to work as Tara's publicist. Forced to spend time together, Amy and Tara begin to discover some uncomfortable truths, which ends up changing everything. Rachel -Fulginiti narrates with ease. Her upbeat, warm voice gives the story an even flow. All the characters have unique accents and verbal quirks, which not only help them to stand apart but add a comedic element. VERDICT This is the perfect story for anyone who is a fan of rom-com movies. It manages to delve into the narrator's conflict while remaining lighthearted throughout. ["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": LJ 1/04 review of the St. Martin's hc.]-Emma Manfredia, Glastonbury, CT © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

What if your best friend turned into your worst enemy? Is it legal to kill someone who has sex with your fiancÉ 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 fiancÉ 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 fiancÉ 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 awaits them 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.). Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.