THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER

Author: Wendy Wax ISBN: 9780425227671 6/2009 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: BERKLEY

Once upon a time four aspiring authors met at a writers' conference. Ten years later they're still friends, veterans of the dog-eat-dog New York publishing world. Mallory St. James is a workaholic whose novels support her and her husband's lavish lifestyle. Tanya mason juggles two jobs, two kids, and a difficult mother. Faye Truett is the wife of a famous televangelist and the author of bestselling inspirational romances; no one would ever guess her explosive secret. Kendall Aims's once-promising career is on the skids—as is her marriage. Her sales have fallen, her new editor can barely feign interest in her work—and her husband is cheating. Under pressure to meet her next deadline, Kendall holes up in a mountain cabin to confront a blank page and a blanker future. But her friends won't let her face this struggle alone. They collaborate on a novel none of them could write by herself, using their own lives as fodder, assuming no one will discover the truth behind their words. No one's more surprised than they are when the book becomes a runaway bestseller. But with success comes scrutiny and scandal. Now all bets are off... as these four best friends suddenly realize how little they've truly known each other.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Wendy Wax’s THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER reads like a dream. Women’s friendships, their hopes and dreams and the way they support each other through all that life dishes out, makes this a great story to share with a best girlfriend. Women everywhere will recognize bits and pieces of themselves in these characters. I laughed, I cried, I was annoyed by the obstacles these women faced, but mostly I was entertained. And, I was surprised by how quickly I reached the end of the book.

When life gets rocky for a group of friends, they commiserate, sharing snippets from their day-to-day existences, as friends normally do. What’s unusual about these ladies is that one ends up turning their realities into a bestselling novel. The horrors (being found crouching near a desk in a stained bathrobe by the hubby’s new, impeccably groomed lady), the inescapable truths (a heavy drinking, advice giving mother), and the new realities of life (finding oneself in a home repair mart rather than an upscale department store), are all covered in Ms. Wax’s tale. She tells the story with humor, candor, and just enough pulling at the heart to make this poignant without being sentimental.

Of course, a runaway bestseller like Sticks and Stones needs a glitch—for this crowd, at least. The women’s truths are uncovered, and in a very public forum they are “outed” for having passed off their realities as fiction. What happens next? I can’t divulge, but let’s just say the fiction is probably more fun than the truth would be! This is an ultimate test of friendship’s endurance, and I wasn’t at all certain of the outcome.

THE ACCIDENTAL BESTSELLER is pure entertainment. I loved it, and I believe others will, too.

Kay James